Literary Criticism - General & Miscellaneous, 20th Century American Literature - General & Miscellaneous - Literary Criticism, Society & Culture in Literature, Literary Criticism - U.S. Fiction & Prose Literature - General & Miscellaneous, United States H
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Overview
All My Relatives challenges the prevailing notion that the work of all American writers reflects a sense of determined individualism. Highlighting works by Frank Chin, Sandra Cisneros, Maxine Hong Kingston, N. Scott Momaday, Tomas Rivera, Leslie Marmon Silko, Alice Walker, and John Edgar Wideman, Bonnie TuSmith shows that a "first language of community" exists within the cultures of ethnic Americans and is evident in their literary texts. TuSmith suggests that the proper understanding of these texts demands that we dismiss an interpretive frame borrowed from European-American literature.All My Relatives provides a new way of reading popular works such as The Woman Warrior, The Joy Luck Club, The Color Purple and John Edgar Wideman's Sent for You Yesterday. TuSmith's study will appeal to general readers as well as students and scholars of American culture, ethnic studies, and American literature.
"An original contribution to the field. TuSmith's willingness to step over invisible boundaries and to draw parallels between the cultural contexts of several ethnic groups at once is refreshing and important." --Amy Ling, University of Wisconsin, Madison
"Ambitious and timely . . . a significant work that Americanists will want to read. TuSmith does an excellent job of clarifying the meaning and significance of the term "ethnicity" in relation to American literature."--Ramón Saldívar, Stanford University
". . . TuSmith establishes the importance of traditional (usually oral) modes of expression to ethnic texts that are both relational and accessible . . . . [S]hould become a standard point of reference in the emerging field of comparative American literature."--Choice
Bonnie TuSmith is Assistant Professor of English, Bowling Green State University.
Editorials
Library Journal
Through knowledgeable analyses of works by such writers as Alice Walker and N. Scott Momaday, TuSmith (English, Bowling Green State Univ.) demonstrates (in some cases better than others) that while the ``typical'' American novel portrays a lone hero/ine acting against society for individual success, ethnic American fiction (Asian, African, Native American, and Chicano) tends to portray the protagonist interacting with his/her community. Thus, a successful hero/ine is someone who reaffirms communal values. More importantly, TuSmith shows the value of judging this fiction on its own turf, not from a Eurocentric aesthetic. This book is recommended for academic libraries, but it may appeal to some public libraries as well.-- Chuck Malenfant, Ariz. State Univ., TempeBook Details
Published
August 31, 1994
Publisher
[Ann Arbor] University of Michigan Press 1994
Pages
232
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780472082858