Toni Morrison and the Queer Pleasure of Ghosts (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781438453552)

Toni Morrison and the Queer Pleasure of Ghosts radically intervenes in one of the most established and sacred topics in Toni Morrison scholarship, love. Moving beyond Morrison's representation of ghosts as the forgotten or occluded past, Juda Bennett uncovers how Morrison imagines the spectral sphere as always already queer, a provocation and challenge to heteronormativity--with the ghost appearing as an active participant in disruptions of compulsory heterosexuality, as a figure embodying closet desires, or as a disembodied emanation that counterpoints homophobia. From The Bluest Eye to Home, Morrison's novels have included many queer ghosts that challenge our most cherished conceptions of love and speak to cultural anxieties about black sexualities, gay marriage, AIDS, lesbian visibility, and transgender identities. Not surprisingly, the scene-stealing ghost Beloved appears at the very heart of this book, but Bennett cautions against interpretative stasis, inviting readers to break free of the stranglehold Beloved has had on imaginations, so as not to miss the full force of Morrison's lifelong project to queer love.

Author: Juda Bennett
ISBN-10: 1438453558
ISBN-13: 9781438453552
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Language: English
Published: 12/01/2014
Pages: 215
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.50h x 6.40w x 0.80d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 06/01/2015 pg. 1652