1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述）

generally, root-seeking literature, mostpopular in ethnic works, is intended to find a nation’s cultural identity. theauthor tries to revive the essential part of a nation’s traditional culture andevokes the awareness of the national identity. in song of solomon, root-seekingis reflected in milkman’s way to the south and other traditional scenesdescribed by morrison. the book is a perfect example to show the solution forafro-americans to identify themselves in a white-dominated society.

magic realism, usually considered to bederived from latin america literature, combines magical and supernaturalelements with the real world. matthew strecher defines it as "what happenswhen a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too strangeto believe". with descriptions full of imagination, magic realism worksare intriguing but sometimes difficult to understand.

in western literature study, when itcomes to the cultural identity and self-consciousness of african american, itis usually associated with the american dream. in pursuing the dream, someamerican blacks lost themselves in the fame and wealth, like macon dead in thebook, leaving their traditions and history behind. “it is dangerous,” notedtoni morrison, who suggests that the black get the strength and confidencebased on their own traditional culture. “one ever feels his twoness, anamerican, a negro; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strengthalone keeps it from being torn asunder…” said w.e.b du bois in his famous workstrivings of the negro people, showing the importance of root-seeking inafrican american’s culture.

2. 研究的基本内容与方案

this paper is going to take a close lookat the root-seeking culture presented in song of solomon and try to interpretit in a magic realistic way. afterfinishing the paper, i want to have a deeper understanding about africanamerican literature and american magic realism. what’s more, after studyingsong of solomon, it will help in reading toni morrison’s other works.

to complete the paper, i will take thefollowing steps:

first, i’m going to learn about theroot-seeking culture and the cultural identity of the african americanliterature and try to have a good understanding of magic realism.

3. 研究计划与安排

before 6th january: settlementof the title

before 22th march: submissionof the outline

before 25th april: submissionof the first draft

4. 参考文献（12篇以上）

[1] david r pendery. "depiction of conscious experience as a centralelement of toni morrison’s magical realist technique in song of solomon"[j]. margin: exploring modern magical realism,2006

[2] jin-lian wu. seeking for a sense of belonging: an interpretation of song of solomon[j]. english language andliterature studies, 2012(2):39-39

[3] mahboobeh khaleghi. the quest for authenticity and cultural identity:a study of toni morrison’s song ofsolomon[j]. the criterion: an international journal in english, 2011(2):1-7