Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor 1950-present

''How do you keep your soul and still succeed in America? For the Afro- American, regardless of where you climb on the ladder of success, there will be racism. Under these conditions, if you give up what centers you, what is unique to you—then you are lost. The greatness of this country is the uniqueness of its people. But there is pressure to amalgamate. And that is suicidal when it happens to the Afro-American.''

Gloria Naylor Born and raised in NYC Graduated from Brooklyn college in 1982 Wrote The Women of Brewster Place in 1982 Yale, MA in 1983 Linden Hills was her master's thesis

Characteristics of African American Literature Present in Naylor’s Writing Narrative patterns/interrelated fictive terrain Depiction of the supernatural Vivid and unique characterization

The Divine Comedy (1307) Dante Alghieri Epic poem, three sections: – Inferno—the great classical poet Virgil leads Dante on a trip through hell – Purgatory—Virgil leads Dante up the mountain of purification – Paradise—Dante travels through heaven Each section has 33 cantos Written in terza rima (third rhyme)—three-line stanza rhyming aba, bcb, cdc Provides a summary of the political, scientific, and philosophical thought of the time

Majesty of work lies in its multiplicity of meaning and interpretive levels—Dramatization of medieval Christian theology, allegory of the purification of one’s soul Four senses of interpretation for allegorical and scriptural materials—these are regularly applied to Dante’s Divine Comedy (ex: Jerusalem) – Literal—a city – Allegorical—the church – Moral—the believing soul – Anagogical—the heavenly city of God (anagoge: the mystical or spiritual meaning)

Linden Hills Loosely based on Dante’s Inferno Naylor’s “hell” is an affluent, African American middle class neighborhood Need familiarity with basics of The Inferno (in particular the circles of hell) to explore the comparisons and connections and enrich your analysis and understanding of the depths of Naylor’s text