考研英语阅读经典试题及答案(9)

考研英语阅读经典试题及答案

(9)

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Roger Rosenblatt

’

s book Black Fiction, in attempting to apply literary

rather

than

sociopolitical

criteria

to

its

subject,

successfully

alters

the

approach taken by most previous studies. As Rosenblatt notes, criticism

of Black writing has often served as a pretext for expounding on Black

history. Addison Gayle

’

s recent work, for example, judges the value of

Black fiction by overtly political standards, rating each work according to

the notions of Black identity which it propounds.

Although

fiction

assuredly

springs

from

political

circumstances,

its

authors react to those circumstances in ways other than ideological, and

talking

about

novels

and

stories

primarily

as

instruments

of

ideology

circumvents

much

of

the

fictional

enterprise.

Rosenblatt

’

s

literary

analysis

discloses

affinities

and

connections

among

works

of

Black

fiction which solely political studies have overlooked or ignored.

Writing

acceptable

criticism

of

Black

fiction,

however,

presupposes

giving satisfactory answers to a number of questions. First of all, is there

a sufficient reason, other than the facial identity of the authors, to group

together works by Black authors? Second, how does Black fiction make

itself

distinct

from

other

modern

fiction

with

which

it

is

largely

contemporaneous?

Rosenblatt

shows

that

Black

fiction

constitutes

a

distinct body of writing that has an identifiable, coherent literary tradition.

Looking

at

novels

written

by

Black

over

the

last

eighty

years,

he

discovers

recurring

concerns

and

designs

independent

of

chronology.

These structures are thematic, and they spring, not surprisingly, from the

central

fact

that

the

Black

characters

in

these

novels

exist

in

a

predominantly white culture, whether they try to conform to that culture

or rebel against it.

Black Fiction does leave some aesthetic questions open. Rosenblatt

’

s

thematic

analysis

permits

considerable

objectivity;

he

even

explicitly

states that it is not his intention to judge the merit of the various works

—

yet

his

reluctance

seems

misplaced,

especially

since

an

attempt

to

appraise might have led to interesting results. For instance, some of the

novels appear to be structurally diffuse. Is this a defect, or are the authors

working

out

of,

or

trying

to

forge,

a

different

kind

of

aesthetic?

In

addition,

the

style

of

some

Black

novels,

like

Jean

Toomer

’

s

Cane,

verges

on

expressionism

or

surrealism;

does

this

technique

provide

a

counterpoint to the prevalent theme that portrays the fate against which

Black

heroes

are

pitted,

a

theme

usually

conveyed

by

more

naturalistic

modes of expression?

In

spite

of

such

omissions,

what

Rosenblatt

does

include

in

his

discussion

makes

for

an

astute

and

worthwhile

study.

Black

Fiction

surveys a wide variety of novels, bringing to our attention in the process