What moves at the margin : selected nonfiction

Format:

Book

Title:

What moves at the margin : selected nonfiction

Author:

Morrison, Toni.

ISBN:

9781604730173

Publication Information:

Physical Description:

xxvi, 215 pages : portrait ; 21 cm

Contents:

Family and history. A slow walk of trees (as grandmother would say), hopeless (as grandfather would say) ; She and me ; What the black woman thinks about women's lib ; A knowing so deep ; Behind the making of The black book ; Rediscovering black history ; Rootedness: the ancestor as foundation ; The site of memory -- Writers and writing. On behalf of Henry Dumas ; Preface to Deep sightings and rescue missions by Toni Cade Bambara ; James Baldwin: his voice remembered; life in his language ; Speaking of Reynolds Price ; To be a black woman: review of Portraits in fact and fiction ; The family came first: review of Labor of love, labor of sorrow ; Toni Morrison on a book she loves: Gayl Jones's Corregidora ; Going home with bitterness and joy: review of South to a very old place by Albert Murray ; On The radiance of the king by Camara Laye ; Foreword to The Harlem book of the dead ; Foreword to Writing red: an anthology of American women writers, 1930-1940 ; The fisherwoman: Introduction to A kind of rapture: photographs -- Politics and society. On the backs of blacks ; The talk of the town ; The dead of September 11 ; For a heroic writers movement ; Remarks given at the Howard University Charter Day convocation ; The future of time: literature and diminished expectations ; The dancing mind ; How can values be taught in the university ; The Nobel lecture in literature.

Summary:

The commanding voice of Morrison's essays, speeches and reviews offers compelling insights into family, history, other writers and politics. The pieces span from 1971, when Morrison was an editor at Random House, to 2002, the year she won the Nobel Prize, and range from book introductions to thoughts on the nature of writing and reflections on 9/11.--From publisher description.

Personal Subject:

Morrison, Toni.

Morrison, Toni

Subject(s):

African American women in literature.

Genre:

essays.

Essays

Added Author:

Denard, Carolyn C.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Salem Main Library	818.54 Morrison 2008	Searching... Unknown
Searching... McMinnville Public Library	818 Morrison	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

What Moves at the Margin collects three decades of Toni Morrison's writings about her work, her life, literature, and American society. The works included in this volume range from 1971, when Morrison (b. 1931) was a new editor at Random House and a beginning novelist, to 2002 when she was a professor at Princeton University and Nobel Laureate. Even in the early days of her career, in between editing other writers, writing her own novels, and raising two children, she found time to speak out on subjects that mattered to her. From the reviews and essays written for major publications to her moving tributes to other writers to the commanding acceptance speeches for major literary awards, Morrison has consistently engaged as a writer outside the margins of her fiction. These works provide a unique glimpse into Morrison's viewpoint as an observer of the world, the arts, and the changing landscape of American culture. The first section of the book, ""Family and History,"" includes Morrison's writings about her family, Black women, Black history, and her own works. The second section, ""Writers and Writing,"" offers her assessments of writers she admires and books she reviewed, edited at Random House, or gave a special affirmation to with a foreword or an introduction. The final section, ""Politics and Society,"" includes essays and speeches where Morrison addresses issues in American society and the role of language and literature in the national culture. Among other pieces, this collection includes a reflection on 9/11, reviews of such seminal books by Black writers as Albert Murray's South to a Very Old Place and Gayl Jones's Corregidora, an essay on teaching moral values in the university, a eulogy for James Baldwin, and Morrison's Nobel lecture. Taken together, What Moves at the Margin documents the response to our time by one of American literature's most thoughtful and eloquent writers. Toni Morrison is the Robert F. Goheen Professor Emerita at the Center for Creative and Performing Arts at Princeton University and is the author of Sula, Song of Solomon, Beloved, Paradise, and other novels. She has received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature. Carolyn C. Denard is the author of scholarly essays on Toni Morrison and the forthcoming Cambridge Introduction to Toni Morrison. She is Associate Dean of the College at Brown University and founder of the Toni Morrison Society.

Author Notes

Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio on February 18, 1931. She received a B.A. in English from Howard University in 1953 and a master's degree in English from Cornell University in 1955 with her thesis on the theme of suicide in modern literature. She taught at several universities including Texas Southern University, Howard University, and Princeton University.

Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. Her other works include Sula, Tar Baby, Jazz, Paradise, Love, A Mercy, Home, and God Help the Child. She has won several awards including the National Book Critics Circle Award for Song of Solomon in 1977, the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved in 1988, the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012, the Edward MacDowell Medal for her outstanding contribution to American culture in 2016, and the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction in 2016. She also co-wrote children's books with her son, Slade Morrison, including The Big Box, The Book of Mean People, and Peeny Butter Fudge.

Toni Morrison passed away on August 5, 2019 at the age of 88, after a short illness.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Although Morrison's powerful novels on race and identity have secured her literary reputation, the commanding voice of her essays, speeches and reviews offers compelling insights into family, history, other writers and politics. The pieces span from 1971, when Morrison was an editor at Random House, to 2002, the year she won the Nobel Prize, and range from book introductions to thoughts on the nature of writing and reflections on 9/11. In a 1971 New York Times Magazine article, Morrison bluntly observes that black women's response to the nascent feminist movement is, "Distrust.... They look at white women and see them as the enemy." Following Toni Cade Bambara's death in 1995, Morrison recalled her friend's writing gift: "Bambara is a writer's writer, an editor's writer, a reader's writer... nothing distracts from the sheer satisfaction her story-telling provides." In a powerful address delivered to the American Writers Congress in 1981, Morrison proclaims, "[W]e don't need any more writers as solitary heroes. We need a heroic writers' movement-assertive, militant, pugnacious." Denard's judicious selections offer eloquent insights into the themes that are the rich ground for Morrison's haunting fiction. 10,000-copy first printing. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

For Nobel laureate Morrison, language is holy, story is power, and inspiration is found at the margin, that is, in lives locked out of America's white, corporate mainstream, in art of conscience, in overlooked beauty and hidden truths. Editor Denard incisively introduces this well-structured collection of clarion works spanning three decades and exemplifying Morrison's exacting arguments, commanding forthrightness, and blistering wit on subjects personal and universal, timely and timeless. Whether she is remembering her grandparents, praising Toni Cade Bambara and other writers, defining black womanhood, celebrating black heritage, or dissecting racial and political issues, Morrison, drawing on her experiences as a book editor and educator as well as a novelist, rejects lump thinking, pursues historic facts, and brings courage and candor to bear on complex conflicts. A master stylist, penetrating thinker, and committed artist wholly engaged in transforming lives, Morrison believes that a novel should be beautiful, and powerful, but it should also work. It should have something in it that enlightens. Morrison holds to the same high standards in her revelatory nonfiction.--Seaman, Donna Copyright 2008 Booklist

Library Journal Review

This collection of previously published reviews, essays, tributes, and acceptance speeches--artfully arranged, edited, and introduced by Denard (founder, Toni Morrison Soc. of the American Literature Assn.)--makes up a portrait of a woman whom many consider to be one of the greatest authors in American literature. Throughout the work, which covers three decades in three sections--"Family and History," "Writers and Writings," and "Politics and Society"--the prose to which readers of Morrison's fiction (e.g., Sula, Song of Solomon, Beloved) have become accustomed takes on new meaning in the form of commentary, inspiration, and thought-provoking questions. Providing a glimpse into the personal ideals upon which many of Morrison's fiction pieces are based, the collection addresses issues of black history, modern race relationships, slavery, women's liberation, and more. It is an important resource for aspiring writers, Morrison fans, and any African American studies program and is highly recommended for academic libraries as an accompaniment to Morrison's Nobel prize-winning fiction.--Erin E. Dorney, Rochester, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. xi
Family and History
A Slow Walk of Trees (as Grandmother Would Say), Hopeless (as Grandfather Would Say)	p. 3
She and Me	p. 15
What the Black Woman Thinks about Women's Lib	p. 18
A Knowing So Deep	p. 31
Behind the Making of The Black Book	p. 34
Rediscovering Black History	p. 39
Rootedness: The Ancestor as Foundation	p. 56
The Site of Memory	p. 65
Writers and Writing
On Behalf of Henry Dumas	p. 83
Preface to Deep Sightings and Rescue Missions by Toni Cade Bambara	p. 86
James Baldwin: His Voice Remembered; Life in His Language	p. 90
Speaking of Reynolds Price	p. 95
To Be a Black Woman: Review of Portraits in Fact and Fiction	p. 100
The Family Came First: Review of Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow	p. 103
Toni Morrison on a Book She Loves: Gayl Jones's Corregidora	p. 108
Going Home with Bitterness and Joy: Review of South to a Very Old Place by Albert Murray	p. 111
On The Radiance of the King by Camara Laye	p. 118
Foreword to The Harlem Book of the Dead	p. 133
Foreword to Writing Red: An Anthology of American Women Writers, 1930-1940	p. 135
The Fisherwoman: Introduction to A Kind of Rapture: Photographs	p. 138
Politics and Society
On the Backs of Blacks	p. 145
The Talk of the Town	p. 149
The Dead of September 11	p. 154
For a Heroic Writers Movement	p. 156
Remarks Given at the Howard University Charter Day Convocation	p. 164
The Future of Time: Literature and Diminished Expectations	p. 170
The Dancing Mind	p. 187
How Can Values Be Taught in the University	p. 191
The Nobel Lecture in Literature	p. 198
Index	p. 209

Available:*

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Booklist Review

Library Journal Review

Table of Contents