Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon A Casebook [Paperback]

The essays in this volume represent the major currents in critical thinking aboutSong of Solomon, Toni Morrison's widely acclaimed examination of the individual quest for self-knowledge in the context of the African-American experience. This collection offers a broad overview of the scholarship that has emerged in the decades since the 1977 publication of Morrison's third novel. These essays provide a map of the primary themes ofSong of Solomon, covering subjects such as self-identity, the rituals of manhood and reading, and the importance of naming, and also explore the novel's incorporation of African myth and African-American folklore. The casebook opens with The People Could Fly, the African folktale from whichSong of Solomondraws important aspects of its plot and major theme, and closes with an interview with Toni Morrison about her life and work as a novelist.

Introduction
People Who Could Fly,Julius Lester
Part I: Quest for Identity
The Quest for and Discovery of Identity in Toni Morrison'sSong of Solomon,Valerie Smith
The South in Toni Morrison'sSong of Solomon: Initiation, Healing, and Home,Catherine Carr Lee
Part II: Myth and Folklore
Unruly and Let Loose : Myth, Ideology, and Gender inSong of Solomon,Michael Awkward
Song of Solomon: Rejecting Rank's Monomyth and Feminism,Gerry Brenner
Part III: Narrative Influence
Doe Hunting and Masculinity:Song of SolomonandGo Down, Moses,John N. Duvall
Civilizations Underneath: African Heritage as Cultural Discourse in Toni Morrison'sSong of Solomon,Gay Wilentz
Toni Morrison'sSong of Solomon: A Blues Song,Joyce M. Wegs
Names to Bear Witness: The Theme and Tradition of Naming in Toni Morrison'sSong of Solomon,Lucinda H. MacKethl39