How Long to Read Spectrality in the Novels of Toni Morrison

How Long Does it Take to Read Spectrality in the Novels of Toni Morrison?

It takes the average reader 3 hours and 27 minutes to read Spectrality in the Novels of Toni Morrison by Melanie R. Anderson

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

At first glance, Beloved would appear to be the only “ghost story” among Toni Morrison’s nine novels, but as this provocative new study shows, spectral presences and places abound in the celebrated author’s fiction. Melanie R. Anderson explores how Morrison uses specters to bring the traumas of African American life to the forefront, highlighting histories and experiences, both cultural and personal, that society at large too frequently ignores. Working against the background of magical realism, while simultaneously expanding notions of the supernatural within American and African American writing, Morrison peoples her novels with what Anderson identifies as two distinctive types of ghosts: spectral figures and social ghosts. Deconstructing Western binaries, Morrison uses the spectral to indicate power through its transcendence of corporality, temporality, and explication, and she employs the ghostly as a metaphor of erasure for living characters who are marginalized and haunt the edges of their communities. The interaction of these social ghosts with the spectral presences functions as a transformative healing process that draws the marginalized figure out of the shadows and creates links across ruptures between generations and between past and present, life and death. This book examines how these relationships become increasingly more prominent in the novelist’s canon—from their beginnings in The Bluest Eye and Sula, to their flowering in the trilogy that comprises Beloved, Jazz, and Paradise, and onward into A Mercy. An important contribution to the understanding of one of America’s premier fiction writers, Spectrality in the Novels of Toni Morrison demonstrates how the Nobel laureate’s powerful and challenging works give presence to the invisible, voice to the previously silenced, and agency to the oppressed outsiders who are refused a space in which to narrate their stories.

How long is Spectrality in the Novels of Toni Morrison?

Spectrality in the Novels of Toni Morrison by Melanie R. Anderson is 204 pages long, and a total of 51,816 words.

This makes it 69% the length of the average book. It also has 63% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read Spectrality in the Novels of Toni Morrison Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 4 hours and 43 minutes to read Spectrality in the Novels of Toni Morrison aloud.

What Reading Level is Spectrality in the Novels of Toni Morrison?

Spectrality in the Novels of Toni Morrison is suitable for students ages 12 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy Spectrality in the Novels of Toni Morrison?

Spectrality in the Novels of Toni Morrison by Melanie R. Anderson is sold by several retailers and bookshops. However, Read Time works with Amazon to provide an easier way to purchase books.

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