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  3. Roger Rosenblatt’s book Black Fiction, in attempting to apply literary rathe

Roger Rosenblatt’s book Black Fiction, in attempting to apply literary rathe

游客2023-12-12  26
问题     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 introduces.
    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 outwits 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 racial identity to 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 Blacks over the last eighty years, he discovers recurring concerns and designs independent of chronology. These structures are related to the themes, 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 theme-based 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 Tommer’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 some fascinating and little-known works like James Weldon Johnson’s Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man. Its argument is tightly constructed, and its forthright, lucid style exemplifies levelheaded and penetrating criticism. [br] The author objects to criticism of Black fiction like that by Addison Gayle because it______.
选项 A、emphasizes purely literary aspects of such fiction
B、misinterprets the ideological content of such fiction
C、misunderstands the notions of Black identity contained in such fiction
D、substitutes political for literary criteria in evaluating such fiction
答案 D
解析 细节题。原文第一段最后一句表明作者反对Addison Gayle的文学评论，因为他用明显的政治标准来评判黑人小说的价值(Judges the value of Black fiction by overtly political standards)。这与选择项D“Because it substitutes political for literary criteria in evaluating such fiction”是同义表述。
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