Crossing Color

Book excerpt: Rita Dove, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1987 and US poet Laureate from 1993 to 1995, appeals to a broad public by means of readings, stage productions, and the media. This work is 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'. This work 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.