TY - BOOK AU - Furman,Jan TI - Toni Morrison's fiction SN - 1570030677 AV - PS3563.O8749 Z65 1996 U1 - 813/.54 20 PY - 1996/// CY - Columbia, S.C. PB - University of South Carolina Press KW - Morrison, Toni KW - Morrison, Toni. KW - Women and literature KW - United States KW - History KW - 20th century KW - African American women in literature KW - African Americans in literature KW - Femmes et littérature KW - États-Unis KW - Histoire KW - 20e siècle KW - Noires américaines dans la littérature KW - Noirs américains dans la littérature N1 - Includes bibliographical references (p. [115]-120) and index; Understanding Toni Morrison -- Black girlhood and Black womanhood : the Bluest eye and Sula -- Male consciousness : Song of Solomon -- Community and cultural identity : Tar baby -- Remembering the "disremembered" : Beloved -- City blues : Jazz -- Literary and social criticism : Playing in the dark N2 - In this introduction to the Nobel Prizewinning fiction of Toni Morrison, Jan Furman surveys six novels, a short story, and a book of criticism to reconstruct the development of Morrison's creative vision and to assess its influence in contemporary literature. She traces the recurrent characters, themes, and settings that embody Morrison's literary vision and strike such familiar chords for Morrison's readers. Demonstrating that Morrison strongly supports the idea that the artist must engender and interpret culture, Furman reveals the novelist's contribution to the expansion and redefinition of the American literary canon through her portrayal of the African-American experience; Furman's account of Morrison's growth as a writer includes her midwestern childhood, relatively late start on her own literary career, and experiences as full-time parent, teacher, lecturer, and editor at Random House. She discusses Morrison's keen interest in African-American communal life and addresses the criticism that her fiction is florid and self-indulgent. Furman proposes that through Morrison's pursuit of a personal, artistic vision, she creates remarkable tales of human experience that a less independent writer would not attempt; In addition, Furman examines Morrison's concern with the danger of gender and racial stereotyping and with her admiration for those who resist such limitations. Pointing to the novelist's extraordinary depictions of human suffering, endurance, and triumph, Furman moves beyond literary analysis to illuminate what she contends to be the defining achievement of Morrison's fiction: the presentation of the path to spiritual freedom and emotional independence UR - http://www.archive.org/details/tonimorrisonsfic00furm UR - http://www.openlibrary.org/books/OL1273074M ER -