Thematic Evaluation

Background Information 

Beloved Discussion Forum

Annotated Bibliography

Other Interesting Links

To give the past a different reading, to represent black American experience not simply as it has been measured by dominant norms but as it has emerged in terms of a multi-leveled and differential struggle over meaning and subjectivity since slavery, involves a re-invention of tradition and of dominant language tropes. Positioning herself in the tradition of African American writing, Morrison states that for her - "a writer who is black and a woman" - writing fiction is "very different" in that, more than the authors of slave narratives did in the past, she is interested in "how to rip that veil drawn over 'proceedings too terrible to relate.' The exercise is also critical for any person who is black, or who belongs to any marginalized category, for, historically, we were seldom invited to participate in the discourse even when we were its topic." 

-- Abdellatif Khayati

Is Beloved by Toni Morrison an example of historical fiction?  According to Brenda Hoffman, "Historical fiction is those stories that take place in the past. The stories have those elements that can't be proven historically, but it suggests a way things did happen." This explanation of Historical Fiction is not shared by all. According to Thomas Mallon, "The literal truth, of things judicial as well as historical, is preferable to any subjective one" (Writing History / Writing Fiction)