scopic collage of the United States beginning in
Decade” in Tom Wolfe’s phrase — ensued, in
1906. As John Dos Passos had done several
which individuals tended to focus more on per-
decades earlier in his trilogy U.S.A., Doctorow sonal concerns than on larger social issues.
mingles fictional characters with real ones to
In literature, old currents remained, but the
capture the era’s flavor and complexity.
force behind pure experimentation dwindled.
Doctorow’s fictional history of the United States
112
is continued in Loon Lake (1979), set in the lished his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Confessions 1930s, about a ruthless capitalist who dominates
of Nat Turner (1967). This novel re-creates the and destroys idealistic people.
most violent slave uprising in U.S. history, as
Later Doctorow novels are the autobiographi-
seen through the eyes of its leader. The book
cal World’s Fair (1985), about an eight-year-old came out at the height of the “black power”
boy growing up in the Depression of the 1930s;
movement, and, unsurprisingly, the depiction of
Billy Bathgate (l989), about Dutch Schultz, a real Nat Turner drew sharp criticism from many
New York gangster; and The Waterworks (1994), African-American observers, although some
set in New York during the 1870s. City of God
came to Styron’s defense.
(2000) — the title referencing St. Augustine —
Styron’s fascination with individual human acts
turns to New York in the present. A Christian clerset against backdrops of larger racial injustice
ic’s consciousness interweaves the city’s general-
continues in Sophie’s Choice (1979), another ized poverty, crime, and loneliness with stories of tour de force about the doom of a lovely woman
people whose lives touch his. The book hints at
— the topic that Edgar Allan Poe, the presiding
Doctorow’s abiding belief that writing — a form of spirit of southern writers, found the most mov-witnessing — is a mode of human survival.
ing of all possible subjects. In this novel, a beau-Doctorow’s techniques are eclectic. His stylis-
tiful Polish woman who has survived Auschwitz is
tic exuberance and formal inventiveness link him
defeated by its remembered agonies, summed
with metafiction writers like Thomas Pynchon
up in the moment she was made to choose which
and John Barth, but his novels remain rooted in
one of her children would live and which one
realism and history. His use of real people and
would die. The book makes complex parallels
events links him with the New Journalism of the
between the racism of the South and the
l960s and with Norman Mailer, Truman Capote,
Holocaust.
and Tom Wolfe, while his use of fictional memoir,
More recently Styron, like many other writers,
as in World’s Fair, looks forward to writers like turned to the memoir form. His short account of
Maxine Hong Kingston and the flowering of the
his near-suicidal depression, Darkness Visible: memoir in the 1990s.
A Memoir of Madness (1990), recalls the terrible undertow that his own doomed characters must
William Styron (1925-2006)
have felt. In the autobiographical fictions in
rom the Tidewater area of Virginia, south-
A Tidewater Morning (1993), the shimmering, erner William Styron wrote ambitious
oppressively hot Virginia coast where he grew up
Fnovels that set individuals in places and mirrors and extends the speaker’s shifting times that test the limits of their humanity. His
consciousness.
early works include the acclaimed Lie Down in
Darkness (1951), which begins with the suicide John Gardner (1933-1982)
of a beautiful southern woman — who leaps
John Gardner, from a farming background in
from a New York skyscraper — and works back-
New York State, was his era’s most important
ward in time to explore the dark forces within
spokesperson for ethical values in literature
her family that drew her to her death.
until his death in a motorcycle accident. He was a The Faulknerian treatment, including dark
professor of English specializing in the medieval
southern gothic themes, flashbacks, and stream
period; his most popular novel, Grendel (1971), of consciousness monologues, brought Styron
retells the Old English epic Beowulf from the fame that turned to controversy when he pub-monster’s existentialist point of view. The short, 113
vivid, and often comic novel is a
Joyce Carol Oates (1938- )
subtle argument against the exis-
Joyce Carol Oates is the most
tentialism that fills its protagonist
prolific serious novelist of recent
with self-destructive despair and
decades, having published novels,
cynicism.
short stories, poetry, nonfiction,
A prolific and popular novelist,
plays, critical studies, and essays.
Gardner used a realistic approach
She uses what she has called “psy-
but employed innovative techniques
chological realism” on a panoramic
— such as flashbacks, stories within
range of subjects and forms.
stories, retellings of myths, and con-
Oates has authored a Gothic tril-
trasting stories — to bring out the
ogy consisting of Bellefleur (1980),
truth of a human situation. His
A Bloodsmoor Romance (1982), and
strengths are characterization (par-
Mysteries of Winterthurn (l984); a
ticularly his sympathetic portraits of
nonfiction book, On Boxing (l987);
ordinary people) and colorful style.
and a study of Marilyn Monroe
Major works include The
( Blonde, 2000). Her plots are dark
Resurrection (1966), The Sunlight
and often hinge on violence, which
Dialogues (1972), Nickel Mountain
she finds to be deeply rooted in the
(1973), October Light (1976), and
American psyche.
Mickelsson’s Ghosts (1982).
Gardner’s fictional patterns sug-
Toni Morrison (1931- )
gest the curative powers of fellow-
African-American novelist Toni
ship, duty, and family obligations,
Morrison was born in Ohio to a
and in this sense Gardner was a
spiritually oriented family. She
profoundly traditional and conserv-
attended Howard University in
ative author. He endeavored to
Washington, D.C., and has worked
demonstrate that certain values
as a senior editor in a major
and acts lead to fulfilling lives. His
Washington publishing house and
book On Moral Fiction (1978) calls
as a distinguished professor at var-
for novels that embody ethical val-
ious universities.
ues rather than dazzle with empty
Morrison’s richly woven fiction
T
technical innovation. The book cre-
ONI MORRISON
has gained her international
ated a furor, largely because
acclaim. In compelling, large-spirit-
Gardner bluntly criticized impor-
ed novels, she treats the complex
tant living authors — especially
identities of black people in a uni-
writers of metafiction — for failing
versal manner. In her early work
to reflect ethical concerns. Gardner
The Bluest Eye (1970), a strong-
argued for a warm, human, ulti-
willed young black girl tells the
mately more realistic and socially
story of Pecola Breedlove, who is
engaged fiction, such as that of
driven mad by an abusive father.
Joyce Carol Oates and Toni
Pecola believes that her dark eyes
Morrison.
have magically become blue and
Photo © Nancy Crampton
that they will make her lovable.
114
Morrison has said that she was cre-
not interested in indulging myself
ating her own sense of identity as a
in some private exercise of my
writer through this novel: “I was
imagination...yes, the work must be
Pecola, Claudia, everybody.”
political.” In 1993, Morrison won
M
Sula (1973) describes the strong
the Nobel Prize for Literature.
orrison’s
friendship of two women. Morrison
paints African-American women as richly woven
Alice Walker (1944- )
unique, fully individual characters fiction has gained Alice Walker, an African-rather than as stereotypes.
American and the child of a share-
her international
Morrison’s Song of Solomon (1977)
cropper family in rural Georgia,
acclaim. In
has won several awards. It follows a
graduated from Sarah Lawrence
black man, Milkman Dead, and his compelling,
College, where one of her teachers
complex relations with his family
was the politically committed
large-spirited
and community. In Tar Baby (1981)
female poet Muriel Rukeyser.
novels, she treats
Morrison deals with black and
Other influences on her work have
white relations. Beloved (1987) is the complex been Flannery O’Connor and Zora
the wrenching story of a woman
Neale Hurston.
identities of black
who murders her children rather
A “womanist” writer, as Walker
people in a
than allow them to live as slaves. It
calls herself, she has long been
universal manner.
employs the dreamlike techniques
associated with feminism, present-
of magical realism in depicting a
ing black existence from the female
mysterious figure, Beloved, who
perspective. Like Toni Morrison,
returns to live with the mother who
Jamaica Kincaid, the late Toni Cade
has slit her throat.
Bambara, and other accomplished
Jazz (1992), set in 1920s Harlem,
contemporary black novelists,
is a story of love and murder; in
Walker uses heightened, lyrical
Paradise (1998), males of the all-
realism to center on the dreams
black Oklahoma town of Ruby kill
and failures of accessible, credible
neighbors from an all-women’s set-
people. Her work underscores the
tlement. Morrison reveals that
quest for dignity in human life. A
exclusion, whether by sex or race,
fine stylist, particularly in her epis-
however appealing it may seem,
tolary dialect novel The Color
leads ultimately not to paradise but
Purple, her work seeks to educate.
to a hell of human devising.
In this she resembles the black
In her accessible nonfiction book
American novelist Ishmael Reed,
Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and
whose satires expose social prob-
the Literary Imagination (1992),
lems and racial issues.
Morrison discerns a defining cur-
Walker’s The Color Purple is the
rent of racial consciousness in
story of the love between two poor
American literature. Morrison has
black sisters that survives a separa-
suggested that though her novels
tion over years, interwoven with the
are consummate works of art, they
story of how, during that same peri-
contain political meanings: “I am
od, the shy, ugly, and uneducated
115
sister discovers her inner strength through the
understanding multiethnic literature and its
support of a female friend. The theme of the
meanings.
support women give each other recalls Maya
Asian Americans also took their place on the
Angelou’s autobiography, I Know Why the Caged
scene. Maxine Hong Kingston, author of The
Bird Sings, which celebrates the mother-daugh-Woman Warrior (1976), carved out a place for ter connection, and the work of white feminists
her fellow Asian Americans. Among them is Amy
such as Adrienne Rich. The Color Purple portrays Tan (1952- ), whose luminous novels of Chinese
men as basically unaware of the needs and reali-
life transposed to post-World War II America
ty of women.
( The Joy Luck Club, 1989, and The Kitchen God’s Although many critics find Walker’s work too
Wife, 1991) captivated readers. David Henry didactic or ideological, a large general reader-Hwang (1957- ), a California-born son of Chinese
ship appreciates her bold explorations of
immigrants, made his mark in drama, with plays
African-American womanhood. Her novels shed
such as F.O.B. (1981) and M. Butterfly (1986).
light on festering issues such as the harsh legacy A relatively new group on the literary horizon
of sharecropping ( The Third Life of Grange
were the Latino-American writers, including the
Copeland, 1970) and female circumcision
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos,
( Possessing the Secret Joy, 1992).
the Cuban-born author of The Mambo Kings Play
Songs of Love (1989). Leading writers of
THE RISE OF MULTIETHNIC FICTION
Mexican-American descent include Sandra
ewish-American writers like Saul Bellow,
Cisneros ( Woman Hollering Creek and Other
Bernard Malamud, Isaac Bashevis Singer,
Stories, 1991); and Rudolfo Anaya, author of the JArthur Miller, Philip Roth, and Norman poetic novel Bless Me, Ultima(1972).
Mailer were the first since the 19th-century abo-
Native-American fiction flowered. Most often
litionists and African-American writers of slave
the authors evoked the loss of traditional life
narratives to address ethnic prejudice and the
based in nature, the stressful attempt to adapt to plight of the outsider. They explored new ways of
modern life, and their struggles with poverty,
projecting an awareness that was both American
unemployment, and alcoholism. The Pulitzer
and specific to a subculture. In this, they opened Prize-winning House Made of Dawn (1968), by N.
the door for the flowering of multiethnic writing
Scott Momaday (1934- ), and his poetic The Way in the decades to come.
to Rainy Mountain (1969) evoke the beauty and The close of the 1980s and the beginnings of
despair of Kiowa Indian life. Of mixed Pueblo
the 1990s saw minority writing become a major
descent, Leslie Marmon Silko wrote the critical-
fixture on the American literary landscape. This
ly esteemed novel Ceremony (1977), which
is true in drama as well as in prose. The late
gained a large general audience. Like Momaday’s
August Wilson (1945-2005) wrote an acclaimed
works, hers is a “chant novel” structured on
cycle of plays about the 20th-century black expe-
Native-American healing rituals.
rience that stands alongside the work of novel-
Blackfoot poet and novelist James Welch
ists Alice Walker, John Edgar Wideman, and Toni
(1940-2003) detailed the struggles of Native
Morrison. Scholars such as Lawrence Levine
Americans in his slender, nearly flawless novels
( The Opening of the American Mind: Canons,
Winter in the Blood (1974), The Death of Jim Culture and History, 1996) and Ronald Takaki ( A Loney (1979), Fools Crow (1986), and The Indian Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural
Lawyer (1990). Louise Erdrich, part Chippewa, America, 1993) provide invaluable context for has written a powerful series of novels inaugu-116
rated by Love Medicine (1984) that
family that had owned vaudeville
capture the tangled lives of
theaters and counted actors among
dysfunctional reservation families
their friends. Helping produce
with a poignant blend of stoicism
European absurdist theater, Albee
and humor.
actively brought new European cur-
rents into U.S. drama. In The
AMERICAN DRAMA
American Dream (1960), stick fig-
fter World War I, popular and
ures of Mommy, Daddy, and
lucrative musicals had
Grandma recite platitudes that car-
Aincreasingly dominated the
icature a loveless, conventional
Broadway theatrical scene. Serious
family.
theater retreated to smaller, less
Loss of identity and consequent
expensive theaters “off Broadway”
struggles for power to fill the void
or outside New York City.
propel Albee’s plays, such as Who’s
This situation repeated itself
Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (l962). In
after World War II. American drama
this controversial drama, made into
had languished in the l950s, con-
a film starring Elizabeth Taylor and
strained by the Cold War and
Richard Burton, an unhappily mar-
McCarthyism. The energy of the
ried couple’s shared fantasy —
l960s revived it. The off-off-
that they have a child, that their
Broadway movement presented an
lives have meaning — is violently
innovative alternative to commer-
exposed as an untruth.
cialized popular theater.
Albee has continued to produce
Many of the major dramatists
distinguished work over several
after 1960 produced their work in
decades, including Tiny Alice
small venues. Freed from the need
(l964); A Delicate Balance (l966);
to make enough money to pay for
Seascape (l975); Marriage Play
expensive playhouses, they were
(1987); and Three Tall Women
newly inspired by European exis-
(1991), which follows the main
tentialism and the so-called
character, who resembles Albee's
Theater of the Absurd associated
overbearing adoptive mother,
EDWARD ALBEE
with European playwrights Samuel
through three stages of life.
Beckett, Jean Genet, and Eugene
Ionesco, as well as by Harold Pinter.
Amiri Baraka (1934- )
The best dramatists became innov-
Poet Amiri Baraka, known for
ative and even surreal, rejecting
supple, speech-oriented poetry
realistic theater to attack
with an affinity to improvisational
superficial social conventions.
jazz, turned to drama in the l960s.
Always searching to find himself,
Edward Albee (1928- )
Baraka has changed his name sev-
The most influential dramatist of
eral times as he has sought to
the early 1960s was Edward Albee,
define his identity as a black
Photo: Scott Gries / Getty
who was adopted into a well-off
Images
American. Baraka explored various
117
paths of life in his early years,
1964. They prefigure his mature
flunking out of Howard University
works in their western motifs and
and becoming dishonorably dis-
theme of male competition.
charged from the U.S. Air Force for
Of almost 50 works for stage and
alleged Communism. During these
screen, Shepard’s most esteemed
years, his true vocation of writing
are three interrelated plays evoking
emerged.
love and violence in the family: Curse
During the l960s, Baraka lived in
of the Starving Class (1976), Buried
New York City’s Greenwich Village,
Child (1978), and True West (1980), where he knew many artists and
his best-known work. In True West,
writers including Frank O’Hara and
two middle-aged brothers, an edu-
Allen Ginsberg.
cated screenwriter and a drifting
By 1965, Baraka had started the
thief, compete to write a true-to-life
Black Arts Repertory Theater in
western play for a rich, urban movie
Harlem, the black section of New
producer. Each thinking he needs
York City. He portrayed black
what the other has — success,
nationalist views of racism in dis-
freedom — the two brothers
turbing plays such as Dutchman
change places in an atmosphere of
(1964), in which a white woman
increasing violence fueled by alco-
flirts with and eventually kills a
hol. The play registers Shepard’s
younger black man on a New York
concern with loss of freedom,
City subway. The realistic first half
authenticity, and autonomy in
of the play sparkles with witty dia-
American life. It dramatizes the van-
logue and subtle characterization.
ishing frontier (the drifter) and the
The shocking ending risks melodra-
American imagination (the writer),
ma to dramatize racial misunder-
seduced by money, the media, and
standing and the victimization of
commercial forces, personified by
the black male protagonist.
the producer.
In his writing process, Shepard
Sam Shepard (1943- )
tries to re-create a zone of freedom
Actor/dramatist Sam Shepard
by allowing his charac