Black Women Novelists and the Nationalist Aesthetic

Ò . . . essential reading for anyone intrigued by the narrative craft and social impact of the novels of Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and Gayl Jones.Ó ÑClaudia Tate Drawing upon Black feminist theory, Madhu Dubey analyzes the marginalization of the Black woman in Black nationalist discourse. The Black Aesthetic movement, celebrated as the Òsecond renaissanceÓ of African American cultural history, radically redefined ÒBlacknessÓ and catalyzed an explosion in Black literature. But this discourse centered on the Black man, leaving the Black woman liberated racially, yet still confined by traditional gender definitions. In response, writers such as Toni Morrison, Gayl Jones, and Alice Walker challenged traditional models of Black female identity and generated their own visions of identity, community, and historical change.