Reading in the Wake: Empathy Debates, "The Reader," and Toni Morrison's: God Help the Child.
Toni Morrison's 2015 novel God Help the Child complicates both naive celebrations and outright rejections of empathy as one of reading's goals. Explicating the protagonist Bride's journey as a primer in empathy, I argue that in centring a Black protagonist as Everyreader, Morrison undermines the imp...
| Publicado en: | University of Toronto Quarterly Vol. 90; no. 4; pp. 713 - 736 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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University of Toronto Press
Fall2021
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=155439525&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 155439525 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00420247 UTQ jtl: University of Toronto Quarterly issn: 00420247 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Fall2021 vid: 90 iid: 4 pid: 678 pub: University of Toronto Press artinfo: ui: 155439525 10.3138/UTQ.90.4.03 ppf: 713 ppct: 23 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 14.6MB tig: atl: Reading in the Wake: Empathy Debates, "The Reader," and Toni Morrison's: God Help the Child. aug: au: WALLACE, CYNTHIA R. affil: Associate Professor, English, St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan. su: Morrison, Toni, 1931-2019 God Help the Child (Book : Morrison) Protagonists (Persons) in literature Cognitive psychology Cognitive therapy Black Arts Movement (Literary period) sug: subj: Morrison, Toni, 1931-2019 God Help the Child (Book : Morrison) Protagonists (Persons) in literature Cognitive psychology Cognitive therapy Black Arts Movement (Literary period) keyword: empathy God Help the Child mirror neurons neuroscience Toni Morrison ab: Toni Morrison's 2015 novel God Help the Child complicates both naive celebrations and outright rejections of empathy as one of reading's goals. Explicating the protagonist Bride's journey as a primer in empathy, I argue that in centring a Black protagonist as Everyreader, Morrison undermines the implicit whiteness of both "the reader" and the subject of scientific study and moral theory Yet the role of racial prejudice in Bride's childhood trauma refuses to let readers forget that the source of her trouble is not her own moral failing but, rather, what Christina Sharpe calls "the weather" of white supremacy By the novel's end, empathy emerges as a powerful source of interpersonal and societal care across racial, class, and generational difference, but one that can be undermined by white supremacy at its most basic, pre-conscious functioning, rendering the role of literature to develop readers' capacity to empathize across difference all the more important. Ultimately, Morrison's allegory of readerly empathy challenges not just popular discussions of literature's good but also the entire interdisciplinary conversation among literary scholars, cognitive psychologists, and neuroscientists by insisting that we attend to the specific but so far under-acknowledged role of racism in the development, practice, and study of empathy. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of University of Toronto Quarterly is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: University of Toronto Quarterly holder: University of Toronto Press dt: @attributes: year: 2021 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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