Ann Lane Petry, The Narrows

A Yemisi Jimoh (University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Ed. by A Yemisi Jimoh, University of Massachusetts Amherst
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.5: African American Writing and Culture of the United States.
Vol. editors: Philathia Bolton (University of Akron), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), A Yemisi Jimoh (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1953

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

In 1953, when Houghton Mifflin published Ann Lane Petry's third and last novel, The Narrows, the United States was well into the Cold War, stalled in the Korean conflict, and moving toward the early events in the organized Civil Rights Movement. The uneasy domestic calm of the early 1950s, following the turbulent 1940s, would not last long. For Petry, this tense and uncertain social and political environment seemed apt for her story of love across cultural lines in Monmouth, a medium-sized town on the River Wye in Connecticut.

In this novel, which includes vividly drawn characters, a number of sub-plots as well as several interesting motifs, Petry focuses on the varying classes found among African Americans in segregated …

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1441 words

Citation: Jimoh, A Yemisi. "The Narrows". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 October 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=57, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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