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As a chronicler of the African American experience in fiction and as an incisive cultural commentator in her essays and lectures, Toni Morrison (b. 1931) is regarded as one of the nation's most distinguished novelists and intellectuals. Her novels are richly layered narratives that explore the meanings of tragedy and myth in individual lives. Morrison's perspectives on American life and culture, rendered with a deep understanding of the consequences of history and the power of art, are always compelling.

Toni Morrison: Conversations includes interviews with the Nobel Laureate that bring into the foreground Morrison's comments on American literature and society, the academy, and her own work. She discusses growing up in Lorain, Ohio, her role as editor at Random House, the continuing evolution of her style, her teaching philosophy, and her most recent novels Jazz, Paradise, and Love. This volume includes interviews and profiles from the 1970s and 1980s that were not collected in Conversations with Toni Morrison (1993) and a rich collection of new interviews published together for the first time, including conversations with Paula Giddings, Salman Rushdie, Charlie Rose, and Elissa Schappell. ... Read more

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How does this novel explore themes of race and identity? What is the "color line"? How does Toni Morrison continue traditions of African-American storytelling? Discover how African-American culture has become a powerful voice in modern society.

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With excerpts from interviews and reviews, an exploration of the historical documents and slave narrative traditions on which Morrison drew, and an insightful juxtaposition of psychoanalytic and postcolonial approaches to the novel, this guide places in the contexts of Morrison´s oeuvre and other works of African American literature. Chapters focus on the supernatural elements of the work, as well as the author´s treatment of the physical self. ... Read more

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Nobel laureate Toni Morrison is one of the most widely studied of contemporary American authors. Her novels, particularly Beloved, have had a dramatic impact on the American canon and attracted considerable critical commentary. This Companion introduces and examines her oeuvre as a whole,the first evaluation toinclude not only her famous novels, but also her other literary works (short story, drama, musical, and opera), her social and literary criticism, and her career as an editor and teacher. Innovative contributions from internationally recognized critics and academics discuss Morrison's themes, narrative techniques, language and political philosophy, and explain the importance of her work to American studies and world literature. This comprehensive and accessible approach, together with a chronology and guide to further reading, makes this an essential book for students and scholars of African American literature. ... Read more

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Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993, Toni Morrison is among our most distinguished contemporary novelists. Morrison describes herself as a "black woman novelist," and all her novels deal with African American characters and communities. Exploring the entire cycle of human life in a spiritual context, her novels are also universal in their depiction of families, especially mothers and their children. From her first novel, The Bluest Eye, to her most recent, Paradise, Toni Morrison has explored the African American experience, and by extension, the human experience. The characters she creates linger in our minds long after we have finished reading the novel. This is the only book-length study of Morrison's novels to discuss all of her novels published to date. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Here's a book of criticism we _all_ will wish we'd written!
Missy Kubitschek's book does the impossible:she presents a thoughtful, educated, and appreciative reading of Morrison that makes these wonderful novels even more accessible than even good readers could imagine.Forteachers who want to provide their students with a superb critical model,here it is.Look at the literate biographical first chapter.The"contexts" chapter moves smoothly and clearly through thecritical whitewater of postmodernism, orality, and black identity. Thechapters focusing on individual Morrison novels (even the daunting_Paradise_) illuminate Morrison's careful plot and characterizationstrategies.Best of all, each chapter showcases a particular criticalstrategy (formalist, historicist, archetypal, "Afro-modernist,"etc.) as a lens through which to read the text.This is not only abrilliant teaching strategy, it's delightfully readable. I was surprisedand moved all over again at the author's deft discussion of marigolds in_Bluest Eye_ and its subtle evocation of the Demeter/Persephone theme. It's the best discussion I've read of _Paradise_ and the chapter on _Sula_brought that novel's power home to me years after my first reading of it. This is criticism at its very best. ... Read more

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The story of the eighth American--and first black--Nobel Prize-winning author of such modern masterpieces as "Beloved, Sula, The Bluest Eye" and "Paradise" is told in vivid detail, from her beginnings in Lorain, Ohio, to some of her most recent accomplishments. ... Read more

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Discusses the personal life and literary achievements of the woman who, in 1993, became the first African American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. ... Read more

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This volume embraces modern theoretic approaches to the novels of Toni Morrison. ... Read more

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Little Cloud drifts in the sky with the other clouds and has a life that any cloud would want. But Little Cloud isn't happy. She doesn't want to make thunder and rain like the other clouds. The earth below is so beautiful -- purple mountains, scarves of snow, silver-topped waves. She wants to live and play on the earth and be on her own.

How will Little Cloud ever come to understand that everything has its special place in the world, most especially her?

Inspired by the favorite Aesop story "The Bundle of Sticks," Toni Morrison and Slade Morrison tell a gentle and loving tale that illustrates that the whole is far mightier than any single part. Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor recipient Sean Qualls's shimmering paintings sparkle from the pages of this timeless fable. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

NO NO NO
Toni Morrison wrote "Beloved".She won a Pulitzer Prize.If you're like me you'll expect a lot more than you'll get with this book.It almost made me throw up in my mouth a little bit

A Marvel
Little Cloud and Lady Wind is a lovely, lovely book.The writing is simple and poetic.The illustrations are clear and gorgeous.I witnessed the book being read to a group of small children.They were riveted by the text.When the reader showed them the pictures, the children responded with oohs and ahs.I highly recommend Little Cloud and Lady Wind!

visual feast
The deeply-imagined illustrations of Sean Qualls are what make this book fantastic and magical.With great visual subtlety and grace the images enhance Toni Morrison's fable inspired by Aesop.Qualls has the gift for seeing how to give shape and volume to invisible elements--and he stirs a place of beauty in the imagination of readers lucky enough to spend time with these images.I keep the book on my coffee table; its sumptuous art amazes guests--who linger to study its many layered technique and rich monochromatic color.

This heartwarming, sweeping tale assures young children that we all have a special place in the world!
The clouds gathered together in the sky to display their strength and unity, but Little Cloud didn't want to join in.She poof!. . .went off by herself, not "wanting to blend into a group and lose her freedom, not wanting to frighten the earth" with peals of thunder and claps of lightning.She drifted over the mountain tops and flitted like the butterfly over the colorful flowers.The landscape was beautiful but she was somehow dissatisfied with her life and began to dream of other things. Little Cloud wanted to touch the earth, to "skip in the snow," dance in the waves and rest her head in the flowers.

When the night fell, she continued to dream until someone gently prodded her awake.Whooosh!Whooosh!Little Cloud was soon looking into the eyes of Lady Wind, who quickly gathered her into her arms and "raced across the sky."They encountered a fierce storm, but she warned Little Cloud not to be afraid.Through the night and in between the storms they "dodged knives of lightning, bumped into mountaintops poking through the dark, jumped over ocean waves reaching up to grab them."Little Cloud, exhausted from fear, finally fell asleep in Lady Wind's arms.Was there a lesson that Lady Wind had to teach her little protégé to show her how she would fit in with the world?

This heartwarming, sweeping tale assures young children that we all have a special place in the world.Inspired by Aesop's fable, "The Bundle of Sticks," this story has a nice, subtle way of telling the young child that he or she is very special even if they don't quit fit in with the rest of the crowd and march to their own drummer.The beautifully rendered illustrations pull the story along very nicely.It somehow had a nice nostalgic feel to it that I felt very drawn to.If you want a touching tale that has a "lesson" to impart for your circle or story time, this would be the perfect choice! ... Read more

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One of the few authors to attain both commercial success and literary acclaim, Toni Morrison, a longstanding member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, is widely read by high school students and general readers. Her books have been adapted into highly extolled films such as Beloved, largely because, even when set in the past, they grapple with issues and emotions relevant to contemporary society.

Designed for students and general readers, Reading Toni Morrison is a handy introduction to Morrison's works and their place in the world. The book begins with a look at Morrison's life and writing. Chapters overview the plots of her novels and discuss their themes, characters, and contexts. The book then examines Morrison's treatment of social issues and the presence of her works in popular culture. Chapters provide sidebars of interesting information along with questions to promote student research and book club discussion.

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This work expands the scope of Morrison's project to examine the ways and means of memory in the preservation of belief systems passed down from the earliest civilizations (both the Classical Greek and the Ancient Egyptian) as a challenge to the sterility of modernity. Moreover, this research explores the author's specific use of Foucauldian theory as a vehicle for her narrative, which reclaims the very origins of civilization's primal concerns with life, procreation and regeneration, springing from the very Heart of Africa. Despite the weight of "white" authority and the disparaging of "blackness," Beloved's multiple "ghosts" conjure up a legacy so potent that no authoritarian discourse has been able to entirely erase it, a legacy that still speaks to us from a heritage we no longer acknowledge yet that nevertheless remains, and sustains us. ... Read more

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Toni Morrison, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, is perhaps the most important living American author today, and certainly one of the most popular in college and high school courses. Her novels, including "Sula", "Song of Solomon", "Beloved", and "Paradise", have won almost every major award available to them. In addition, her influence as a critic, book editor, and mentor to other writers has been incalculable. "Critical Companion to Toni Morrison" examines Morrison's life and writing, featuring critical analyses of her work and themes, as well as entries on related topics and relevant people, places, and influences. ... Read more