The Novel And The Autobiography: Reflection On The Literary Paradox Of Genres In Rebecca Walker’s Black, White And Jewish (2001) And Paule Marshall’s Brown Girl, Brownstones (1959)

Abstract

Abstract: This study focuses on the literary paradox including the African-American autobiography and the novel. It analyses the factual or nonfictional and fictional patterns of the autobiography and the novel respectively in Rebecca Walker’s Black, White and Jewish (2001) and Paule Marshall’s Brown Girls, Brownstones (1959), writers among many other who use their writings to express the revolutionary ideology of the Black American community. Some paratextual, intratextual and extratextual elements show that these writings encompass some narrative fragmentations that impact the original nature of their literary genres. Through the lens of the theory of narratology, the study clarifies how and when fiction intervenes in the autobiography and nonfiction in the novel; then it suggests the intrinsic revaluation of the respective genres. Keywords: Autobiography, novel, fiction, nonfiction, paradox