Reconciliating with One’s Self - Hauntological Decoding of Toni Morrison’s Beloved Cover Image

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Reconciliating with One’s Self - Hauntological Decoding of Toni Morrison’s Beloved

Author(s): Jan Moryń
Subject(s): Theory of Literature, Ontology, American Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: hauntology; Toni Morrison; Beloved;

Summary/Abstract: This article focuses on Toni Morrison’s Beloved and its reading that may be uncovered through the theory of hauntology. The reality observed in this novel is actively shaped by the past, haunted by the specters of atrocities affecting its characters. Among the problems tackled in this article are the differences between memory and interpretation, traumatic memories, and the relation between one’s memory and identity. Despite the fact that events and characters of the novel are characterized by their ambiguity, their contestation of binary oppositions and their being defined through a plethora of traces, all point towards deconstructionism as the theory with which the novel may most readily be decoded, the article proposes to dissect Beloved by means of hauntology as proposed by Jacques Derrida, Mark Fisher, Jodey Castricano and Andrzej Marzec. In order to attain the goal, the present text outlines the main differences between hauntology and trauma theory, which has thus far been the dominant approach towards the analysis of Morrison’s novel.

  • Issue Year: 2020
  • Issue No: 40
  • Page Range: 133-144
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Polish