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Article: Postmodernism, traditional cultural forms, and the African American narrative: Major's Reflex, Morrison's Jazz, and Reed's Mumbo Jumbo
- Article from:
- Novel
- Article date:
- April 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Novel, Inc. Spring 2002. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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African American writers since at least the 1960s have attempted to engage textually the limitations of Enlightenment reason, the violence of what Enrique Dussel calls the "myth of modernity," the representation of the African American as Other than reason, and the postmodern African American exp
erience. Unlike most white American postmodernists, most African American postmodern writers are not inclined to neglect moral and social issues, particularly racial issues, in their narratives. They are deeply concerned with "fictive visions that focus on truths about the perversity of American racism" and how that racism defines the African American as devalued Other (Bell 6). In their fiction, ...