Examining the works of Lucille Clifton, Gayl Jones, Audre Lorde, Paule Marshall, Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor and Alice Walker, Wall highlights ways in which these authors construct family genealogies, filling in the gaps with dreams, rituals, music or images that forge a connection to family lost through slavery. For the Black female author, Wall contends, this method of revising and extending canonical forms provides the opportunity to comment on the literary past while also calling attention to the lingering historical effects of slavery. For the reader, Wall shows how the images and words combine to create a new kind of text that extends meanings of the line, both as lineage and as literary tradition.
Dr. Cheryl A. Wall is professor of English at Rutgers University.
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