Toni Morrison's Literary Achievements
In 1993 Toni Morrison joined the illustrious ranks of the Nobel Prize for Literature laureates as the ninetieth recipient, twentieth English-language author, eighth American, eighth woman, third black, and first African-American 1. Her mid-century predecessor William Faulkner (1897-1962) had just received the award in 1950 when Morrison (b. 1931) began writing her Master of Arts thesis on his work.2 Aside from both being Nobel laureates, this unlikely pair has, at first glance, little in common: Morrison, the college-educated daughter of a black Ohio shipyard welder, a key figure in the publishing and academic world; Faulkner, Southern son of "aristocratic" background, autodidact, reclusive loner. Yet, in addition to undeniable similarities in their canons such as taboo-breaking themes, complex prose style combining the oral with the written, and polyphonic narrative techniques, for contemporary readers there is an exciting dialectic between the Morrison and Faulkner oeuvres which shows how, among other things, the Nobel Prize heritage exposes the wounds of a society haunted by racial difference and offers at least narrative possibilities for healing them. In a literary version of the African-American folk technique "call and response,"3 William Faulkner, generally recognized as the greatest American modernist author, interacts—through the reader as interface—with Toni Morrison, whose latest novel Jazz "edges literary experimentation into the 21st century."4
Morrison's winning of the Nobel Prize was greeted by encomiums in many circles. Most newspaper reports quoted with approbation the Academy's criteria of literary skill and political commitment: Morrison's novels are...
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...ho had brought "vital renewal" to literature, but that by the 70s, "functional and pragmatic viewpoints" took on more importance.13 Now the prize was not meant to be mere decoration, but rather should prove useful, lending support to a developing author, a neglected literary genre, or an "insufficiently recognized linguistic or cultural sphere" (92) as part of the Academy's attempt to address the prize to "the literature of the whole world."14 Despite the risk involved in selecting younger writers, the Academy saw its investment in rising authors, frequently from marginal groups, as part of its attempt to broaden its horizons and influence. The selection of an African-American woman was thus not incidental, but to view Morrison's selection as "patroniz[ing] by race", a mere "gesture of Social Significance" shows deep ignorance of the merits of Morrison's oeuvre. 15
It's not just about telling the story; it's about involving the reader. we (you, the reader, and I, the author) come together to make this book, to feel this experience" (Tate 125). But Morrison also indicates in each of her novels that images of the zero, the absence, the silence that is both chosen and enforced, are ideologically and politically revelatory. Morrison's male characters imagine themselves in flight and are almost all in love with airplanes. . In the tradition of black literature since Richard Wright's Native Son, however, the privilege of flight, at least in airplanes, is mostly reserved for white boys.
On December 10, 1950, in Stockholm, Sweden, one of the greatest literary minds of the twentieth century, William Faulkner, presented his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize. If one reads in between the lines of this acceptance speech, they can detect a certain message – more of a cry or plead – aimed directly to adolescent authors and writers, and that message is to be the voice of your own generation; write about things with true importance. This also means that authors should include heart, soul, spirit, and raw, truthful emotion into their writing. “Love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice” (Faulkner) should all be frequently embraced – it is the duty of authors to do so. If these young and adolescent authors ignore this message and duty, the already endangered state of literature will continue to diminish until its unfortunate extinction.
113-117. Modern Critical Views: Toni Morrison. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 1990. Malcolm X. "On Afro-American History" - "The History of American History" Audubon Ballroom, Harlem, MA. 24 Jan 1965.
Rudd’s (2009) essay evaluates Enid Blyton’s work offering a different perspective to account for the appeal and popularity of the author. This essay looks at the aspects raised by Rudd. How Blyton, Pullman and Ransom illustrate the different aspects of a good or a bad book. The way critics confer prestige on a book or author and the arising criticism. How the agenda of the committees affects the selection of prize-winners. Finally, looking at the factors involved in success.
Morrison received the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1977 for Song of Solomon. In 1987, Beloved was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Her body of work was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1993. Other major awards include: the 1996 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the Pearl Buck Award (1994), the title of Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters (Paris, 1994), and 1978 Distinguished Writer Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Ms.
Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998. 63-84.
Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998.
My job becomes how to rip that veil drawn over “proceeding too terrible to relate."(Pg.91) I particularly love the switch in the technique of writing for Black literature that Morrison mention where "the interior life" is revealed. Morrison does this to identify the change from where we used our literary power to prove our humanity to now using that power to heal our community and in turn invite the marginalized group being discussed to speak for themselves. “It is the duty of the younger Negro artist . . . to change through the force of his art that old whispering" I want to be white," hidden in the aspirations of his people, to "Why I should want to be white? I am a Negro? And beautiful!” (Langston Hughes, The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain 1926) As Black Artist we are called to love the arts even if the arts doesn 't love us in return. We beg and bleed for black art. To me you 're an Artist when you are speaking, singing, drawing, dancing etc. your many truths drawn from and for the community to which you belong for all to see. As a progressive artistic community we must then write, produce, act, dance, sing, and be those truths. In continuing my journey as a Black artist, I will be doing an independent study on “Black Life on the Global Scale – An Ubuntist Identifies Art” with the advisement of a faculty advisor, the dynamic poet Kimmika Williams Witherspoon. This independent study will lead to a three part project that features social media as a platform in study broad advocacy, a documentary film, and a one woman show featuring a host of characters based on the people I will meet abroad. As a black actress, a black poet, a black singer and a creative Afrocentric human being I consider myself a black artist whose goal is to find and define her own artistry that will
In the story, “Recitatif,” Toni Morrison uses vague signs and traits to create Roberta and Twyla’s racial identity to show how the characters relationship is shaped by their racial difference. Morrison wants the reader’s to face their racial preconceptions and stereotypical assumptions. Racial identity in “Recitatif,” is most clear through the author’s use of traits that are linked to vague stereotypes, views on racial tension, intelligence, or ones physical appearance. Toni Morrison provides specific social and historical descriptions of the two girls to make readers question the way that stereotypes affect our understanding of a character. The uncertainties about racial identity of the characters causes the reader to become pre-occupied with assigning a race to a specific character based merely upon the associations and stereotypes that the reader creates based on the clues given by Morrison throughout the story. Morrison accomplishes this through the relationship between Twyla and Roberta, the role of Maggie, and questioning race and racial stereotypes of the characters. Throughout the story, Roberta and Twyla meet throughout five distinct moments that shapes their friendship by racial differences.
Johnson, Anne Janette. “Toni Morrison.” Black Contemporary Authors; A Selection from Contemporary Authors. Eds. Linda Metzger, et al. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, Inc., 1989.411-416.
“As rich in themes and poetic images as her Pulitzer Prize- winning Beloved…. Morrison conjures up hand of slavery on Harlem’s jazz generation. The more you listen, the more you crave to hear.”-Glamour
Lubiano, Wahneema. "Morrison, Toni (1931– )." African American Writers. Ed. Valerie Smith. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001. 581-597. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.
Therefore any attempt to read the noble Prize winner; Toni Morrison’s deep viewpoints urge us to see a side of her views, for she is an outstanding offshoot of the universal literary tree more specifically in American literature. Beloved has become a must on the American reading list despite of its complexity because of its effective subject and her artistic depiction.
Margolies, Edward. “History as Blues: Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man.” Native Sons: A Critical Study of Twentieth-Century Negro American Authors. J.B. Lippincott Company, 1968. 127-148. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Daniel G. Marowski and Roger Matuz. Vol. 54. Detroit: Gale, 1989. 115-119. Print.
Scott Momaday was born on February 27, 1934, in Oklahoma. His mother was a literature teacher and his father was an art teacher. Momaday’s parents both where authors and taught on Indian reserves. Momaday was forced to adjust between two cultures from an early age; although, he views this situation as an advantage, both in his life and in his work. After receiving a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of New Mexico, he submitted a few poems to a creative writing contest sponsored by Stanford University. There Ivor Winters, professor and established poet, secured a scholarship for the young man and became his mentor. Momaday remained at Stanford to earn a master's and Ph.D. in English and continued to write fiction and poetry. He came out as a highly successful writer of many books, and his literary career full of outstanding achievements. House Made of Dawn, his “classic first novel”, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In his writings, Momaday ha...