FEAR OF THE PAST IN TONI MORRISON’S BELOVED – A NEW HISTORICISM PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Morrison’s 1987 novel Beloved is one of the most prominent recent depictions of the still unhealed wound of slavery which is deeply imbedded into the fabric of American society. Through the literary critical theory of New Historicism, this novel, a fictional piece of literature, can be considered a historical document in its own right, in which the author, although dealing with the 19th century Reconstruction period of the antebellum Civil War, presents, both consciously and subconsciously, her own contemporary notions of this period of America’s past. In other words, this novel has inner voices which desire to express a certain political, historical and social stance, both in accordance with the author’s wishes, but also “independently” so, as the author cannot help but be influenced, in various ways, by the contemporary views on this topic. Thus, Beloved becomes a document of its time, namely the 1980s United States, and represents sometimes conflicting voices regarding the factual and fictional past of the slavery period in question, but also of the present in which it was created. Keywords: Morrison; Beloved; Slavery; Civil War; Reconstruction; New Historicism.