Toni Morrison Writing the Moral Imagination

• Offers provocative new insights and a refreshingly original contribution to the scholarship of one of the most important contemporary American writers
• Analyzes the celebrated fiction of Morrison in relation to her critical writing about the process of reading and writing literature, the relationship between readers and writers, and the cultural contributions of African-American literature
• Features extended analyses of Morrison’s lesser-known works, most recent novels, and books for children as well as the key texts

Valerie Smith is Dean of the College, Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature, and Professor of English and African American Studies at Princeton University, USA. Her numerous awards include fellowships from the Alphonse G. Fletcher Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Smith has written many essays and articles, and is author or editor of five books, including Self-Discovery and Authority in Afro-American Narrative (1988) and Not Just Race, Not Just Gender: Black Feminist Readings (1998).

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 1

1 The Bluest Eye and Sula 19

2 Song of Solomon and Tar Baby 41

3 Beloved 61

4 Jazz and Paradise 77

5 Books for Young Readers, Love and A Mercy 99

Epilogue: Home 131

Further Reading 137

Works Cited 141

Index 147

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