I first read Beloved in high school on my own after reading The Bluest Eye. I remember having a discussion with the librarian afterwards at her suggestion, but it was understandably overwhelming. That was over 20 years ago. I am very interested to reread it with Close Reads and it has been interesting returning to it after more life experience and having children. One benefit of having read it before was being able to brace myself for all of the trauma-knowing the evil beforehand has opened up being able to see it in a more nuanced way.
I wish I had listened to this episode before diving in totally blind! I don’t consider myself a sensitive reader but currently in a sensitive state: I have a two year old baby girl and am pregnant with another. Looking forward to listening to the discussions as I could not stomach finishing the book. I’m particularly interested in the ending - I was hoping for a redemption/ forgiveness narrative, but the synopsis I read didn’t include much about that.
How does the history of the slave narrative (often written by - or at least with - those who experienced the trauma firsthand) add to the conversation about giving voice to the enslaved?
Also, curious to know if reading this as an "advocacy" novel diminishes its greatness (and, maybe that's part of what feels like hesitancy in the conversation to declare it brilliant).
And also (I know, I know), the discussion about it being a "feminine" novel as well as the contention that it is a novel of "feeling" makes me wonder you would categorize it as a sentimental novel. A more literary (and postmodern) version of Uncle Tom's Cabin (for instance). Which brings me full circle to the idea of an "advocacy" novel.
*Look at all these thoughts your conversation prompted. Thanks!
Thanks for the conversation about how to approach this novel. I’ve wanted to read Beloved for years but I’ve always felt a bit intimidated by it so I’m glad we’re doing it on CloseReads.
Cc did my experience reading. This book is completely consistent with Heidi‘s but I never thought about others having trouble with the fragmentation before…. The conversation made me think about.Faulkner and how I sometimes have trouble getting in the minds of the Mail characters in those books. Curious about your thoughts on the comparison given that both Morrison and Faulkner. Are confronting cruel and upsetting memories in the south…. thinking particularly of Daryl in as I lay dying and Quentin and sound and fury, but there are others, of course.
I read this book in 2016, in a year dedicated to reading books by Black authors. Immediately after "Beloved," I read "Fences" (which, please do an August Wilson some day). And that juxtaposition opened up to me how close the generations are between the two stories. It helped me understand how the trauma of slavery lives on.
What a great and helpful conversation! I read the book before (in grad school, naturally), and it’s been a complicated rereading experience. I agree with Heidi about the scaffolding you all established—thanks much for that and for the discussion on the novel as a feminine one. I look forward to more of your thoughts.
Loved the conversation and insights … and suggestions for reading. Good prep!
I’m so glad that, in the last 10 minutes, the slavery word was used.
I’ve never read a book like this. I kept thinking that it was a look into the culture of those who we live alongside, but who see life with different eyes and not only ‘feminine’ eyes.
The slavery ‘tradition’ in their families yielded great fear, and fear creates ghosts, real or imagined.
Like Heidi, I could never think of harming a child. Caveat for Sethe is her different eyes and what she knew about the horrors humans can inflict on other humans.
Perhaps Beloved is also written in a fractured/fragmented way as a way to show a fractured life, a fractured mind. Sethe's action cost her, and others, more than she or they realized.
I had to try to hunt down the article David mentioned about trauma literature. Not sure if this is the right one, but I found it fascinating: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/03/the-case-against-the-trauma-plot
I first read Beloved in high school on my own after reading The Bluest Eye. I remember having a discussion with the librarian afterwards at her suggestion, but it was understandably overwhelming. That was over 20 years ago. I am very interested to reread it with Close Reads and it has been interesting returning to it after more life experience and having children. One benefit of having read it before was being able to brace myself for all of the trauma-knowing the evil beforehand has opened up being able to see it in a more nuanced way.
I wish I had listened to this episode before diving in totally blind! I don’t consider myself a sensitive reader but currently in a sensitive state: I have a two year old baby girl and am pregnant with another. Looking forward to listening to the discussions as I could not stomach finishing the book. I’m particularly interested in the ending - I was hoping for a redemption/ forgiveness narrative, but the synopsis I read didn’t include much about that.
How does the history of the slave narrative (often written by - or at least with - those who experienced the trauma firsthand) add to the conversation about giving voice to the enslaved?
Also, curious to know if reading this as an "advocacy" novel diminishes its greatness (and, maybe that's part of what feels like hesitancy in the conversation to declare it brilliant).
And also (I know, I know), the discussion about it being a "feminine" novel as well as the contention that it is a novel of "feeling" makes me wonder you would categorize it as a sentimental novel. A more literary (and postmodern) version of Uncle Tom's Cabin (for instance). Which brings me full circle to the idea of an "advocacy" novel.
*Look at all these thoughts your conversation prompted. Thanks!
Congratulations to the Greens!
Thanks for the conversation about how to approach this novel. I’ve wanted to read Beloved for years but I’ve always felt a bit intimidated by it so I’m glad we’re doing it on CloseReads.
Cc did my experience reading. This book is completely consistent with Heidi‘s but I never thought about others having trouble with the fragmentation before…. The conversation made me think about.Faulkner and how I sometimes have trouble getting in the minds of the Mail characters in those books. Curious about your thoughts on the comparison given that both Morrison and Faulkner. Are confronting cruel and upsetting memories in the south…. thinking particularly of Daryl in as I lay dying and Quentin and sound and fury, but there are others, of course.
I read this book in 2016, in a year dedicated to reading books by Black authors. Immediately after "Beloved," I read "Fences" (which, please do an August Wilson some day). And that juxtaposition opened up to me how close the generations are between the two stories. It helped me understand how the trauma of slavery lives on.
What a great and helpful conversation! I read the book before (in grad school, naturally), and it’s been a complicated rereading experience. I agree with Heidi about the scaffolding you all established—thanks much for that and for the discussion on the novel as a feminine one. I look forward to more of your thoughts.
congratulations to the Greens. May you be blessed with good rest.
Loved the conversation and insights … and suggestions for reading. Good prep!
I’m so glad that, in the last 10 minutes, the slavery word was used.
I’ve never read a book like this. I kept thinking that it was a look into the culture of those who we live alongside, but who see life with different eyes and not only ‘feminine’ eyes.
The slavery ‘tradition’ in their families yielded great fear, and fear creates ghosts, real or imagined.
Like Heidi, I could never think of harming a child. Caveat for Sethe is her different eyes and what she knew about the horrors humans can inflict on other humans.
Perhaps Beloved is also written in a fractured/fragmented way as a way to show a fractured life, a fractured mind. Sethe's action cost her, and others, more than she or they realized.