The Cambridge Companion to Toni Morrison

A 2007 student guide to Morrison's work, discussing her entire career as a writer, critic, editor and teacher.

Justine Tally (Edited by)

9780521678322, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 September 2007

220 pages
22.6 x 15.5 x 1.3 cm, 0.35 kg

'The academic and literary essays in The Cambridge Companion to Toni Morrison are informative as stand-alone pieces, providing insight into her less publicised stories …' Reference Reviews

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 2007 Companion introduces and examines her oeuvre as a whole, the first evaluation to include 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.

Chronology
Introduction: 'all necks are on the line' Justine Tally
Part I. Toni Morrison's Fiction: 1. The Bluest Eye and Sula: black female experience from childhood to womanhood Ágnes Surányi
2. Song of Solomon and Tar Baby: the subversive role of language and the carnivalesque Joyce Hope Scott
3. Beloved or the shifting shapes of memory Claudine Raynaud
4. Jazz and Paradise: pivotal moments in black history Shirley Anne Stave
5. The Morrison trilogy Justine Tally
6. Love and the survival of the black community Mar Gallego
7. The artistic impulse of Toni Morrison's shorter works Abena P. A. Busia
Part II. Toni Morrison's Criticism and Editing: 8. Toni Morrison's literary criticism Hanna Wallinger
9. Toni Morrison's social criticism Sämi Ludwig
10. Toni Morrison, editor and teacher Cheryl Wall
Part III. Essays: 11. Language and narrative technique in Toni Morrison's novels Judylyn Ryan
12. Toni Morrison as intellectual Dwight McBride
13. Morrison and the critical community Deirdre J. Raynor and Johnella E. Butler
Works by Toni Morrison
Selected critical works.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]