Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 1981
Abstract
...On Tuesday afternoon I attended a session entitled "The Fragmented Ethnic Woman Writer," which included an expert analysis of the search for identity in Crossings, a little-known, though clearly worthy-of-being-fully-known, novel by Chuang Hua (a pseudonym). The main character struggles between two countries—China and America—seeking her identity. As the middle child of seven children, she also struggles for personhood, a true sense of self. In The Narrows, by Ann Petry, Abbie Crunch, a seventy-year-old Black woman, transcends the moral bankruptcy of her time and place through charity. The last presentation of the session, "From Fragmentation to Fulfillment," described what it means to be a Black feminist lesbian literary critic: pulled into too many pieces. Yet wholeness comes through in suggested approaches to literary criticism: Be inclusive. Be more visionary than reactionary. Recognize that all literature and criticism are subjective. Don't limit literature, particularly Black literature, to sociological thinking about the world: deal with the literary aspects of Black writing as well....