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.