Mending the World Stories of Family by Contemporary Black Writers

by Robotham, Rosemarie

• ISBN13: 9780465070633
• ISBN10: 0465070639
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-01-08
• Publisher: Civitas Books

Summary

The many facets of black family life have not always been fully visible in American literature. Black families have often been portrayed as chaotic, fractured, and emotionally devastated, and historians and sociologists are just beginning to acknowledge the resilience and strength of African American families through centuries of hardship. In Mending the World, a host of beloved writers celebrate the richness of black family life, revealing how deep, complicated, and joyous modern kinship can be.From Jamaica Kincaid's portrait of a young girl moving away from her mother to better know herself to Alice Walker's reflection on the joy and pain of her relationship with her own daughter; from Edwidge Danticat's fictional evocation of a young woman rocked by revelations about her parents to James McBride's elegy for his stepfather, this inspiring volume presents-through fiction, memoir, and poetry-a multi-layered and optimistic portrait of today's black America.

Author Biography

Rosemarie Robotham is the senior Editor-at-Large of Essence magazine. She is the co-author of Spirits of the Passage: The Transatlantic Slave Trade in the Seventeenth Century, the editor of the anthology The Bluelight Corner, and the author of a novel, Zachary's Wings. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children.

Table of Contents

Preface: Great Expectations	p. ix
Foreword: Reflections on Family	p. xiii
Introduction: Making Up the Truth	p. xvii
First Light
Rachel	p. 3
The Circling Hand	p. 20
The Driving Lesson	p. 35
Holy Cross Hospital	p. 42
Bright Thursdays	p. 46
The Myth of Music	p. 64
Myth-Making
Ocean	p. 69
The Book of the Dead	p. 85
Show Business	p. 98
A Son in Shadow	p. 111
On Earth	p. 128
Three Sonnets for Mister Kent	p. 137
The Shifting Self
The Drill	p. 141
Dear Aunt Nanadine	p. 147
Who Shot Johnny?	p. 156
Going Home	p. 161
My Daughter, Once Removed	p. 165
The Feather	p. 169
A Taste of Eden
Sleeper's Wake	p. 187
Aunt Delia	p. 197
Uncle Raymond	p. 199
Brothers and Sisters Around the World	p. 215
China	p. 224
Will & Testament	p. 246
Mending the World
Momma	p. 251
Daddy	p. 252
Counting Breaths	p. 260
The Two of Us	p. 263
The Good Daughter	p. 267
The Box	p. 272
Permissions	p. 285
Bibliography	p. 289
Biographical Notes	p. 291
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.