Debating Cultural Heritage in the Seventies: Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon and David Bradley's The Chaneysville Incident

This article argues that Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon and David Bradley's The Chaneysville Incident debate the issue of cultural heritage within the discursive context of the seventies. The seventies was a time dominated by the culture of narcissism as individuals retreated from public life into the narrow confines of the self. In contrast, Song of Solomon and The Chaneysville Incident suggest that individuals should acknowledge group membership and carry on cultural knowledge. Initially unwilling, both protagonists move beyond the culture of narcissism and become active performers of culture. By showing this process, Bradley and Morrison point to new grounds of antiracist struggle in the post-civil rights era.