2. Literature Review

In foreign academic circles, much research has been done on Song of Solomon. Black Feminist critic Barbara Christian persists that the significance of naming is the theme of the novel while Joyce Irene Middleton considers the oral tradition as core cultural values. Reynolds Price pays more attention to the Black family history emphasized in the book. Ann E.Imbrie views the novel as a pastoral work.源`自,优尔`.论"文'网[www.youerw.com

When it comes to the studies in domestic academic circles, Wang Shouren and Wu Xinyun are bound to be mentioned. They study Morrison’s works almost in three aspects: gender, race and culture. In their point of view, Song of Solomon is more like a Bildungsroman, “narrating the ideal growth of a young black man in Morrison’s mind.” (Wang Shouren & Wu Xinyun, 1999: 73) As for the aspect of culture, they mainly analyze the meaning of “name” and “flight” in the connection with Milkman’s growth. “Milkman’s comprehension to ‘name’ and ‘flight’ enables him to realize ancestral and national culture, which contributes to his growth” (Wang Shouren & Wu Xinyun, 1999: 97) From that perspective, they consider that the African culture in Song of Solomon is inseparable from the growing process of Milkman rather than discussing it separately. Besides, other domestic studies on Song of Solomon mainly focus on the racial discrimination, feminism, cultural identity, the growth of Milkman and so on. This thesis mainly studies the African traditional culture reflected in Song of Solomon and its meaning to Afro-Americans. 

Though a melting pot the American society is famous for, black culture is somewhat subordinate when confronting the mainstream white culture. They are two different communities that possess disparate cultural values and histories in contemporary era. Specifically, white Euro-American values consist of industrial capitalism, constitutional democracy, and pursuit of property and happiness while African Americans are prone to seek for justice and liberation after they have experienced southern plantation, emancipation, reconstruction and racial discrimination. Shocked strongly by white culture, the black culture seems to be dominated and controlled and is less influential. Thus the black culture is facing a fierce crisis just as what Toni Morrison worries about in her “Rootedness: The Ancestor as Foundation”: “We don’t live in places where we can hear those stories anymore; parents don’t sit around and tell their children those classical, archetypal stories that we heard years ago.” (2008: 58) What Morrison worries is exactly the fact that the traditional myths are wearing off in modern society. Those folktales which are full of family history, mystery and supernatural power are not diffused extensively among modern Afro-Americans.

The significance of the author’s researching on traditional African culture exists in the restoration of African culture and attracting people’s attention to inherit, develop and enrich the valuable black culture. Just as the story that Morrison told in her speech for the Nobel Price, the destiny of black culture is in Africans’ hands. Regress or progress, the future of black culture all depends on Africans’ will.