Toni Morrison's Black Liberal Humanism (and other excerpts)

Jefferson questions whether Morrison is as politically progressive as has been widely assumed and probes why politically-minded literary critics have not noted the reactionary elements in her work.

He sees scholars as following Morrison's own theory of her work--that is, that it must be analyzed according to African American "structures" and linguistic forms to uncover Afro-American "values." This approach, he argues, simply rehabilitates the tenets of pre-1970s liberal humanism: that Morrison's text is a transparent window into these apparently timeless and universal black values.

Contains the introduction and first essay of the book Toni Morrison and the Limits of a Politics of Recognition. Also includes excerpts from the remainder of the book.