Constructs of „Home“ in Gloria Naylor‘s Quartet – Claudia Drieling – ISBN 9783826044922 / 978-3-8260-4492-2 / 978-3-82-604492-2

Constructs of „Home“ in Gloria Naylor’s Quartet is a rock-solid literary study of the first four novels – the „quartet“ – of one of America’s most noteworthy writers. Drawing on the concept of „lifeworld,“ Claudia Drieling’s book delves deeply into intrinsic aspects of home in the quartet. In examining the quartet’s spaces and places, Drieling approaches that well-trod territory with finesse and nuance. The section on food uncovers the role of selected foods in the texts and connects them to their historical roots – accessing, with charm and erudition, subject matter little studied in regard to Naylor. But it is the original and thorough analysis of Naylor’s character names that opens up previously overlooked areas of the quartet. To read this onomastic dissection of Naylor’s exquisitely chosen names is to understand the magnificent achievement of a writer who engages every -ism of modern America and remains standing after the fierce battle. Academic, critical, and general reader alike will find vigorous and fresh insights in this book as Drieling gives us a wealth of acute observations on Gloria Naylor’s powerful fiction. As a bonus, the book offers further perspective on the novelist’s thoughts by providing two interviews with Naylor that were conducted specifically for this study. Claudia I.H. Drieling, a native of Germany who has made the United States her home, is a scholar of African American literature. Drieling is a visiting assistant professor at Indiana University.