《紫色》文献综述资料.docVIP

II. Literature Review A brief introduction of the author and the book Alice Walker is one of the most prolific and world rewarding Afro-American writers. She has altogether published three collection of short stories, eight collections of poetry and eight novels. And she is most famous for her novels. The Color Purple ,which published in 1982, won the American Book Award and the Pulizter Prize, thus she became the first African American female writer to win the Pulizter Prize. In The Color Purple, Alice Walker demonstrates the black womens living conditions under the double oppressions of both race and gender. She gives a concrete description of the growing progress of the protagonist, Celie—from her numbness to awakening. Walker shows female characters personality and pursuit of self-identity in struggling with men and the whole society. B. Major perspectives of the academic studies on The Color Purple Since the publication of The Color Purple in 1982, it has received many criticism in America and the outside world as well. For example, in The Nation, Dinitia Smith observed,Walker has not turned her back on the southern fictional tradition. She has absorbed it and made it her own.By infusing the black experience into the south novel , she enriched both it and us(Smith, 181). There are also enormous and various academic studies on this book. Here are some general perspectives. Alice Walkers Womanism The term womanist first appeared in Alice Walkers In Search of Our Mothers Gardens, which is used to distinguish black feminism from the white feminism. Sherley Williams once referred that in contrast to feminism, the womanism inquiry suggests that it can talk both productively and effectively about men. Walker gives a clear definition of what is womanism. She writes,a womanist is a black feminist or feminist of color. Usually referring to outrageous, audacious, courageous or willingful behavior. A woman who loves other women, sexually and/or nonsexually...Woma