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Work #1104 · Mid

Song of Solomon

Toni Morrison
1977 · English
Novel · African-American literature / Magical realism

Morrison's 1977 novel — Milkman Dead, the flying African ancestor Solomon, the search for the inherited name

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Song of Solomon (Mid)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Non-Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Bi-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Partial
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Singular
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Impersonal
Observer · Moral Authority Tradition
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Reversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Variable
Information · Personal Conservation Variable
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Song of Solomon

The 1931-1963 narrative time; the wider African-American historical sweep.

Space

Song of Solomon

The Northern Black community and the ancestral Virginia setting.

Matter

Song of Solomon

The embodied Dead family and the African material inheritance.

Observer

Song of Solomon

Milkman as participant-observer-protagonist of his own bildungsroman.

Energy

Song of Solomon

The mythic-historical energies of African-American ancestry.

Information

Song of Solomon

The lineage-story and the inherited African song.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Song of Solomon

Song of Solomon has been universally canonical; debates concern the proper interpretation of the flying-African ending — literal flight, suicide, mythic apotheosis.