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(En)lightening the Dark Vision: Redemption through Storytelling in Toni Morrison’s Beloved

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Teaching African American Women’s Writing

Part of the book series: Teaching the New English ((TENEEN))

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Abstract

At first, we were genuinely bewildered at the idea of writing about teaching Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Where to start? After all, Beloved has many transgeneric qualities: is it a Gothic, specifically an American Gothic tale, a ghost story, a slave narrative, or a novel of eventual redemption by the use of stories? Actually, it is all of the above — and more. What, we asked ourselves, do students need to know about Beloved? What strategies might help to unlock this very complicated narrative? What strategies might we deploy to engage students in this rich but difficult novel?

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© 2010 Linda J. Holland-Toll and Angela R. Mullis

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Holland-Toll, L.J., Mullis, A.R. (2010). (En)lightening the Dark Vision: Redemption through Storytelling in Toni Morrison’s Beloved. In: Wisker, G. (eds) Teaching African American Women’s Writing. Teaching the New English. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137086471_7

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