The Modern Novel

Biography

At the 1999 National Book Awards ceremony Oprah Winfrey told of calling Toni Morrison to say that she had had to puzzle over many of the latter’s sentences. According to Oprah, Morrison’s reply was”That, my dear, is called reading.” Sorry, my dear Toni, but it’s actually called bad writing. (B R Myers A Reader’s Manifesto)

Toni Morrison was born Chloe Anthony Wofford in 1931 in Lorain, Ohio. Her father had various jobs, including steel welder and construction worker. She took a B. A. from Howard University and an M. A. from Cornell University, writing her thesis on William Faulkner and Virginia Woolf. She taught at Texas Southern and then Howard University. In 1964, she divorced her husband and went to work for Random House where, amongst other works, she edited The Black Book, an important book on the struggles of ordinary African-Americans, which made her much more aware of the history of her people. She had started writing while at Howard University and had written a story which would become her first novel, The Bluest Eye.

Her first novel had some success but the subsequent novels garnered many awards, though Beloved was her most successful, even though it initially failed to win any awards. She also continued to teach. In 1993, she was awarded the Nobel Prize. She has also written children’s books with her son, Slade. Her books will be remembered for directly addressing the issues faced by African-Americans in the United States, neither sentimentalising them nor condemning them, but dealing with them openly, honestly and creatively. She died in 2019.

Other links

Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison
Chloe Wofford Talks About Toni Morrison
The Toni Morrison Society
The Toni Morrison Anchor
Anniina’s Toni Morrison Page
Toni Morrison’s Mix of Tragedy, Domesticity, and Folklore
When she speaks, America listens
Clinton as the first black president (article by Morrison)
Toni Morrison’s Letter to Barack Obama
Interview
Interview
Interview
Interview
Interview