Objects and Intertexts in Toni Morrison’s "Beloved"

"Fadem's surprising and singular book works closely with Morrison's Beloved to show the reader how the call for justice is made. That call does not arrive as a manifesto or a platform, but through a searing set of intertextual moments that make clear how hard and how necessary the appeal to truth is by those who struggle still with the reverberating history of enslavement. The novel makes the case for reparations through an emphatically literary means and form, developing a poetics worthy of racial justice. Drawing on prior genres of tragedy, Morrison is shown to develop a new lineage and a new vision, one in which the last vestiges of slavery vanish from the earth. This book shows us the power of literary form as it struggles with intertextual allies, the power of poetics to lay claim to a future of truer reparations." Judith Butler, UC Berkeley

"This book represents a timely and cutting edge addition to the field of Morrison scholarship. Adopting a critical standpoint rarely employed in interpreting Beloved--a focus on the object versus the image, the conventional way of approaching Morrison’s texts--it offers a groundbreaking understanding of the 1987 novel as a postmodern tragedy. Looking at Beloved from an interdisciplinary and intersectional perspective, Fadem's analysis contributes to the political progressive struggle underway in the contemporary U.S. regarding social justice and reparations." Mar Gallego, University of Huelva

"Fadem's surprising and singular book works closely with Morrison's Beloved to show the reader how the call for justice is made. That call does not arrive as a manifesto or a platform, but through a searing set of intertextual moments that make clear how hard and how necessary the appeal to truth is by those who struggle still with the reverberating history of enslavement. The novel makes the case for reparations through an emphatically literary means and form, developing a poetics worthy of racial justice. Drawing on prior genres of tragedy, Morrison is shown to develop a new lineage and a new vision, one in which the last vestiges of slavery vanish from the earth. This book shows us the power of literary form as it struggles with intertextual allies, the power of poetics to lay claim to a future of truer reparations."

-Judith Butler, UC Berkeley

"This book represents a timely and cutting edge addition to the field of Morrison scholarship. Adopting a critical standpoint rarely employed in interpreting Beloved--a focus on the object versus the image, the conventional way of approaching Morrison’s texts--it offers a groundbreaking understanding of the 1987 novel as a postmodern tragedy. Looking at Beloved from an interdisciplinary and intersectional perspective, Fadem's analysis contributes to the political progressive struggle underway in the contemporary U.S. regarding social justice and reparations."

-Mar Gallego, University of Huelva

"Fadem’s object poetics aiming at addressing the 'intense physicality' of the novel, the thing-dominated 'fragmentations of the narrative' (37), betokens the scholarly exploration of an aspect of Beloved so far unexplored methodically. Unexplored, that is, this systematically, in a fashion that is both penetrating and comprehensive, deploying its chosen method of investigation at the micro levels of the text while never losing sight of the macro thematic relevance and the extraordinary complexity of the novel at one and the same time. Fadem’s preoccupation with the physicality of the novel highlights new materialism, one of the central theoretical sources in a monograph densely packed with theory—the latter being itself a praiseworthy feature of the book. The premise is substantiated with all-embracing knowledge, remarkable analytical skills, and thorough, convincing argumentation. Objects and Intertexts is rich in innovative explorations and new insights. The sweeping intertextual study of the role of the novel’s objects is Fadem’s most original contribution. Fadem does a very thorough job of what she undertakes to do. She checks out every nook and corner of the novel and follows every line of investigation through to the minutest detail with the enthusiasm of a competent scholar who is fully equipped with all the critical and theoretical skills to be brought to the task."

-Zoltán Abádi-Nagy, University of Debrecen