Alice Walker

Yvonne Johnson (Central Missouri State University)
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Alice Walker, winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award for

The Color Purple,

has dedicated her life to establishing a literary cannon of African American writers and to encouraging the “survival whole” of all women. She has won recognition for literary “foremothers” such as Zora Neale Hurston and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and has placed their contributions within the fabric of her own artistry. She has drawn on a childhood trauma in order to identify with African women who have been genitally mutilated, a theme that dominates her novel

Possessing the Secret of Joy

, and her non-fiction book

Warrior Marks.

Her recent autobiographical writing includes the pervasive themes of the history and preservation of African American culture, the importance of a…

2134 words

Citation: Johnson, Yvonne. "Alice Walker". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 February 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4945, accessed 28 March 2024.]

4945 Alice Walker 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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