Tessa Roynon

Daniel Orrells

Gurminder K. Bhambra

African Athena examines the history of intellectuals and literary writers who contested the white, dominant Euro-American constructions of the classical past and its influence on the present.

New Agendas

African Athena

Toni Morrison has written some of the most significant and demanding fiction of the modern age. Her dazzling depictions of African-American experience are studied in high schools and colleges, debated in the media and analyzed by scholars at an astounding rate. This Introduction offers readers a guide to the world of Morrison in all its complexity, from her status as a key player on the global intellectual stage to her unique perspective on American history and her innovative narrative techniques. Covering every novel from The Bluest Eye to A Mercy, Tessa Roynon combines close readings with critical insights into Morrison's other creative work, such as short stories, libretto and song lyrics and unpublished pieces for performance. Lively and accessibly written, Roynon's insightful text is ideal for readers approaching Morrison for the first time as well as those familiar with her work.

The Cambridge Introduction to Toni Morrison

In this volume, Roynon explores Toni Morrison's widespread engagement with ancient Greek and Roman tradition. Discussing all ten of her published novels to date, as well as her extensive non-fiction, she examines the ways in which classical myth, literature, history, social practice, and religious ritual make their presence felt in Morrison's writing. Combining original and detailed close readings with broader theoretical discussions, which contexualize thosereadings within current debates about the politics of race and gender, she argues that Morrison's classical allusiveness is characterized by a strategic ambivalence. Adopting a thematic, rather thannovel-by-novel approach, Roynon demonstrates that Morrison's classicism is fundamental to the transformative critique of American culture that her work effects.

Transforming American Culture

Toni Morrison and the Classical Tradition

Lively and accessibly written, this Introduction offers readers a guide to the complex and rewarding literature of Toni Morrison.

Tessa Roynon

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