Rüdiger Thomsen 
Race and Memory in Tony Morrison’s ‘Recitatif’ [PDF ebook] 

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject American Studies — Literature, grade: 1, 0, University of Constance (Anglistik/Amerikanistik), course: American Literature and Culture II, language: English, abstract: Against the standard focus on the questions of race in Tony Morrison’s ‘Recitatif’, this paper analyses how the short story features the four levels of memory as defined by Aleida Assmann: individual, social, political, and cultural. African American author Toni Morrison mentions memory as a central theme of her work. While Morrison’s novels have been approached from this angle, her only short story ‘Recitatif’ has mostly been read as a comment on race relations and stereotypes. This paper shifts focus from race towards individual and collective memory as vital elements of this story. Still, the issue of race can be integrated in the larger concept of collective memory.