On Morrison

Serpell (The Furrows), a novelist and professor of English at Harvard, provides an insightful and stimulating exploration of the work of Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison. Arguing that Morrison’s literary skill often gets overshadowed by her public image as a Black female writer, Serpell focuses on the novelist’s artistry and technique, demonstrating “how to read Morrison with the seriousness that she deserves.” Most chapters interrogate a single novel, beginning with Morrison’s first, The Bluest Eye, in which Serpell finds an “emphasis on absence” that pushes the narrative beyond “an identitarian sob story” into a work of art. Throughout, she highlights Morrison’s tendency to critique, or “throw shade” at, white stories, arguing, for example, that the 1981 novel Tar Baby is a satirical retelling of the 1967 film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? In exploring Morrison’s archives, Serpell finds notes that reveal the title character in Morrison’s masterpiece Beloved returns in her subsequent novel Jazz as the character Wild. Serpell also takes readers through Morrison’s only published short story, “Recitatif,” which chronicles an interracial female friendship without specifying the race of either character, as well as a handful of her critical pieces, plays, and poems. Through exceptional close readings and sharp analyses, Serpell puts Morrison’s genius on full display. This will enthrall Morrison fans and cultivate new ones. (Jan.)