Mythmaking and Metaphor in Black Women’s Fiction

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This original critical study examines the significance of mythology for contemporary black women writers. It illustrates the narrative strategies used to elucidate themes of mythmaking in such writers as Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Ntozake Shange, Toni Cade Bambara, and Paule Marshall. She identifies the influences of different mythologies – European, African, Black American, and Native American – on black women writers who have appropriated them and reveals the skill with which they have woven them into the worlds of their own experiences.