Playing in the Dark | 
^p78 twisting language to preserve white character‘s agency & perspective in “To Have and Have Not.” Wesley can‘t even yell “Fish!”—Harry has to “saw he had seen” the fish.
“A better, certainly more graceful choice would have been to have the black man cry out at the sighting.” Observations, small details.
P30 “The ability of writers to imagine what is not the self, to familiarize the strange and mystify the familiar, is the test of their power.”
pickStrong piece. “American Africanism” as an OTHERED Blackness, a “fabricated presence” as foil for white characters. 1992
P77 “Eddie is white, and we know he is because nobody says so.”
P93 “Studies in American Africanism, in my view, should be investigations of the ways in which a nonwhite, Africanist presence and persona have been constructed—invented—in the United States, and of the literary uses this fabricated presence has served.”
pickI picked this up because, in her brilliant essay collection “How to Read Now,” Elaine Castillo praises its importance in the quest to read critically. Morrison‘s use of academic language gave me a challenge but I really appreciated engaging with her ideas about the literary imagination.
All of us, readers and writers, are bereft when criticism remains too polite or too fearful to notice a disrupting darkness before its eyes.
"A criticism that needs to insist that literature is not only "universal" but also "race-free" risks lobotomizing that literature, and diminishes both the art and the artist."
pickLiterary criticism can be over my head and often was here bc of Morrison‘s genius. But there was great social commentary and analysis too, and I loved every bit of that. Certain lines could pass for direct responses to American exceptionalism, January 6th, etc. I haven‘t read her fiction in forever and am eager to return to it after being reminded of what a brilliant wordsmith she was.
"Through the simple expedient of demonizing and reifying the range of color on a pallette, American Africanism makes it possible to say and not say, to inscribe and erase, to escape and engage, to act out and act on, to historicize and render timeless. It provides a way of contemplating chaos and civilization, desire and fear, and a mechanism for testing the problems and blessings of freedom."
This year has been hellish for me in my struggle with mental health. Just awful. Joining this book club (SBG) was my step back into the world of enjoying books and socializing and it really helped me ❤ I never would have picked up something like Playing in the Dark on my own, but I love it so far and I'm so happy it was the exploration track pick this month. I started writing again this past year as well, and this book speaks to my love of both.
"Writing and reading are not all that distinct for a writer. Both exercises require being alert and ready for unaccountable beauty, for the intricateness of simple elegance in the writer's imagination, for the world that imagination evokes."
so-soThis is scholarly writing, delivered as literary criticism, about race in well-known writers‘ works: Poe, Melville, Cather, Twain, Hemingway.
#authoramonth2020 @Soubhiville
#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks
pickToni Morrison always makes you really think. Never an easy read, but always worth it. I will say I love her fiction better.
Africanism is the vehicle by which the American self knows itself as not enslaved, but free; not
repulsive, but desirable; not helpless, but licensed and powerful, not history-less, but
historical; not damned, but innocent; not a blind accident of evolution, but a progressive
fulfillment of destiny‘‘
Toni Morrison dropping some truth bombs all over Huckleberry Finn. The scene between Tom, Huck, and Jim near the end of the novel was always one that I found to be disturbing and complicated the entire novel for me. I'm glad to see Morrison analyze it with sophistication and clarity. #books #tonimorrison #americanlit #criticism #literarycriticism
pickWe don't deserve the magnificent being that is Toni Morrison.
Currently reading. #photoadaynov16 #publishedinthe90s #overit
My first #readathon experience was a huge success (thanks to the #heatdome and air conditioning for keeping me indoors!) and I had a great time sharing the experience with other amazing readers! These are my completed reads, which are about 1/2 of my #24in48 TBR pile.
My spread for a delightful #readinglunch, including my favorite summer beverage, a G&T with lots of lime. About 30 seconds after this picture was taken, I was forced inside by a semi-swarm of wasps who were as interested in the food as I was. Oh well. #24in48 #readathon
picktimely and timeless. fascinating critical analysis. while the focus is squarely on literary criticism--and how there is a major aspect lacking, as of 1992 anyway--Ms Morrison's theory is applicable to culture. if you want to understand race in America, this is an integral text.
next up. just rediscovered this on my over-stuffed, double-row'd bookshelf. it was actually a gift from '92. looking forward to it. will likely intersperse with a fiction book. got to sit w/ Ms Morrison's words as i go.
