Maxine Lavon Montgomery – författare

Exploring postapocalypticism in the Black literary and cultural tradition, this book extends the scholarly conversation on Afro-futurist canon formation through an examination of futuristic imaginaries in representative twentieth and twenty-first century works of literature and expressive culture by Black women in an African diasporic setting.The author demonstrates the implications of Afro-futurist literary criticism for Black Atlantic literary and critical theory, investigating issues of hybridity, transcending boundaries, temporality and historical recuperation.Covering writers including Octavia Butler, Edwidge Danticat, Nalo Hopkinson, Toni Morrison, Jesmyn Ward and Beyoncé, this book examines the ways Black women artists attempt to recover a raced and gendered heritage, and how they explore an evolving social order that is both connected to and distinct from the past.

Exploring postapocalypticism in the Black literary and cultural tradition, this book extends the scholarly conversation on Afro-futurist canon formation through an examination of futuristic imaginaries in representative twentieth and twenty-first century works of literature and expressive culture by Black women in an African diasporic setting.The author demonstrates the implications of Afro-futurist literary criticism for Black Atlantic literary and critical theory, investigating issues of hybridity, transcending boundaries, temporality and historical recuperation.Covering writers including Octavia Butler, Edwidge Danticat, Nalo Hopkinson, Toni Morrison, Jesmyn Ward and Beyoncé, this book examines the ways Black women artists attempt to recover a raced and gendered heritage, and how they explore an evolving social order that is both connected to and distinct from the past.

This volume sheds a much-needed light on Edwidge Danticat (b. 1969) and her ability to depict timely issues in sparkling prose that delves deep into the borderlands, an uncharted in-between space located outside fixed geographic, cultural, and ideological bounds. Prevalent throughout many interviews here is Danticat’s expressed determination not only to reveal Haitian immigrant experience, but also to make that nuanced culture and its vibrant traditions accessible to a wide audience.These interviews coincide with Edwidge Danticat’s evolving artistic vision, her steady book publication, and her expanding roles as fiction writer, essayist, memoirist, documentarian, young adult book author, editor, songwriter, cultural critic, and political commentator. Dating from her appearance on the literary scene at the age of twenty-five, the many interviews that she has granted attest to not only her productivity, but also her accessibility to scholars, teachers, writers, and journalists eager for knowledgeabout her vision. Included in this volume are interviews that range from 2000, covering the publication of her debut work of fiction, Breath, Eyes, Memory, to a personal interview conducted with the volume editor in 2016. In that conversation, which appears for the first time as part of this collection, Danticat provides insight intolittle-known aspects of her life, art, and politics.Her candid interviews carry out a careful stripping away of preconceived notions of Danticat, disclosing the private and public life of a first-class writer and intellectual whose countless achievements have assured her an enduring place within contemporary world letters.

This volume sheds a much-needed light on Edwidge Danticat (b. 1969) and her ability to depict timely issues in sparkling prose that delves deep into the borderlands, an uncharted in-between space located outside fixed geographic, cultural, and ideological bounds. Prevalent throughout many interviews here is Danticat's expressed determination not only to reveal Haitian immigrant experience, but also to make that nuanced culture and its vibrant traditions accessible to a wide audience.These interviews coincide with Edwidge Danticat's evolving artistic vision, her steady book publication, and her expanding roles as fiction writer, essayist, memoirist, documentarian, young adult book author, editor, songwriter, cultural critic, and political commentator. Dating from her appearance on the literary scene at the age of twenty-five, the many interviews that she has granted attest to not only her productivity, but also her accessibility to scholars, teachers, writers, and journalists eager for knowledge about her vision. Included in this volume are interviews that range from 2000, covering the publication of her debut work of fiction, Breath, Eyes, Memory, to a personal interview conducted with the volume editor in 2016. In that conversation, which appears for the first time as part of this collection, Danticat provides insight into little-known aspects of her life, art, and politics.Her candid interviews carry out a careful stripping away of preconceived notions of Danticat, disclosing the private and public life of a first-class writer and intellectual whose countless achievements have assured her an enduring place within contemporary world letters.

Contributions by Alice Knox Eaton, Mar Gallego, Maxine Lavon Montgomery, Evelyn Jaffe Schreiber, Shirley A. Stave, Justine Tally, Susana Vega-González, and Anissa WardiIn her eleventh novel, God Help the Child, Toni Morrison returned to several of the signature themes explored in her previous work: pernicious beauty standards for women, particularly African American women; mother-child relationships; racism and colorism; and child sexual abuse. God Help the Child, published in 2015, is set in the contemporary period, unlike all of her previous novels. The contemporary setting is ultimately incidental to the project of the novel, however; as with Morrison's other work, the story takes on mythic qualities, and the larger-than-life themes lend themselves to allegorical and symbolic readings that resonate in light of both contemporary and historical issues.New Critical Essays on Toni Morrison's "God Help the Child": Race, Culture, and History, a collection of eight essays by both seasoned Morrison scholars as well as new and rising scholars, takes on the novel in a nuanced and insightful analysis, interpreting the novel in relation to Morrison's earlier work as well as locating it within ongoing debates in literary and other academic disciplines engaged with African American literature. The volume is divided into three sections. The first focuses on trauma - both the pain and suffering caused by neglect and abuse, as well as healing and understanding. The second section considers narrative choices, concentrating on experimentation and reader engagement. The third section turns a comparative eye to Morrison's fictional canon, from her debut work of fiction, The Bluest Eye, until the present.These essays build on previous studies of Morrison's novels and deepen readers'understanding of both her last novel and her larger literary output.

Contributions by Alice Knox Eaton, Mar Gallego, Maxine Lavon Montgomery, Evelyn Jaffe Schreiber, Shirley A. Stave, Justine Tally, Susana Vega-González, and Anissa WardiIn her eleventh novel, God Help the Child, Toni Morrison returned to several of the signature themes explored in her previous work: pernicious beauty standards for women, particularly African American women; mother-child relationships; racism and colorism; and child sexual abuse. God Help the Child, published in 2015, is set in the contemporary period, unlike all of her previous novels. The contemporary setting is ultimately incidental to the project of the novel, however; as with Morrison's other work, the story takes on mythic qualities, and the larger-than-life themes lend themselves to allegorical and symbolic readings that resonate in light of both contemporary and historical issues.New Critical Essays on Toni Morrison's "God Help the Child": Race, Culture, and History, a collection of eight essays by both seasoned Morrison scholars as well as new and rising scholars, takes on the novel in a nuanced and insightful analysis, interpreting the novel in relation to Morrison's earlier work as well as locating it within ongoing debates in literary and other academic disciplines engaged with African American literature. The volume is divided into three sections. The first focuses on trauma - both the pain and suffering caused by neglect and abuse, as well as healing and understanding. The second section considers narrative choices, concentrating on experimentation and reader engagement. The third section turns a comparative eye to Morrison's fictional canon, from her debut work of fiction, The Bluest Eye, until the present.These essays build on previous studies of Morrison's novels and deepen readers'understanding of both her last novel and her larger literary output.

Contributions by Suzanne M. Edwards, Mary C. Foltz, Randi K. Gill-Sadler, Lauren Gilmore, Mahaliah Ayana Little, Michelle Loris, Maxine Lavon Montgomery, Kiana T. Murphy, Jennifer O’Reilly, Isaiah Frost Rivera, Elizabeth Rivlin, Annie Strausa, and Jennifer D. Williams Although she is best known through her published novels, acclaimed author Gloria Naylor (1950–2016) also worked behind the scenes as an archivist, curating an expansive record of the cultural, professional, and personal influences relevant to her literary production. She preserved drafts of works-in-progress, research materials, correspondence with fans and literary luminaries, travel itineraries, journal entries, photographs, newspaper clippings, and ephemera. The Gloria Naylor Archive (GNA) was founded in 2009 when Gloria Naylor donated her collected papers to Sacred Heart University. It offers rich insights into her writing process, the intellectual histories with which she was in dialogue, and late twentieth-century global literary networks that inspired her creative production. Gloria Naylor in the Archives examines how the archival sensibility in her novels connects with her own complementary curatorial praxis. Together, the essays in this volume position Naylor’s archival praxis as an integral part of her creative vision, important to understanding her interventions into twentieth-century intellectual and literary history. Connecting archival materials to her published novels, Gloria Naylor in the Archives excavates Naylor’s multifaceted strategies of historical recovery in her fiction and her private papers, exploring the varied ways in which they counter the erasure, silence, and misrepresentation of Black communities within institutional, state, and academic archives. In conversation with Naylor’s own record-keeping practices, her novels highlight the importance of archives developed, kept, and preserved by Black women in the service of emancipation.

Contributions by Suzanne M. Edwards, Mary C. Foltz, Randi K. Gill-Sadler, Lauren Gilmore, Mahaliah Ayana Little, Michelle Loris, Maxine Lavon Montgomery, Kiana T. Murphy, Jennifer O’Reilly, Isaiah Frost Rivera, Elizabeth Rivlin, Annie Strausa, and Jennifer D. Williams Although she is best known through her published novels, acclaimed author Gloria Naylor (1950–2016) also worked behind the scenes as an archivist, curating an expansive record of the cultural, professional, and personal influences relevant to her literary production. She preserved drafts of works-in-progress, research materials, correspondence with fans and literary luminaries, travel itineraries, journal entries, photographs, newspaper clippings, and ephemera. The Gloria Naylor Archive (GNA) was founded in 2009 when Gloria Naylor donated her collected papers to Sacred Heart University. It offers rich insights into her writing process, the intellectual histories with which she was in dialogue, and late twentieth-century global literary networks that inspired her creative production. Gloria Naylor in the Archives examines how the archival sensibility in her novels connects with her own complementary curatorial praxis. Together, the essays in this volume position Naylor’s archival praxis as an integral part of her creative vision, important to understanding her interventions into twentieth-century intellectual and literary history. Connecting archival materials to her published novels, Gloria Naylor in the Archives excavates Naylor’s multifaceted strategies of historical recovery in her fiction and her private papers, exploring the varied ways in which they counter the erasure, silence, and misrepresentation of Black communities within institutional, state, and academic archives. In conversation with Naylor’s own record-keeping practices, her novels highlight the importance of archives developed, kept, and preserved by Black women in the service of emancipation.