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Dear Marita, As The Purple Flower (1928) opens, we are told that we are in “The Middle-of-Things-as-They-are”, in an unusual setting: “Might be here, there or anywhere—or…… Read more “And the flower is still up on the hillside”
Tag: racism
Careering along like drunken drivers
Dear Shelagh, A Taste of Honey (1958) centres on teenage Jo and her mother, Helen. They are always falling behind on rent, and, as the story starts,…… Read more “Careering along like drunken drivers”
When will thy sublime maxim pierce the human hearts,
Dear Maria Firmina, Úrsula (c.1859) is a tale of two books. On the one hand, we have a doomed love story between the eponymous heroine and a…… Read more “When will thy sublime maxim pierce the human hearts,”
What was common could also be a flower
Dear Gwendolyn, Maud Martha (1953) centres on a working-class black girl coming of age in pre-WWII Chicago. When the story opens, the eponymous protagonist is about seven yeas…… Read more “What was common could also be a flower”
Stolen waters are the sweetest
Dear Jessie, Plum Bun: A Novel Without a Moral (1928) centres on Angela Murray, a middle-class girl from a black family in Philadelphia. Angela and her mother, Mattie,…… Read more “Stolen waters are the sweetest”
A fire around my soul
Dear Frances, Iola Leroy; or, Shadows Uplifted (1892) centres on the eponymous heroine, Iola Leroy, the daughter of a white slave owner and one of his slaves.…… Read more “A fire around my soul”
It isn’t a circle–it is simply a long line
Dear Lorraine, I love how inconclusive your portrait of a 1950’s working-class African American family is in A Raisin in the Sun (1959) – the way it…… Read more “It isn’t a circle–it is simply a long line”
Appearances, she knew now, had a way sometimes of not fitting facts
Dear Nella, Passing (1929) is a book about being labelled, being defined by other people based on what they see (and on the prejudices they carry). It…… Read more “Appearances, she knew now, had a way sometimes of not fitting facts”
My spirit rose to meet this challenge
Dear Jamaica, The Autobiography of My Mother (1996) is an exploration of the self as other – and back. The book is centred on Xuela Claudette Richardson,…… Read more “My spirit rose to meet this challenge”
For this book is the talking voice that runs on,
Dear Stevie, Once I entered your Novel on Yellow Paper (1936), I immediately noticed three things: that I was being held captive; that I was complicit in…… Read more “For this book is the talking voice that runs on,”
And it could have been any street in the city
Dear Ann, How can one write a naturalist novel and still convey strong symbolic effect? I don’t know the answer, but I think you achieved that. The…… Read more “And it could have been any street in the city”
They didn’t dare before; now they do, that’s all
Dear Anna, I was halfway through Manja (tr. Kate Phillips, 2003. Manja: Ein Roman um 5 Kinder, 1938) this past week, when your book acquired a new…… Read more “They didn’t dare before; now they do, that’s all”
Somewhere, within her, in a deep recess,
Dear Nella, I’m impressed by how autobiographical your novel Quicksand is. The protagonist, Helga Crane, much like yourself, is the daughter of a Scandinavian mother and a…… Read more “Somewhere, within her, in a deep recess,”
Some of us cried
Dear Julie, Your second novel, The Buddha in the Attic, centers around Japanese women brought over to San Francisco as picture brides, in the early 1900s, to…… Read more “Some of us cried”
it’s the wound that knows the texture of the pain
Dear Elizabeth, I admit I was a bit reluctant to read your novel We need new names (2013). It covered all the topics typically considered “African” by…… Read more “it’s the wound that knows the texture of the pain”
