Synopses & Reviews
Now available in a new paperback edition, The Identifying Fictions of Toni Morrison examines Morrison's hugely influential fiction, criticism, and interviews for traces of her struggle to construct a useable identity as an African American woman novelist. The only book to explore autobiographical tendencies in Morrisons fiction, Duvalls study:
-Provides in-depth chapters on Morrisons most frequently taught novels
-Uses Morrisons own words from interviews and essays as an important context for understanding her fiction
-Traces Morrisons critical engagement with modernist writers, particularly William Faulkner, Virginia Woolf, and Ralph Ellison
In a new Afterword, Duvall discusses Morrisons two most recent novels, Love and A Mercy, in the context of the authors recent disclosures about her Catholicism.
Review
"...an important contribution to Morrison criticism...it gestures toward powerful issues at the center of Morrison's work..."--Erik Dussere, Novel
“The Identifying Fictions of Toni Morrison is, without question, the most engaging book on Morrison I have ever read.” Michael Awkward
“...an effective new way to read one of our most important writers.” South Atlantic Review
Jessica Wang - Jessica Wang - Jessica Wang - Peter Bergen - Gilles Kepel - John Gray - Peter Bergen - Gilles Kepel - John Gray - Peter Bergen - Gilles Kepel - John Gray - Peter Bergen - Gilles Kepel - John Gray - Paul Corner, Professor of European History, University of Siena - Paul Corner, Professor of European History, University of Siena - New Statesman - Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam - Holy War, Inc. - New Statesman - Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam - Holy War, Inc. - New Statesman - Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam - Holy War, Inc. - New Statesman - Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam - Holy War, Inc. - American Historical Review - American Historical Review - American Historical Review
Synopsis
The Identifying Fictions of Toni Morrison proposes that identity is fluid for the Nobel Prize-winning author, both on and off the page. This book offers close readings of Morrison's own statements from interviews and essays, combined with in-depth chapters on Morrison's most frequently discussed novels. John Duvall provides an important context for understanding Morrison's fiction, revealing the ways in which she endeavored to put her own self-made image-that of the African American woman novelist-to work. This book offers the first sustained treatment of the autobiographical tendencies in Morrison's work and delves into the very heart of her novels.
Synopsis
Although all published biographical information on Toni Morrison agrees that her birth name was Chloe Anthony Wofford, John Duvall's book challenges this claim. Using new biographical information, he explores the issue of names and naming in Morrison's fiction and repeatedly finds surprising traces of the Nobel Prize-winning author's struggle to construct a useable identity as an African American woman novelist. Whatever the exact circumstances surrounding her decision to become Toni, one thing becomes clear: the question of identity was not a given for Morrison.
Synopsis
Now available in a new paperback edition, The Identifying Fictions of Toni Morrison examines Morrison's hugely influential fiction, criticism, and interviews for traces of her struggle to construct a useable identity as an African American woman novelist. The only book to explore autobiographical tendencies in Morrisons fiction, Duvalls study:
-Provides in-depth chapters on Morrisons most frequently taught novels
-Uses Morrisons own words from interviews and essays as an important context for understanding her fiction
-Traces Morrisons critical engagement with modernist writers, particularly William Faulkner, Virginia Woolf, and Ralph Ellison
In a new Afterword, Duvall discusses Morrisons two most recent novels, Love and A Mercy, in the context of the authors recent disclosures about her Catholicism.
About the Author
John N. Duvall is Professor of English at Purdue University. He is the author of Race and White Identity in Southern Fiction and the editor of the journal Modern Fiction Studies.
Table of Contents
Introductory Identifications: Making it Up or Finding It? * Invisible Name and Complex Authority in
The Bluest Eye: Morrison's Covert Letter to Ralph Ellison * Engendering Sexual/Textual Identity:
Sula and the Artistic Gaze *
Song of Solomon, Narrative Identity, and the Faulknerian Intertext * Descent in the "House of Chloe": Rape, Race, and Identity in
Tar Baby * The Authorized Morrison: Reflexivity and the Historiographic * Afterword