A Critical Study of the Novels of Gloria Naylor: Feminist Perspective

The book is a pioneering endeavor to critically analyse the first five novels of the eminent Afro-American writer Gloria Naylor. These are: The Women of Brewster Place (1982), Linden Hills (1985), Mama Day (1988), Bailey’s Cafe (1992). The Men of Brewster Place (1998) and Naylor has been a writer immersed absolutely in the African-American formal history of tradition and culture. Her major concern is to reveal the female quest for identity and in her novels she explores a feminine mystique through a series of strong female characters. She treats woman as an individual and not in the accepted role assigned to her by the society. Through this study efforts have also been made to critically evaluate the position and the picture of the Afro-American feminist writers, the focus being set on Gloria Naylor, the feminist movements in the African milieu and the revolution in the thoughts of the Afro-American female writers. The study also traces efficiently the history of feminism and the origin of an Afro-American individual.