Title Re-forming the past : history, the fantastic, and the postmodern slave narrative / A. Timothy Spaulding

Published Columbus : Ohio State University Press, ©2005

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Description 1 online resource (x, 148 pages) Contents Introduction -- The slave narrative and its postmodern counterpart -- The conflation of time in Ishmael Reed's Flight to Canada and Octavia Butler's Kindred -- Ghosts, haunted houses, and the legacy of slavery : Toni Morrison's Beloved and the gothic impulse -- Re-forming Black subjectivity : symbolic transculturation in Charles Johnson's Oxherding tale and Middle passage -- Beyond postmodernity : de-familiarizing the postmodern slave narrative Summary "In Re-Forming the Past, A. Timothy Spaulding examines contemporary revisions of slave narratives that use elements of the fantastic to redefine the historical and literary constructions of American slavery. In their rejection of mimetic representation and traditional historiography, postmodern slave narratives such as Ishmael Reed's Flight to Canada, Octavia Butler's Kindred, Toni Morrison's Beloved, Charles Johnson's Ox Herding Tale and Middle Passage, Jewelle Gomez's The Gilda Stories, and Samuel Delany's Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand set out to counter the usual slave narrative's reliance on realism and objectivity by creating alternative histories based on subjective, fantastic, and non-realistic representations of slavery. As these texts critique traditional conceptions of history, identity, and aesthetic form, they simultaneously re-invest these concepts with a political agency that harkens back to the original project of the 19th-century slave narratives." "In their rejection of mimetic representation and traditional historiography, Spaulding contextualizes postmodern slave narrative. By addressing both literary and popular African American texts, Re-Forming the Past expands discussions of both the African American literary tradition and postmodern culture."--Jacket Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 139-143) and index Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL Print version record Subject Johnson, Charles, 1948- -- Knowledge -- History Reed, Ishmael, 1938- Flight to Canada Butler, Octavia E. Kindred. Morrison, Toni. Beloved. SUBJECT Morrison, Toni. Beloved Butler, Octavia E. Kindred Reed, Ishmael, 1938- Flight to Canada Johnson, Charles Richard, 1948- -- Knowledge -- History Johnson, Charles, 1948- fast Johnson, Charles, 1948-. (NL-LeOCL)072150602 nta Reed, Ishmael, 1938-. (NL-LeOCL)069687900 nta Butler, Octavia E., 1947-. (NL-LeOCL)073038016 nta Morrison, Toni , 1931-. (NL-LeOCL)070676054 nta Gomez, Jewelle, 1948-. (NL-LeOCL)101838816 nta Delany, Samuel, 1942-. (NL-LeOCL)071402098 nta Kindred (Butler, Octavia E.) fast Beloved (Morrison, Toni) fast Flight to Canada (Reed, Ishmael) fast Subject American fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism Slavery in literature. American fiction -- African American authors -- History and criticism Historical fiction, American -- History and criticism Fantasy fiction, American -- History and criticism Postmodernism (Literature) -- United States African Americans in literature. African Americans in literature American fiction History Fantasy fiction, American Historical fiction, American Postmodernism (Literature) Slavery in literature American fiction -- African American authors Das Fantastische Roman Schwarze Sklave Motiv Fictie. Amerikaans. Slaven (arbeid) Slavernij. Postmodernisme. Zwarten. Slaves in literature. 18.06 Anglo-American literature. United States USA Schwärze Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. Form Electronic book LC no. 2005003203 ISBN 0814272754 9780814272756

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