Julian Mayfield

Overshadowed by the larger than life image of Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison and James Baldwin, many of their contemporaries such as Julian Mayfield remained victims of tokenistic neglect in African-American Literature. Julian Mayfield, an unsung hero, if the sparse research on his works is to be taken as an indication. Julian Mayfield's works reveal him to be one of the great African-American writers. Yet he is different from other writers in handling his plots, in creating his characters realistically, and in narrating his stories interestingly. His use of irony, his unfailing sense of humour, and his sincerity of purpose further enhance the appeal of his fiction which, though dealing with the contemporary Black life in America, has a wider and universal significance.