Crossing Color

Rita Dove is one of the premier American poets. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1987 and US poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995, Dove appeals to a broad public by means of readings, stage productions, and the media. Crossing Color: Transcultural Space and Place in Rita Dove's Poetry, Fiction, and Drama represents the first monographic investigation of this major African American author's writing. The book examines the linguistic devices through which Rita Dove shapes her transcultural spaces and places, understood as a fusion of cultural backgrounds that provide 'a home in art'. Crossing Color explores not only the vast range of Dove's thematic and formal means, but also her interest in crossing boundaries, be they geographical, racial, religious, or marked by class, gender or genre.