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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
An Analysis of Toni Morrison's Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination

An Analysis of Toni Morrison's Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination

Jakubowicz, Karina
Perchard, Adam

Paperback

Series: Macat Library

Literary Criticism

ISBN10: 1912128918
ISBN13: 9781912128914
Publisher: Macat Library
Published: Jul 15 2017
Pages: 112
Weight: 0.23
Height: 0.21 Width: 5.06 Depth: 7.81
Language: English

Toni Morrison's Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination is a seminal piece of literary criticism, and a masterclass in the critical thinking skill of interpretation.

Interpretation plays a vital role in critical thinking: it focuses on interrogating accepted meanings and laying down clear definitions on which a strong argument can be built. Both history and literary history in the US have frequently revolved around understanding how Americans define themselves and each other, and Morrison's work seeks to investigate, question, and redefine one of the central concepts in American history and American literary history: color.. Morrison turned to the classics of American literature to ask how authors had chosen to define the terms 'black' and 'white.' Instead of accepting traditional interpretations of these works, Morrison examined the way in which 'whiteness' defines itself through 'blackness, ' and vice versa. Black bondage and the myths of black inferiority and savagery, she showed, allowed white America to indulge its own defining myths - viewing itself as free, civilized, and innocent.

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