Black professional women in recent American fiction / Carmen Rose Marshall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Marshall, Carmen Rose, 1943-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American fiction--African American authors--History and criticism.

American fiction.

American fiction--African American authors.

Women and literature--United States--History--20th century.

Women and literature.

United States.

History.

African American women in the professions--Books and reading.

African American women in the professions.

American fiction--Women authors--History and criticism.

American fiction--Women authors.

American fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

African American women--Books and reading.

African American women.

African Americans in the professions.

African American women in literature.

African Americans in literature.

Professions in literature.

Physical Description:

viii, 219 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., [2004]

Summary:

The author contends that recent American fiction fails to represent black professional women protagonists performing their jobs. The book identifies the extent to which contemporary novels satisfy the "readerly" desires of black middle-class women, and investigates what contributes to those desires and what, exactly, readers want in books. It also examines the technical and cultural factors that contribute to the lack of books with self-empowered black professional female protagonists, and considers The Salt Eaters by Toni Cade Bambara and Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan, two novels that function as significant markers in the development of contemporary black women writers' texts.

Contents:

The dearth of self-actualized Black professional women protagonists

Consumer desire for self-empowered Black professional women protagonists

Craft and culture : challenges to Black professional womens representation

Production and market : social challenges

Feminism and nationalism : conflicts in The salt eaters

Re-thinking agency in Waiting to exhale

Reader response : findings and applications

Appendix A : Occupational distributions of black and white women: 1940, 1960, and 1980

Appendix B : Family assets of Black and white women by employment status

Appendix C : Respondent information and questionnaire results.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 205-214) and index.

ISBN:

0786417129

OCLC:

53215749