Toni Morrison
Nobel Prize-winning American novelist and essayist whose Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination is one of the most important works of American literary criticism. Her essays and lectures on race and literature are as powerful as her fiction. She edited African American literary anthologies and mentored generations of writers.
Works
- BelovedGhost of enslaved woman haunts Ohio family, exploring legacy of slavery and maternal bonds
- Song of SolomonMultigenerational saga tracing African-American identity, mythology, and family through epic journey
- SulaTwo Black women navigate complex friendship, survival, and resilience in post-World War II America
- The Bluest EyePortrait of African-American girlhood damaged by internalized racism and beauty standards
- JazzNovel set in 1920s Harlem exploring jazz music, love, and urban African-American life
- Playing in the DarkScholarly essay on whiteness and Africanism in American literary imagination and cannon
- The Source of Self-RegardEssays on craft, identity, writing, and African-American literary and intellectual tradition
- Birth of a Nation'hoodEssays examining race, gender, and American mythology in the construction of nationhood
- What Moves at the MarginEssays exploring marginality, identity, and African-American intellectual and social concerns
- Remember
- Mouth Full of Blood