Reading rigor mortis: offstage violence and excluded middles 'in' Johnson's 'Middle Passage' and Morrison's 'Beloved.' (authors Charles Johnson and Toni Morrison)

From: African American Review | Date: December 22, 1996| Author: O'Keefe, Vincent A. | Copyright information

Both Charles Johnson in his book 'Middle Passage' and Toni Morrison in her book 'Beloved' aim to 'decalcify' the perceptions of their readers that can narrow their viewpoints using very different methods. Their novels both recount the horrors of the 'Middle Passage' of African slaves bound for America and create a middle passage in the perceptions of a conservative readership.

In recent interviews and in Being & Race: Black Writing since 1970, Charles Johnson often stresses one of th...

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