Toni Morrison's Beloved and the Apotropaic Imagination

174 Pages·2002·0.809 MB·English

by  Kathleen Marks

TONI MORRISON’S
Beloved
AND THE
APOTROPAIC IMAGINATION
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TONI MORRISON’S
Beloved
AND THE
APOTROPAIC IMAGINATION
f
Kathleen Marks
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI PRESS
COLUMBIA AND LONDON
Copyright © 2002 by
The Curators of the University of Missouri
University of Missouri Press,Columbia,Missouri 65201
Printed and bound in the United States of America
All rights reserved
5 4 3 2 1 06 05 04 03 02
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Marks,Kathleen,1963–
Toni Morrison’s Beloved and the apotropaic imagination / Kathleen Marks.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8262-1437-1 (alk.paper)
1. Morrison,Toni.Beloved. 2. Historical fiction,American—History and criticism.
3. Self-destructive behavior in literature. 4. African American women in literature.
5. Self-preservation in literature. 6. Infanticide in literature. 7. Slavery in literature.
8. Ohio—In literature. I. Title.
PS3563.O8749 B435 2002
813(cid:2).54—dc21
2002012715
(cid:2)(cid:2)™ This paper meets the requirements of the
American National Standard for Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials,Z39.48,1984.
Text design:Stephanie Foley
Jacket design:Jennifer Cropp
Typesetter:The Composing Room of Michigan,Inc.
Printer and binder:The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group
Typefaces:Adobe Caslon,Bickham Script and Gravure
All passages from Belovedare reprinted by permission of International Creative
Management,Inc.Copyright © 1987 by Toni Morrison.
For Louise Cowan—
beloved teacher to so many
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
1. Introduction:Dynamics of the Apotropaic 1
2. Sethe’s Apotropaic Imagination 26
3. Beloved as Apotrope 66
4. An Apotropaic Clearing 99
5. The Art of Memory:Situating Morrison 123
6. The Afterlife of Beloved 145
Works Cited 153
Index 161
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Acknowledgments
A LARGE PART OF THE CRITICISMthat surrounds Morrison’s Belovedis
sociological in nature, dealing with the African American experience
and the experience of women in particular.This book acknowledges its
debt to that criticism,but proceeds in a different direction,emphasiz-
ing questions that are,rather,pre-sociological.It sees that Beloved’s pri-
mary significance derives from its original exploration into aspects of
human community that are for the most part hidden and profound.It
is eclectic in its approach—calling upon early Greek religion, Greek
mythology and underworld images, psychology, the Bible, African
American criticism, anthropology, and post-structuralist thought. It
does so in order to look at the losses and benefits of the kind of self-
damage/self-agency the apotropaic affords.
My deepest gratitude is extended to Louise Cowan of the Universi-
ty of Dallas, my dissertation director and professor of literature; to
Gregory Marks,my husband and best critic;to Robert Kelly,my father
and good guide; to family, friends, and teachers for their discussions,
ideas, and editorial help, especially Glenn C. Arbery, Mary Bonifield,
Gregory Borse,Paul Connell,Bainard Cowan,Donald Cowan,Robert
S. Dupree, Eamon Halpin, Kristen S. Kelly, Mary K. Mumbach, and
Kale Zelden; to those at the University of Missouri Press, especially
Beverly Jarrett,editor-in-chief,for her tireless support,Jane Lago,man-
aging editor,for keeping me on task,Gloria Thomas Beckfield for her
fine copyediting, and two anonymous readers for the Press; and lastly
toThomas More College, Merrimack, New Hampshire, and Rome,
Italy—alma mater to much of my family and formative of anything true
in this book.
ix
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