Society, Culture, and the Gothic - Toni Morrison (Essay Date 1992)
TONI MORRISON (ESSAY DATE 1992)
SOURCE: Morrison, Toni. “Romancing the Shadow.” In Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination. 1992. Reprint, pp. 31-59. New York: Vintage Books, 1993.
In the following essay, originally published in 1992, Morrison illuminates the role of Gothic literature in expressing “American Africanism,” a view of blackness and whiteness within a societal and cultural context.
At the end of The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, Edgar Allan Poe describes the last two days of an extraordinary journey:
“March 21st.—A sullen darkness now hovered above us—but from out the milky depths of the ocean a luminous glare arose, and stole up along the bulwarks of the boat. We were nearly overwhelmed by the white ashy shower which settled upon us and upon the canoe, but melted into the water as it fell…
“March...
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