Black Women Novelists and the Nationalist Aesthetic

"A clear and uncluttered writer, Dubey helps us understand these ideological and literary complexities." —Virginia Quarterly Review

" . . . an important contribution to the study of African-American women's fiction. Not only does it provide a compelling introductory account of the nationalist aesthetic, but it provides a detailed documentation of the way in which each of these novels was received in the critical climate of the seventies." —College Literature

" . . . essential reading for anyone intrigued by the narrative craft and social impact of the novels of Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and Gayl Jones." —Claudia Tate

"Dubey forcefully articulates the connection between political and personal mediation in these novels with subtlety, depth, and complexity and without obscuring their textuality." —Signs

Drawing upon Black feminist theory, Madhu Dubey shows how writers such as Morrison, Walker, and Jones challenged traditional models of Black female identity and generated their own visions of identity, community, and historical change.