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4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
This was such an enlightening read that made me notice so many things about race and gender that I haven't really been able to notice. It is very true that the standard "American" or "English" canon is comprised of way too many books that are written by white men. I must confess I'm likely guilty of putting a lot of focus into said authors who, because of the time that they were living in and multiple other factors that these essays explore, are perpetuating gender and racial stereotypes. There's a lot of insightful analysis from specific works from the likes of Twain and Hemingway that makes very clear points. Recommended as an important read.
challenging
informative
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Recommend to anyone interested in literature and how to read it.
The book is short but dense; I suspect I’ll be returning to it again and again as time passes to digest new parts of it. Essential reading for anyone with an interest/background in literature and also just generally worth reading.
I still consider realistic fiction the standard for American Literature. However, imaginative fiction has made significant strides in the past two decades to create its own place in American Literature. As one who prefers imaginative fiction over realistic fiction, this is a much-needed development for the survival of literature as an art form.
As a reader (and storyteller), it’s imperative that one reads both realistic and imaginative fiction to get the broadest view possible in regard to storytelling. I just learned about Toni Morrison’s work of literary criticism titled Playing In The Dark from a Goodreads friend recommendation. Even though this book was published in 1992, I had not heard of this well-received work. Morrison presents an argument on how black characters have been imagined through stories like [b:Sapphira and the Slave Girl|48213|Sapphira and the Slave Girl|Willa Cather|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1170351218l/48213._SY75_.jpg|47178] by Willa Cather, [b:The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket|766869|The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket|Edgar Allan Poe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568871231l/766869._SY75_.jpg|44915222] by Edgar Allan Poe, [b:The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|2956|The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|Mark Twain|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546096879l/2956._SX50_.jpg|1835605] by Mark Twain, [b:The Garden of Eden|10775|The Garden of Eden|Ernest Hemingway|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405529251l/10775._SY75_.jpg|476408] and [b:To Have and Have Not|4630|To Have and Have Not|Ernest Hemingway|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1523546270l/4630._SY75_.jpg|3347070] by Ernest Hemingway.
Morrison boils her argument down to how these writers have viewed black people in their works as the dark other through a projection that does not show the full range of their humanity. For example, she describes how the two main characters in Sapphira and the Slave Girl this way:
Sapphira Colbert, an invalid confined to her chair and dependent on slaves for the most intimate services, has persuaded herself that her husband is having or aching to have a liaison with Nancy, the pubescent daughter of her most devoted female slave. It is clear from the beginning that Mistress Colbert is in error: Nancy is pure to the point of vapidity; Master Colbert is a man of modest habits, ambition, and imagination.
Sapphira’s suspicions, fed by her feverish imagination and by her leisure to have them, grow and luxuriate unbearably. She forms a plan. She will invite a malleable lecherous nephew, Martin, to visit and let his nature run its course: Nancy will be seduced. The purpose of arranging the rape of her young servant is to reclaim, for purposes not made clear, the full attentions of her husband.
I’m not a literature student or literary critic, but as a lay person reading an analysis like this one shows how powerful the imagination can be and with the mixture of race and sexuality is quite shocking and troublesome. Morrison continues with the aforementioned other examples of how American whiteness in literature defines blackness in a way that’s cruel and dehumanizing. She does make it a point to explain that she is not projecting those characteristics to the authors themselves but to the characters they have created.
Playing in the Dark is definitely a book for literature students, literary critics, and academics. Morrison provides a subtle analysis how American realistic fiction has been shaped by its greatest authors. It is a work that will make me more of an observant reader and continue to push that people of color tell our own stories as a counterbalance.
As a reader (and storyteller), it’s imperative that one reads both realistic and imaginative fiction to get the broadest view possible in regard to storytelling. I just learned about Toni Morrison’s work of literary criticism titled Playing In The Dark from a Goodreads friend recommendation. Even though this book was published in 1992, I had not heard of this well-received work. Morrison presents an argument on how black characters have been imagined through stories like [b:Sapphira and the Slave Girl|48213|Sapphira and the Slave Girl|Willa Cather|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1170351218l/48213._SY75_.jpg|47178] by Willa Cather, [b:The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket|766869|The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket|Edgar Allan Poe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568871231l/766869._SY75_.jpg|44915222] by Edgar Allan Poe, [b:The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|2956|The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|Mark Twain|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546096879l/2956._SX50_.jpg|1835605] by Mark Twain, [b:The Garden of Eden|10775|The Garden of Eden|Ernest Hemingway|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405529251l/10775._SY75_.jpg|476408] and [b:To Have and Have Not|4630|To Have and Have Not|Ernest Hemingway|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1523546270l/4630._SY75_.jpg|3347070] by Ernest Hemingway.
Morrison boils her argument down to how these writers have viewed black people in their works as the dark other through a projection that does not show the full range of their humanity. For example, she describes how the two main characters in Sapphira and the Slave Girl this way:
Sapphira Colbert, an invalid confined to her chair and dependent on slaves for the most intimate services, has persuaded herself that her husband is having or aching to have a liaison with Nancy, the pubescent daughter of her most devoted female slave. It is clear from the beginning that Mistress Colbert is in error: Nancy is pure to the point of vapidity; Master Colbert is a man of modest habits, ambition, and imagination.
Sapphira’s suspicions, fed by her feverish imagination and by her leisure to have them, grow and luxuriate unbearably. She forms a plan. She will invite a malleable lecherous nephew, Martin, to visit and let his nature run its course: Nancy will be seduced. The purpose of arranging the rape of her young servant is to reclaim, for purposes not made clear, the full attentions of her husband.
I’m not a literature student or literary critic, but as a lay person reading an analysis like this one shows how powerful the imagination can be and with the mixture of race and sexuality is quite shocking and troublesome. Morrison continues with the aforementioned other examples of how American whiteness in literature defines blackness in a way that’s cruel and dehumanizing. She does make it a point to explain that she is not projecting those characteristics to the authors themselves but to the characters they have created.
Playing in the Dark is definitely a book for literature students, literary critics, and academics. Morrison provides a subtle analysis how American realistic fiction has been shaped by its greatest authors. It is a work that will make me more of an observant reader and continue to push that people of color tell our own stories as a counterbalance.
Morrison writes here about how what she calls an Africanist presence influences and interacts with classic American literature. Essentially, she writes about how white authors used (or ignored) black characters and histories as a way to develop white characters in contrast. The parts where she draws on direct textual evidence are fantastic, but unfortunately that makes up less than half of the 90 page book. The rest is a sort of literary spit-balling that I found repetitive.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
I read a selection from this book for an American Horrors class my sophomore year, and have been wanting to read the rest of it since then, as it has greatly affected the way that I read American literature. Morrison turns the lens of literary analysis to the racial subject, the writer.
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced