Toni Morrison and the Maternal : from the Bluest Eye to Home / Linda Wagner-Martin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wagner-Martin, Linda.

Series:

Modern American Literature: New Approaches ; vol. 67.

Modern American Literature: New Approaches ; vol. 67

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Morrison, Toni, 1931-2019--Criticism and interpretation.

Morrison, Toni.

Morrison, Toni, 1931-2019.

Love, Maternal, in literature.

Motherhood in literature.

Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

xi, 211 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Peter Lang, [2015]

Summary:

Linda Wagner-Martin's study of African American writer Toni Morrison's work, beginning with The Bluest Eye in 1970 and continuing through her 2012 novel Home, describes Morrison as an inherently original novelist who was shaped throughout her career by her role within families. Morrison speaks of herself, compellingly and frequently, as daughter, sister, wife, mother, mentor, and friend. The energy from playing these roles in her life helped to lead to her thoroughly distinctive fiction. The book charts Morrison's changing vision as well. Morrison's deeper and deeper involvement in the history of African Americans within the United States leads to her study of the urban in Jazz, of the all-black Western towns in Paradise, of the upper-middle class in Love, as well as her poignant study of the returning Korean War veteran in Home. Morrison's 2008 A Mercy, set in the seventeenth century, reprises much of the power of the prize-winning Beloved and returns readers to the quintessential theme of parent-child relationships. In Morrison's fictional world, drawing from the human and spiritual forces in both Africa and the United States provides some hope of a truly satisfying existence. Book jacket.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Mothers at Random in The Bluest Eye 12

Chapter 2 Sula and the Individuality of Mothering 23

Chapter 3 Replacement Mothering in Song of Solomon 36

Chapter 4 Tar Baby and Its Multiple Non-mothers 56

Chapter 5 Beloved, Beloved, Beloved, Beloved ... 67

Chapter 6 Jazz and Its Mothers and Non-mothers 84

Chapter 7 Playing in the Dark and the Nobel Acceptance Lecture 98

Chapter 8 Paradise and Its Mothers 109

Chapter 9 Love and Its Absence of Mothers 126

Chapter 10 A Mercy and Abandoning Mothers 136

Chapter 11 Frank Money, Cee, and the Maternal in Home 151.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1433124572

9781433124570

OCLC:

879034077

Publisher Number:

99960819947