ENGL 291: The American Novel Since 1945
Lecture 13 - Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye. Professor Hungerford draws a contrast between Toni Morrison and most of the writers studied up to this point in the course by pointing out how, for an African-American woman writer in particular, language is a site of violence. For all of her power to recuperate the voices of the oppressed, the novelist must be wary of the ways that breaking the silence, too, can constitute an act of invasion. As in the case of Pynchon, the word in The Bluest Eye enacts a near-physical touch; this is its pleasure and its danger. With inimitable complexity and grace, Morrison weaves her narrative around a young black girl who, in the void of her social persona, constructs a beautiful and poisonous fiction. (from oyc.yale.edu)
Lecture 13 - Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye |
Time | Lecture Chapters |
[00:00:00] | 1. Morrison's Politics: The Other Side of the 1960s |
[00:07:16] | 2. Choosing a Form: Morrison's Use of the Novel |
[00:16:40] | 3. Complicated Sympathy: Cholly Breedlove |
[00:31:15] | 4. Negativities: The Other Engine of Narrative |
[00:42:56] | 5. Reading, Rape and Race: Poison in the Canon |
References |
Lecture 13 - Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye Instructor: Professor Amy Hungerford. Transcript [html]. Audio [mp3]. Download Video [mov]. |
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