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.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
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
“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
About the Author
John Duvall is Professor of English at Purdue University.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
As Kwame Anthony Appiah has noted, although contemporary scientific thinking largely disavows cultural notions of essential racial difference, race still matters because "races are like witches: how-ever unreal witches are, belief in witches, like belief in races, has had-and in many communities continues to have profound consequences for human social life" (277). Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
identifying fictions, useable identity, introductory identifications, aesthetic past, artist manqué, disinterested interest, tar baby, ancient properties Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Bluest Eye, Baby Suggs, Soaphead Church, Seven Days, African Americans, Milkman Dead, Golden Gray, Uncle Tom, Charles Bon, William Faulkner, Engendering Sexual, Sam Fathers, Texual Identity, Chicken Little, Macon Dead, Ralph Ellison, Chloe Wofford, Hannah Peace, Pecola Breedlove, Uncle Torn's Cabin, Chloe Anthony Wofford, Jadine Childs, Etienne Bon, Stowe's Christian, Virginia Woolf New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
As Kwame Anthony Appiah has noted, although contemporary scientific thinking largely disavows cultural notions of essential racial difference, race still matters because "races are like witches: how-ever unreal witches are, belief in witches, like belief in races, has had-and in many communities continues to have profound consequences for human social life" (277). Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
identifying fictions, useable identity, introductory identifications, aesthetic past, artist manqué, disinterested interest, tar baby, ancient properties Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Bluest Eye, Baby Suggs, Soaphead Church, Seven Days, African Americans, Milkman Dead, Golden Gray, Uncle Tom, Charles Bon, William Faulkner, Engendering Sexual, Sam Fathers, Texual Identity, Chicken Little, Macon Dead, Ralph Ellison, Chloe Wofford, Hannah Peace, Pecola Breedlove, Uncle Torn's Cabin, Chloe Anthony Wofford, Jadine Childs, Etienne Bon, Stowe's Christian, Virginia Woolf New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 83
books:
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2
books
cite this book:
- The Bluest Eye (Oprah's Book Club) by Toni Morrison on 46 pages
- Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison on 41 pages
- Tar Baby by Toni Morrison on 35 pages
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison on 8 pages
- Absalom, Absalom! The Corrected Text by William Faulkner on 5 pages
See all 83 books this book cites
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