Criticism Flashcards
According to Mason, what does much of the current criticism miss about Morrison’s fiction?
#1
…her profoundly traditional view of the relationship between literature and culture
Traditional View of Writing:
- linear plotting
- use of rounded characters
- amimetic conception of the novel (art imitating life)
Fiction as a Method of Understanding Culture:
- Morrison’s works provide information for living
- history created/understood through fiction
-
“Humans learn and organize knowledge
through story” - Morrison
What have critics termed Morrison’s work as?
#2
Magical realism!
Why does Mason feel this label is inaccurate?
- her novels are fairly representational and not especially innovative
- even Morrison stated that she is NOT experimental
In terms of Morrison’s fiction, what does Mason mean when he uses the phrase “novelist as conservator”? Provide an example from S.O.S.
#3
As a novelist, Morrison depicts, preserves, and perpetuates the cultural practices of the black community.
Examples: the dozens, myth of the flying Africans, call and response [Hagar’s Funeral], blind picking names from Bible, and storytelling.
According to Morrison, why aren’t novels dying?
#4
People crave narration.
Why was the theft of language by Frederick Douglass one of the most important moments in Afro-American literary history? Douglass is able to…
#5
- carve out an identity
- create a ‘character’ in an autobiographical fiction that stands for himself
autobiographical fiction uses made up characters/events to represent an author’s actual experiences
- take back some control over his own life
What is the special danger that Douglass’ acquisition of language poses? (NOT ON EXAM)
#6
- he acquires the capacity to analyze, argue, and persuade
- he reveals the contradiction of a democracy whose foundation is based on slavery
- he aids in his own escape by forging ‘passes’ and can move about with greater freedom
Morrison’s Song of Solomon emphasizes ‘story’ as a means of fixing identity. What controversy regarding an emphasis on language emerges as early as the second page of the novel?
#7
The naming of Not Doctor Street.
What is “artificial symbolization”?
#8
Controlling a population by naming and defining their history.
According to Mason, how must Afro-Americans survive in a world where real sources of power are apparently beyond them? (NOT ON EXAM)
#9
One must play by the rules established by white economic and political power (i.e. undermine their meaning to destroy their strength and dominance)
What are the three major types of sories that dominate
the novel?
#10
a.) those that enhance reality
b.) those that attempt to control reality
c.) those that seek to substitute for reality
What is another term for a narrative that attempts to substitute for reality?
Hermetic
Hermetic fiction’s inherent egocentricity can lead to disabling vanity. What is Morrison’s central metaphor for this vanity?
The white peacock
- “Wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down” - Guitar
Stories that seek to enhance reality
CHARACTER(s)
Ruth/Corinithians
EMBLEM(s)
water spot/’amanuensis’
PURPOSE
reminder of middle class stability/to make her life as a maid align with her own self-image
Stories that serve to control reality
(respectably)
CHARACTER(s)
Macon/Guitar
What is the story being recreated?
his father’s story of possession and ownership/the seven days
What is the ultimate goal of the story?
property/revenge
Ironically, they are each controlled by the very white world they wish to fight…
Macon: He can only buy property that white society allows
Guitar: Dependent on who the whites kill and how it is done
Stories that seek to control reality (seek to take over)…
other narratives as models
