New visions of community in contemporary American fiction : Tan, Kingsolver, Castillo, Morrison / Magali Cornier Michael.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Michael, Magali Cornier.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

American fiction.

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

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

Women and literature.

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

Ethnicity in literature.

Communities in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (257 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this engaging, optimistic close reading of five late twentieth-century novels by American women, Magali Cornier Michael illuminates the ways in which their authors engage with ideas of communal activism, common commitment, and social transformation. The fictions she examines imagine coalition building as a means of moving toward new forms of nonhierarchical justice; for ethnic cultures that, as a result of racist attitudes, have not been assimilated, power with each other rather than power over each other is a collective goal. Michael argues that much contemporary American fiction by wom

Contents:

Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction: Rethinking Community for the Twenty-First Century; Choosing Hope and Remaking Kinship: Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club; Negotiating Collectivities: Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven; Collective Liberation and Activism via Spirituality: Ana Castillo's So Far from God; The Call to Love, to Assert Power with Others: Toni Morrison's Paradise; Conclusion: Looking to the Future; Notes; Bibliography; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [221]-235) and index.

ISBN:

9781587297397

1587297396

OCLC:

646887508