%0 Journal Article
%T A Beloved Performance: Reading between the Lines
%A Angela Christie
%J Babel : Litt¨¦ratures Plurielles
%D 2012
%I Universit¨¦ du Sud Toulon-Var
%X American author Toni Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction (1988) and the Nobel Prize in Literature (1993) following the publication of Beloved in 1987. Based on a true story, the novel is laced with magical realism that brings shocking aspects of American slave history to light. Morrison¡¯s unforgettable character ¡°Beloved¡± was later explored through British actress Thandie Newton¡¯s haunting interpretation in a controversial cinematic version directed by Jonathan Demme in 1998. This article suggests that in spite of criticism leveled at the film for exceeding the boundaries of Morrison¡¯s text, Demme¡¯s adaptation remains justified and hints that echoes of the deeply-entrenched attitudes that fostered the institution of slavery in the United States still linger nearly a century-and-a-half after abolition.
%K United States history
%K slavery
%K magical realism
%K cinema adaptation
%K Beloved
%K American literature
%K Morrison (Toni)
%K Demme (Jonathan)
%U http://babel.revues.org/152