On Morrison
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- US$13.99
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NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An illuminating, electrifying exploration of the work of Toni Morrison by an award-winning novelist and Harvard professor—“a revelatory encounter with the Nobel laureate’s oeuvre” (The New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice)
“A landmark appraisal of the great novelist’s work . . . I have waited years for this book.”—Laila Lalami, The Guardian
“Thrilling . . . ingenious.”—Wesley Morris, The New York Times
“In this lavish yet clear-eyed study, Serpell shows how Morrison breathed new life into the novel. This is literary criticism at its finest.”—Time
“Revelatory . . . will captivate everyone from newcomers to [Morrison’s] most devoted fans.”—Vulture
“Invigorating . . . an informed, accessible literary analysis.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Resplendent . . . fresh and smart . . . [a] work of swaggering genius.”—Bookforum
“As gripping as it is intellectually brilliant . . . a classic.”—Cathy Park Hong
ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times, Time, The Today Show, Los Angeles Times, Harper's Bazaar, Ms., Esquire, Vulture, The Millions, Well-Read Black Girl, Electric Lit, Kirkus Reviews, Literary Hub, Book Riot
Toni Morrison, Nobel Laureate and one of our most beloved writers, has inspired generations of readers. But her artistic genius is often overshadowed by her monumental public persona, perhaps because, as Namwali Serpell puts it, “she is our only truly canonical black female writer—and her work is highly complex.” In On Morrison, Serpell brings her unique experience as both an award-winning writer and a professor who teaches a course on Morrison to illuminate her masterful experiments with literary form.
This is Morrison as you’ve never encountered her before, a journey through her oeuvre—her fiction and criticism, as well as her lesser-known dramatic works and poetry—with contextual guidance and original close readings. At once accessible and uncompromisingly rigorous, On Morrison is a primer not only on how to read one of the most significant American authors of all time but also on how to read great works of literature in general. This dialogue on the page between two black women artist-readers is stylish, edifying, and thrilling in its scope and intelligence.
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Serpell (The Furrows), a novelist and professor of English at Harvard, provides an insightful and stimulating exploration of the work of Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison. Arguing that Morrison's literary skill often gets overshadowed by her public image as a Black female writer, Serpell focuses on the novelist's artistry and technique, demonstrating "how to read Morrison with the seriousness that she deserves." Most chapters interrogate a single novel, beginning with Morrison's first, The Bluest Eye, in which Serpell finds an "emphasis on absence" that pushes the narrative beyond "an identitarian sob story" into a work of art. Throughout, she highlights Morrison's tendency to critique, or "throw shade" at, white stories, arguing, for example, that the 1981 novel Tar Baby is a satirical retelling of the 1967 film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? In exploring Morrison's archives, Serpell finds notes that reveal the title character in Morrison's masterpiece Beloved returns in her subsequent novel Jazz as the character Wild. Serpell also takes readers through Morrison's only published short story, "Recitatif," which chronicles an interracial female friendship without specifying the race of either character, as well as a handful of her critical pieces, plays, and poems. Through exceptional close readings and sharp analyses, Serpell puts Morrison's genius on full display. This will enthrall Morrison fans and cultivate new ones.
