In Search of The Color Purple: The Story of an American Masterpiece
From a superstar academic and cultural critic, an exploration of Alice Walker’s critically acclaimed and controversial novel The Color Purple.Foreword by Gloria SteinemAfterword by Beverly Guy-Sheftall In 1982, Alice Walker made history when she became the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for The Color Purple. But Walker’s novel, which tells the story of a young girl in Jazz Age Georgia, received as much criticism as praise. It launched heated conversations about race, gender, language, and sexual violence that echo to today. In this gem-like examination of the novel, the film by Steven Spielberg, and the hit Broadway musical, prominent academic and activist Salamishah Tillet combines cultural criticism, history, and memoir to explore Walker’s work and its lasting importance. Based on archival research and interviews with Walker, Oprah Winfrey, and Quincy Jones, among others, In Search of The Color Purple is a provocative and personal book, a bold debut from an important public intellectual. “[Salamishah] tells a story about a masterpiece without forgetting the extraordinary woman who crafted it and the legions of women made whole because of her work. A bold and vital tale that rightly treats Alice Walker’s American classic as if it were a living, breathing being demanding our utmost attention and enduring affection.” —New York Times bestselling author Janet Mock
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In Search of The Color Purple: The Story of an American Masterpiece
From a superstar academic and cultural critic, an exploration of Alice Walker’s critically acclaimed and controversial novel The Color Purple.Foreword by Gloria SteinemAfterword by Beverly Guy-Sheftall In 1982, Alice Walker made history when she became the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for The Color Purple. But Walker’s novel, which tells the story of a young girl in Jazz Age Georgia, received as much criticism as praise. It launched heated conversations about race, gender, language, and sexual violence that echo to today. In this gem-like examination of the novel, the film by Steven Spielberg, and the hit Broadway musical, prominent academic and activist Salamishah Tillet combines cultural criticism, history, and memoir to explore Walker’s work and its lasting importance. Based on archival research and interviews with Walker, Oprah Winfrey, and Quincy Jones, among others, In Search of The Color Purple is a provocative and personal book, a bold debut from an important public intellectual. “[Salamishah] tells a story about a masterpiece without forgetting the extraordinary woman who crafted it and the legions of women made whole because of her work. A bold and vital tale that rightly treats Alice Walker’s American classic as if it were a living, breathing being demanding our utmost attention and enduring affection.” —New York Times bestselling author Janet Mock
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In Search of The Color Purple: The Story of an American Masterpiece
The Color Purple is one of the most important pieces of literature ever written, and here, Salamishah Tillet goes back and explores the creation of the novel, its cultural impact and the history behind it. There's no better way to celebrate such an indelible piece of the literary landscape.
From a superstar academic and cultural critic, an exploration of Alice Walker’s critically acclaimed and controversial novel The Color Purple.Foreword by Gloria SteinemAfterword by Beverly Guy-Sheftall In 1982, Alice Walker made history when she became the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for The Color Purple. But Walker’s novel, which tells the story of a young girl in Jazz Age Georgia, received as much criticism as praise. It launched heated conversations about race, gender, language, and sexual violence that echo to today. In this gem-like examination of the novel, the film by Steven Spielberg, and the hit Broadway musical, prominent academic and activist Salamishah Tillet combines cultural criticism, history, and memoir to explore Walker’s work and its lasting importance. Based on archival research and interviews with Walker, Oprah Winfrey, and Quincy Jones, among others, In Search of The Color Purple is a provocative and personal book, a bold debut from an important public intellectual. “[Salamishah] tells a story about a masterpiece without forgetting the extraordinary woman who crafted it and the legions of women made whole because of her work. A bold and vital tale that rightly treats Alice Walker’s American classic as if it were a living, breathing being demanding our utmost attention and enduring affection.” —New York Times bestselling author Janet Mock
Salamishah Tillet is a scholar, activist, and contributing critic-at-large for the New York Times. She is the Henry Rutgers Professor of African American and African Studies and Creative Writing at Rutgers University–Newark. With her sister, Tillet cofounded A Long Walk Home, a nonprofit that uses art to empower young people to end violence against girls and women. She lives in New Jersey.
Table of Contents
Foreword Gloria Steinem xiii
Introduction: Looking for Alice 1
Part I Celie 21
1 The Loveliness of her Spirit 23
2 I had to do a lot of other Writing to get to this point 36
3 In this Struggle Language is Crucial 52
Part II Shug 67
4 Opening this Secret to the World 69
5 Ready to Waltz on Down to Hollywood 87
6 Let the Film Roll 107
Part III Sophia 125
7 The Single most Defining Experience I've Ever Had 127
8 I was Struggling with Forgiveness at that Point in my life 145
Booksellers love to talk about all-time favorites and their current must-reads, the books that changed them and the books they can’t wait for other readers to experience. Plenty of readers are planning to see the new movie version of The Color Purple when it opens on Christmas Day, so three of us jumped on a […]