"Beloved" won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1987, which led up to Toni Morrison's winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 and is the most-often taught novel by Morrison. It is a rich text, as well as a difficult one, in need of a student guide that can help undergraduates not only to understand the story but to develop sophisticated skills of critical analysis. Students who grapple successfully with "Beloved's" characters will also gain valuable insight into the major themes of the novel, Morrison's intricate narrative strategies, African American history and culture, and theories useful for interpreting literature.Character Studies aims to promote sophisticated literary analysis through the concept of character. It demonstrates the necessity of linking character analysis to texts' themes, issues and ideas, and encourages students to embrace the complexity of literary characters and the texts in which they appear. The series thus fosters close critical reading and evidence-based discussion, as well as an engagement with historical context, and with literary criticism and theory.

Sherman Alexie (b. 1966) gained national attention upon release of "The Business of Fancydancing," his first collection of poems, in 1992, when a critic for the "New York Times Book Review" called him "one of the major lyric voices of our time." More recently, in 2007, Alexie won a National Book Award for "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," a young-adult novel based on his own high school experiences.

In "Conversations with Sherman Alexie," the writer displays the same passion, dynamic sense of humor, and sharp observational skills that characterize his work. The interviews ranging from 1993 to 2007 feature Alexie speaking candidly about the ideas and themes behind poetry collections ("I Would Steal Horses, First Indian on the Moon"), short story collections ("The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Ten Little Indians"), novels ("Indian Killer, Reservation Blues"), and screenplays ("Smoke Signals").

Coeur d'Alene through his father and Spokane through his mother, Alexie grew up in Wellpinit on the Spokane Indian Reservation in eastern Washington. Reservation life is a central concern in his work, as are politics, love, contemporary literature, city living (he now lives in Seattle), and his beloved sport of basketball. Alexie's wit, polemical engagement, and willingness to confront received notions have made him one of the most popular American Indian writers today.

In "Against Amnesia," Nancy J. Peterson addresses the ongoing postmodernist debate over the possibility and relevance of documentary and official histories. Drawing on Adrienne Rich's claim that women's literature and multicultural literature vigorously resist the amnesia and nostalgia that characterize mainstream North American culture, Peterson examines the struggles toward collective memory in a wealth of contemporary women's writing.
Peterson's in-depth analyses of selected works by Louise Erdrich, Toni Morrison, Irena Klepfisz, Joy Kogawa, and other contemporary women writers illustrate the ways in which these authors recover and represent the historical memories attached to their racial/ethnic backgrounds. Their works probe traumatic moments in the marginalized histories of minority peoples, including Native American genocide and dispossession; African American slavery, migration, and displacement; the Holocaust; and the internment of people of Japanese ancestry during World War II.
Peterson contends that these writers employ literary strategies that call attention to the gaps and silences of official histories. At the same time, these literary strategies allow the authors to narrate resonant counterhistories. Rejecting the playfully imaginative treatment of history found in typical postmodern novels, these contemporary women writers seek to reconstruct historical narratives in their texts and thereby reinvigorate historical memory in contemporary American culture.

"Beloved" won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1987, which led up to Toni Morrison's winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 and is the most-often taught novel by Morrison. It is a rich text, as well as a difficult one, in need of a student guide that can help undergraduates not only to understand the story but to develop sophisticated skills of critical analysis. Students who grapple successfully with "Beloved's" characters will also gain valuable insight into the major themes of the novel, Morrison's intricate narrative strategies, African American history and culture, and theories useful for interpreting literature.Character Studies aims to promote sophisticated literary analysis through the concept of character. It demonstrates the necessity of linking character analysis to texts' themes, issues and ideas, and encourages students to embrace the complexity of literary characters and the texts in which they appear. The series thus fosters close critical reading and evidence-based discussion, as well as an engagement with historical context, and with literary criticism and theory.

The 1993 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Toni Morrison is well established as one of the leading voices in American letters. Even so, her novels are often read narrowly rather than expansively, read as literary artifacts rather than as dynamic cultural texts.

Without ignoring the literary and artistic achievements of Morrison's writing, "Toni Morrison: Critical and Theoretical Approaches" calls attention to the cultural and political dimensions of her work. Drawing on a diverse range of approaches and theories--from W. E. B. DuBois to deconstruction and postmodernism, from black feminist criticism to reader response--these essays investigate such timely issues as debates about canonization, about race and gender divisions in America, about the founding assumptions of African American identity.

Contributors: Barbara T. Christian, Marianne DeKoven, Dwight A. McBride, Patricia McKee, Richard C. Moreland, Toni Morrison, Rafael Perez-Torres, Nancy J. Peterson, James Phelan, Eusebio L. Rodrigues, Judylyn S. Ryan, Caroline M. Woidat

"These essays exemplify the kinds of issues being addressed in the nineties by scholars of Morrison and by the profession more broadly. The topics of the individual essays vary, but read together, they offer valuable insights into why Morrison has become a much celebrated, widely taught author."--from the Introduction