"A god of justice?" : the problem of evil in twentieth-century Black literature / Qiana J. Whitted.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Whitted, Qiana J., 1974-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

American literature.

American literature--African American authors.

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

Religion in literature.

Justice in literature.

Good and evil in literature.

African Americans--Intellectual life--20th century.

African Americans.

African Americans--Intellectual life.

Literature and society--United States--History--20th century.

Literature and society.

United States.

History.

Physical Description:

xviii, 220 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2009.

Summary:

Focusing on the representations of spiritual crisis in twentieth century African American fiction and autobiography, Qiana J. Whitted asks how some of the most distinguished writers of this tradition wrestle with the inexplicable nature of God and the experience of unmerited natural and moral sufferings such as racial oppression. Although this spiritual and existential dilemma of "the problem of evil" is not unique to African Americans, writers such as Countée Cullen, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, Ernest Gaines, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison offer paradigmatic examples of it in black life and culture after World War I. Whitted argues that these spiritual struggles so often articulated through the cry for divine justice are central to an understanding of modern black literary engagements with religion.

Contents:

1 "In My Flesh Shall I See God" : Ritual Violence, "The Black Christ" / Racial Redemption, Countée Cullen's 31

2 "Wrastl' On Jacob" : Richard Wright and the Trope of the / Mourner's Bench 53

3 "A Loveless, Barren, Hopeless Western Marriage" : Spiritual Infidelity in the Fiction of / Nella Larsen, Alice Walker 77

4 "There Is No Way Not to Suffer" : Evil Ruptures and Improvisations of Joy in "Sonny's Blues" and "The Sky Is Gray" 109

5 "But God Is Not a Mystery. We Are." : Toni Morrison and the Problem of Paradise 147.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-216) and index.

ISBN:

9780813927961

081392796X

9780813927978

0813927978

OCLC:

247440631