The Healing Narratives of J. California Cooper Cynthia Downing Bryant Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected]
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2004 Storytelling from the margins: the healing narratives of J. California Cooper Cynthia Downing Bryant Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Bryant, Cynthia Downing, "Storytelling from the margins: the healing narratives of J. California Cooper" (2004). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3657. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3657 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. STORYTELLING FROM THE MARGINS: THE HEALING NARRATIVES OF J. CALIFORNIA COOPER A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by Cynthia Downing Bryant B.A., Southern University and A & M College, 1992 M.A., The University of Akron, 1995 December 2004 Acknowledgments I would first like to thank Grace Beans for being a wonderful mother, my best friend, an honorable mentor, a stern guardian, and my loudest cheerleader. Thank you for aggressively exposing me to a world outside of culturally imposed conformity and channeling my wild energies in a productive direction. I also wish to thank my father, Willie Downing, for always radiating that alleged "Downing" self-confidence and pushing me to take my rightful place in society. For providing me with a safe haven during the turbulent times, for remaining stubbornly in my corner, and for being an anchor that has always kept my world steady, it is with great love, pride, and admiration that I thank my grandmother, Elnora Harrison. Had you not stepped out on faith, turning your back on the racism and poverty of early 20th century rural Mississippi, I know I would not be here. Thanks to my sister, Genevieve Faith Jessee, for being instrumental in making it possible for me to meet J. California Cooper. Our bond may not be perfect, but it is strong. I love you always. I am your sister always. Since my sophomore year at Southern University, Dr. Jo Ann Marx has guided my academic progress and provided unceasing friendship. Her love of literature sparked my own and she has simply always been there to gracefully assert that I must finish what I start. Thank you for helping to usher me into womanhood. I would also like to thank my dissertation director, Dr. John W. Lowe. I am so blessed to have worked with such an intelligent, supportive, and likeable person. Your keen guidance has made a difficult task a less torturous journey. You are a grand university professor and an excellent human being. Thanks to Mrs. Evelyn Joyce Chapman Albert for being such a great friend and colleague. I am grateful to have grown so close to you over the past nine years. Thank you ii for always being the voice of sound common sense. Thanks to Dr. Joyce Meeks Jones for insuring that I could sustain myself financially since 1995. The work experience I have gained from nearly ten years of employment at the Southern University English Department will surely serve me well for many years to come. I am also thankful to the great circle of friends I have accumulated throughout this journey: Kim and Joanie Chavis, Anita Harris, Stephanie Hall-Rook, Kendrick Coleman, Latricia and Darryl Scriven, Troy James, and Drake Joiner. Thank you for being TRUE friends and for sustaining me both intellectually and emotionally. There simply are not adequate words to express the depth of my love for my husband, Troy, and my daughter, Jaidyn Amina. Troy, thank you for being the most wonderful man I have ever met. Your patient and loving nature has nurtured my soul more times than you know. You are my treasure. Jaidyn, you have been my most powerful motivation to succeed and my greatest joy. iii Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ii ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................ v CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2. A THEORETICAL OVERVIEW OF BLACK WOMEN’S HEALING NARRATIVES ....................................................................................................................9 CHAPTER 3. “LIVING IN THE LIGHT”: COMBATING WHITENESS IN J. CALIFORNIA COOPER’S FAMILY.......................................................31 CHAPTER 4. “IN LOVE, IN TROUBLE”: COOPER’S WOMEN AND THE MEN WHO "LOVE?" THEM..............................................................................85 CHAPTER 5. THE BLACK FAMILY AND THE ROAD TO HEALING ...................140 CHAPTER 6. DAUGHTER OF THE BLACK AESTHETIC: J. CALIFORNIA COOPER AS “FUNCTIONAL” ARTIST ....................200 WORK CITED................................................................................................................207 APPENDIX "EVERYBODY KNOWS ME, BUT NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT ME": A CONVERSATION WITH J. CALIFORNIA COOPER (8/20/03) .................................213 VITA................................................................................................................................225 iv Abstract This study examines the therapeutic qualities of selected short stories and novels of contemporary African American woman writer, J. California Cooper. Specifically, I examine the manner in which Cooper's texts can be appreciated as "healing narratives." Healing narratives, as defined in this study, are those texts in which the author consciously creates fictitious representations of reality, while employing the concept of hope as a central and guiding factor. Those aspects of the narrative that have the ability to heal or "lay hands on" a reader vary because the effectiveness of the story depends upon how well the reader can identify with the protagonist's journey toward self-actualization. In addition to illuminating the therapeutic aspects of Cooper's fiction, I also examine her use of black oral performance and storytelling. Chapter two provides a theoretical overview of black women's healing narratives. Specifically, I examine the African American storytelling tradition and the increasing popularity of narrative therapy, including what I refer to as the "healing story." Fiction of other more popular African American women writers who have produced "healing narratives" are also highlighted. Chapter three provides a close reading of Cooper's most popular novel, Family, a "liberatory narrative" that challenges the concept of racial categories and presents enslaved black women who devised shrewd mechanisms for subverting white hegemony. In chapter four, I examine the problematic nature of African American heterosexual intimacy as presented in Cooper's first short story collection, A Piece of Mine. In chapter five, I analyze the significance of the black family as both a source of strength and adversity for black people in The Wake of the Wind, The Matter is Life, Some Love, Some Pain, Some Time, and American Book Award Winner, Homemade Love. v Chapter 1: Introduction In his introduction to Breaking Ice: An Anthology of Contemporary African-American Fiction, John Edgar Wideman writes, "Our stories can place us back at the center, at the controls; they can offer alternative realities . ." (McMillan vii). Wideman’s words can aptly be applied to the fiction of J. California Cooper and the connections her novels and short stories make to the experiences of black women. Cooper, who has often been touted as a “master storyteller,” creates narratives that not only provide deep insights into the historical and contemporary realities of black women, but also offer readers moral guidance, practical solutions, and "down home" wisdom. While her fiction reflects universal elements of the human condition, Cooper chooses to filter her rendition of such universality through the experiences of black people, especially black women. The seeds of Cooper's future success as a writer were planted early as she claims to have had a particular fascination with paper dolls.1 After her mother forced her to "put her dolls away," Cooper made a transition from paper dolls to plays; plays, according to Cooper, are the natural "next step after paper dolls."2 Eventually finding acclaim as a playwright, Cooper authored seventeen plays and was named Black Playwright of the Year in 1978 for Strangers, which was performed at the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts. Her plays caught the attention of poet and novelist Alice Walker who encouraged her to change her plays into short stories. In 1984, Cooper's published her first collection of short fiction, A Piece of Mine. Although Cooper has been accused of creating overly preachy texts, the didactic nature of her fiction is what makes her words worth reading for much of her readership. Her most avid readers are usually not found in the halls of academia because Cooper has been relegated to the genre of popular literature. Essentially, this means that for many “educated 1 folk”