This volume offers a selection of criticism from Geoffrey Hartman's work of the mid 1960s through Marxist, historicist, structuralist and post-structuralist readings, all of which reflect the implications of the cultural and political changes in the course of the late 18th and 19th centuries. The introduction aims to clarify the issues and sets the critical extracts in context. Each extract has a brief explanatory and there is an essay suggesting further reading.

This New Casebook provides an overview of the criticism of work by Toni Morrison, the first African-American woman to win the Nobel prize for literature, and an introduction to the key works and issues in African-American literary scholarship. It is supported by the first annotated bibliography of the different critical approaches which have been taken to Morrison's fiction. The essays provide insights into the structure, themes, language and contexts of her novels which will prove invaluable for both new readers and those already familiar with her work.