Work #332 · Mid-late period

Playing in the Dark

Morrison's 1992 William E. Massey Lectures — whiteness and the literary imagination

Toni Morrison · 1992 (William E. Massey Lectures at Harvard, 1990) · English · Literary-critical essay

Tradition: African American literary criticism

Whiteness and the literary imagination — Morrison's 1992 Massey Lectures, the central African American literary-critical analysis of the canonical American literature

Playing in the Dark is Toni Morrison's major literary-critical work — based on the 1990 William E. Massey Lectures at Harvard. Morrison's central thesis: the American literary canon (Poe, Melville, Cather, Hemingway, others) has been profoundly shaped by what Morrison calls the "Africanist presence" — the construction of Black characters and racial themes serving as the symbolic ground against which white characters and themes are defined. The book is foundational for subsequent critical-race literary theory and the broader analysis of whiteness in American culture.

Author

Toni Morrison

Editions cited

Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination (Harvard University Press, 1992)

Compare this work

School Embodiments

Liberation Theology · 15%

Postmodernism · 15%

Pragmatic Realism · 10%

Realism · 10%

Constructivism · 15%

Structuralism · 10%

Phenomenology · 5%

Animism / Relational-Indigenous Worldview · 5%

Ubuntu / African Communal Ontology · 5%

Afrofuturism · 5%

Liberal Theology · 5%

Liberation Theology 15%

Sustained analysis of racial structural injustice in American literature.

"Racial structural analysis." (Playing in the Dark, paraphrasing)

Postmodernism 15%

Postmodern critical-race literary theory.

"Postmodern critical-race theory." (Playing in the Dark, paraphrasing)

Pragmatic Realism 10%

Working method: literary analysis tested against actual textual evidence.

"Literary analysis tested against texts." (Playing in the Dark, paraphrasing)

Realism 10%

Working realism about actual American literary-historical conditions.

"Real American literary-historical conditions." (Playing in the Dark, paraphrasing)

Constructivism 15%

Racial categories as historically-literarily constructed.

"Constructed racial categories." (Playing in the Dark, paraphrasing)

Structuralism 10%

Structural analysis of literary patterns.

"Structural literary analysis." (Playing in the Dark, paraphrasing)

Phenomenology 5%

Phenomenological engagement with racial perception in literature.

"Phenomenological racial perception." (Playing in the Dark, paraphrasing)

Animism / Relational-Indigenous Worldview 5%

The African-American literary tradition's spiritual-relational framework.

"African-American spiritual-relational framework." (Playing in the Dark, paraphrasing)

Ubuntu / African Communal Ontology 5%

Communal-relational framework engaged.

"Communal-relational framework." (Playing in the Dark, paraphrasing)

Afrofuturism 5%

Subsequent afrofuturist literary criticism builds on Morrison.

"Afrofuturist literary criticism." (Playing in the Dark, paraphrasing)

Liberal Theology 5%

Subsequent liberal-theological engagement with American racial literature.

"Liberal-theological engagement." (Playing in the Dark, paraphrasing)

Internal Tensions

Playing in the Dark has been foundational for critical-race literary theory and the broader analysis of whiteness in American culture.

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I. Time

American literary-historical time across the 19th and 20th centuries.

Attributes

Extent: Infinite Ontological Status: Substantival Grain: Continuous Freedom: Non-Deterministic Traversability: Linear Direction: Uni-directional Dimensionality: One

✦

II. Space

The American literary-cultural space.

Attributes

Extent: Infinite Ontological Status: Substantival Curvature: Flat Dimensionality: Three Locality: Local

◉

III. Matter

The embodied racial bodies whose representation Morrison analyses.

Attributes

Extent: Infinite Ontological Status: Substantival Conservation: Conserved Dimensionality: Three Locality: Local

◎

IV. Observer

Morrison as the critical literary observer.

Attributes

Time Instance: Single Space Instance: Single Knowledge Extent: Partial Knowledge Retainment: Total Physicality: Embodied Agency: Active Number: Plural Metaphysical Agency: None

⚡

V. Energy

The structural energies of racial representation in literature.

Attributes

Extent: Infinite Ontological Status: Substantival Conservation: Conserved Dispersibility: Irreversible

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VI. Information

The American literary canon analysed for its Africanist presence.

Attributes

Ontological Status: Substantival Cosmic Conservation: Conserved Personal Conservation: Conserved Granularity: Continuous

Personas that cite this work

Toni Morrison

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LDS / Latter-day Saint Theology