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Biography
Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio, and earned her
B.A. at Howard University and an M.A. at Cornell. After teaching
college literature for several years, she began writing fiction,
and in 1964 she started working as an editor for Random House,
a New York City publishing firm. Her first novel, The
Bluest Eye (1970), introduced several of the concerns
about race and gender identity that would appear in her subsequent
novels, Sula (1974), Song of Solomon (1977), Tar
Baby (1981), Beloved (1987), for which she won
the Pulitzer Prize, Jazz (1992), and Paradise (1998).
Morrison was the recipient of the 1993 Nobel Prize for literature;
she is currently the Golheen Professor of the Humanities
at Princeton University.
Explorations
Recitatif (1983) has many kin in contemporary American
literature: it is a story of two women, formerly childhood
friends, who meet by chance and struggle to rediscover some
key memories and find grounds for intimacy and empathy despite
the effects of time and personal experience. There are many
stories and films which cover such ground -- but rarely in
this way and with the themes that Morrison emphasizes here. 1. When Twyla says that she and Roberta had to discover "How
to believe what had to be believed," what does she mean?
Circumstances change and they change again: the late 1960s
culture gives way to the materialism of the 1970s and 1980s,
and each of these people is carried along and to some extent
transformed. Can you describe any connection between that
general theme and Twyla's emphasis on food and her interest
in matching up "the right people with the right food"?
2. Why does Roberta stay at the demonstration, carrying
her sign, even when the disorder of the group has made
her own placard meaningless?
3. Is Recitatif ultimately a pessimistic story?
Or do identity, and friendship, show themselves as transcendent
somehow, undamaged in their essence by change? What details
and events in the story help you decide on your answer?
Other sites to consult: Aniina's
Toni Morrison Page, an
excellent, comprehensive source of information.
Includes numerous biographies
and bibliographies, plus extensive information about
Morrison's novels.
http://www.nobel.se/literature/laureates/1993/morrison-cv.html:
Morrison’s CV, from the Nobel Foundation.
http://www.salon.com/books/int/1998/02/cov_si_02int.html:
An interview with Toni Morrison in Salon.
http://partners.nytimes.com/books/98/01/11/home/morrison.html:
Information on Toni Morrison from the New York Times.
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