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Afrofuturistic Reconstruction in Toni Morrison’s Paradise

Afrofuturistic Reconstruction in Toni Morrison’s Paradise Toni Morrison’s Paradise (1997) is a contemporary African American novel that has often been interpreted as either utopian, dystopian, or a gothic piece of literature. Scrutinizing the non-linearity of time in Paradise and connecting it to the historical events at the time the novel was written, we wish to highlight Morrison’s criticism of Eurocentric utopian traditions. Furthermore, we emphasize Morrison’s suggestion of reimagining a reconstructed future through re-examining African American history. By analyzing tropes of metaphorical time travel, parallel universes, and the jump in time integrated with the technology of the 1970s when the events of the novel occurred, we suggest that Paradise can be tackled from an Afrofuturistic lens to visualize a different future. Hence, we argue that Paradise is an Afrofuturistic novel that helps readers envision a new form of Reconstruction through mediating between African American history and technoculture. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of African American Studies Springer Journals

Afrofuturistic Reconstruction in Toni Morrison’s Paradise

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References (39)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
ISSN
1559-1646
eISSN
1936-4741
DOI
10.1007/s12111-023-09625-6
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Toni Morrison’s Paradise (1997) is a contemporary African American novel that has often been interpreted as either utopian, dystopian, or a gothic piece of literature. Scrutinizing the non-linearity of time in Paradise and connecting it to the historical events at the time the novel was written, we wish to highlight Morrison’s criticism of Eurocentric utopian traditions. Furthermore, we emphasize Morrison’s suggestion of reimagining a reconstructed future through re-examining African American history. By analyzing tropes of metaphorical time travel, parallel universes, and the jump in time integrated with the technology of the 1970s when the events of the novel occurred, we suggest that Paradise can be tackled from an Afrofuturistic lens to visualize a different future. Hence, we argue that Paradise is an Afrofuturistic novel that helps readers envision a new form of Reconstruction through mediating between African American history and technoculture.

Journal

Journal of African American Studies – Springer Journals

Published: Jun 1, 2023

Keywords: Reconstruction; Afrofuturism; Toni Morrison; African American literature; Utopian studies; Dystopian literature

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