Margaret Walker (1915-1998) began her writing career as a poet
in the late 1930s. But she was cast into the limelight in 1966 when
her novel "Jubilee" was published to wide critical and commercial
acclaim.
In interviews ranging from 1972 to 1996, "Conversations with
Margaret Walker" captures Walker's voice as she discusses an
incredibly wide range of interests. The same erudition, wit, and
love of language on display in Jubilee comes through in
conversations, as well as her sense of moral authority--imbued by a
resonant Christian humanism--and her attention to historical
detail.
In a long 1972 conversation with fellow poet Nikki Giovanni,
Walker argues about the tribulations and triumphs of motherhood,
the presence of black women in literature, and race relations in
American culture from 1900 to the present. With Marcia Greenlee in
1977, she talks extensively about her family's history and her love
of botany. In several of the interviews, her friendship with
Richard Wright rises to the forefront. Even in her interviews with
Claudia Tate and John Griffin Jones, in which the interviewers try
to direct the conversations toward the mechanics and thought
processes behind Walker's writing, the talks often sweep into
broader issues of African American culture, family history, and the
past's influence on the present.
This collection amply shows that Margaret Walker was a writer
who considered her work to be deeply influenced by the culture
around her. She viewed her writing as part of her larger life and
not separate or distanced from her existence. Bracingly direct,
witty, and oddly charming, the writer in "Conversations with
Margaret Walker" is complicated, passionate, forceful, and
piercingly intelligent.
Maryemma Graham, a professor of English at the University of
Kansas, is the co-editor of "Conversations with Ralph Ellison"
(University Press of Mississippi). She also edited "How I Wrote
Jubilee and Other Essays on Life and Literature" by Margaret
Walker, and "On Being Female, Black and Free: Essays" by Margaret
Walker, 19321992."
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!