Alice Walker's novel, By the Light of My Father's Smileis a multicultural saga which deals simultaneously with the worlds of the dead and the living. The multiple voices within the novel represent a variety of cultures and viewpoints that stress the coexistence of different ways of `seeing and doing,' which is perhaps what multiculturalism is about-an attempt to understand the stranger, i.e., people from other cultures, besides Kristeva's `stranger within ourselves.' Alice Walker offers a review of the various cultures depicted-the Christianized African-American way of life as depicted through the values of the Robinson family (and indirectly, the values of the White mainstream which has indoctrinated them), the ecofeminist values of the Mundos, an Amerindian tribe in the Sierra Madre of Mexico with whom the Afros who fled the Civil War integrated, and also the East European Greek culture at Kalimasa.

whenBy the Light of My Father's Smilewas first published, it was reviewed inThe Times Literary Supplement by Alev Adil as "a novel which wants to be a mini-series," "an exuberant mixture of magic realism and political conviction, a manifesto for the author's spiritual humanism." The novel is a multicultural saga that deals simultaneously with the worlds of the dead and the living. It is replete with multiple voices, depicting a variety of cultures and viewpoints that stress the coexistence of different ways of `seeing and doing,' which is perhaps what multiculturalism is all about—an attempt to understand the stranger, i.e., people from other cultures, as also Kristeva's `stranger within ourselves.' Alice Walker offers an appraisal of the various cultures depicted—the Christianized African-American way of life as depicted through the values of the Robinson family (and indirectly, the values of the White mainstream which has indoctrinated them), the ecofeminist values of the Mundos, an Amerindian tribe in the Sierra Madre of Mexico with whom the Afros who fled the Civil War integrated, and also the East European Greek culture at Kalimasa.

The presence of many strong women characters, of whom some live joyously and sensually, while some others survive despite the oppressive patriarchal regimes in most of the cultures, makes the novel strongly `womanist' (a term coined by Walker herself to distinguish the experiences of women of color) as well. Almost all the important women characters in the novel, with the exception of Irene, the dwarf, find opportunities for sensual fulfillment, unlike the stereotypical picture of `good women' in Western mores, who are `chaste mother-goddesses' with hardly any individual likes and dislikes. Walker's women characters come off as flesh and blood creatures, who are vulnerable to love and hate, who are subject to vagaries of moods and wish to live a full life in their personal capacities. All of them know their own minds, though they may sometimes make choices—not entirely theirs—due to circumstances. There is also a very strong element of ecofeminism in the novel, as shall be explicated in this analysis.

Delightful Cousins and Scandalous Prayer, Multiculturalism and Ecofeminism, Alice Walker's, By the Light of My Father's Smile, cultures and viewpoints, exuberant mixture, magic realism, political conviction, womanist, love and hate,vagaries of moods.