Abstract

Reconciliating with one’s self. Hauntological decoding of Toni Morrison’s Beloved.

This article focuses on Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved and its reading that may be uncovered through the theory of hauntology. As a novel, Beloved inscribed itself into the discussion of the image of memory in literature thanks to its retrospective nature. The reality observed in this work by Toni Morrison is actively shaped by the past and haunted by the specters of past atrocities and deceased characters. Among the problems tackled in this article are the differences between memory and interpretation; traumatic memories; and the relation between one’s memory and identity. Events and characters present in this book are characterized by their ambiguity, their contestation of binary oppositions, such as presence/absence; life/death; freedom/slavery, and being defined through a plethora of meanings and traces. Despite all these characteristics pointing towards deconstructionism as the proper theory with which the novel may be decoded, the article proposes to dissect Beloved through hauntology. This work presents hauntology as a theory applicable to literary criticism that is capable of producing a captivating reading of the discussed novel, as well as outlines the main differences between hauntology and trauma theory, with the latter being the dominant approach used in analyzing Morrison’s book. This article employs the theory of hauntology in the shape in which it is proposed by Jacques Derrida, Mark Fisher, Jodey Castricano and Andrzej Marzec.