My Amputations (Masterplots II: African American Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Clarence Major
- First Published: 1986
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Picaresque
- Time of Work: The 1980’s
- Setting: The United States, Europe, and Africa
- Principal Characters: Mason Ellis, Chiro, Painted Turtle, Judith Williams, Edith Levine, Jesus, Brad, John Armegurn, The Author
- Genres: Long fiction, Bildungsroman, Antistory, Picaresque fiction
- Subjects: African Americans, Discrimination, Self-discovery, United States or Americans, Africa or Africans, Racism, Sex or sexuality, Crime or criminals, Authors or writers, Europe or Europeans, Friendship, 1980’s, Native Americans or American Indians, Violence, Robbery or robbers, Truth, Hallucinations or illusions, Lectures or lecturing
- Locales: Africa, Europe, United States
The Novel
My Amputations is a postmodernist experimental novel that combines picaresque and Bildungsroman techniques in a story about Mason Ellis and his search for an African American identity. Written in short episodes, the novel narrates the escapades of Mason from child to Air Force serviceman to hoodlum and bank robber and then to lecturer. His ultimate con is to receive $50,000 a year from the Magnan-Rockford Foundation. The novel is a complex blend of Mason’s past with his dreams and hallucinations. Fragments of his own novel are interjected into a...
[The entire page is 2679 words long]
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