Toni Morrison and the Queer Pleasure of Ghosts
By: Juda Bennett
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Albany
Language: eng
Number of pages: 203
ISBN-13: 9781438453552
Subjects: Criticism and interpretation
Description: "Toni Morrison and the Queer Pleasure of Ghosts radically intervenes in one of the most established and sacred topics in Toni Morrison scholarship, love. Moving beyond Morrison's representation of ghosts as the forgotten or occluded past, Juda Bennett uncovers how Morrison imagines the spectral sphere as always already queer, a provocation and challenge to heteronormativity--with the ghost appearing as an active participant in disruptions of compulsory heterosexuality, as a figure embodying closet desires, or as a disembodied emanation that counterpoints homophobia. From The Bluest Eye to Home, Morrison's novels have included many queer ghosts that challenge our most cherished conceptions of love and speak to cultural anxieties about black sexualities, gay marriage, AIDS, lesbian visibility, and transgender identities. Not surprisingly, the scene-stealing ghost Beloved appears at the very heart of this book, but Bennett cautions against interpretative stasis, inviting readers to break free of the stranglehold Beloved has had on imaginations, so as not to miss the full force of Morrison's lifelong project to queer love." -- Publisher's description
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-191) and index.
Table of contents: title: Spirit: Sula haunts Beloved; title: Houses: Beloved haunts Paradise; title: Matriarchy: Paradise haunts Love; title: Music: Love haunts Song of Solomon; title: Voice: Song of Solomon haunts Jazz; title: Blackness: Jazz haunts Tar Baby; title: Whiteness: Tar Baby haunts a Mercy; title: Mutable bodies: the Bluest Eye haunts Home.