Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison is undoubtedly one of the major contemporary American novelists; she was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1993, which she accepted in the name of her -African American sisters.” She fearlessly and articulately faces uncomfortable issues in American history and society, producing strong protagonists who must create their own often painful strategies for dealing with complex ethnic, social, and personal concerns. Toni Morrison’s beautiful prose and postmodern narrative structures, including rich intertextuality, are challenging, but always rewarding. We will read three major works from different phases in her writing career. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, establishes her life-long tactic of deconstructing debilitating -master narratives,” such as an assumption – which the young protagonist Pecola fully believes – that -white/blond/blue-eyed is more beautiful and thus superior to blackness.” Morrison’s masterly novel Jazz (1992) actually employs the rhythms of jazz in her narration. The short 2008 novel A Mercy focuses on the -unsettling” early colonization of America before the legal system institutionalized -blackness” as a criterion for inferiority. We will glance at other works, particularly her latest novella Home (2012), as well as excerpts from other novels, her only short story, -Recitatif,” and perhaps one of her plays. (Since we read her opus Beloved in my -American Gothic” seminar this past semester, unfortunately we will not deal extensively with it in the summer semester.) We will pay attention to Toni Morrison's interviews and media presence - her low-key but inspiring presentation of her own works, her theories, and her opinions on current events are part of her cultural achievement! Please purchase the following novels by Toni Morrison (any edition will be fine): -The Bluest Eye- (1970) -Jazz- (1992) -A Mercy- (2008) All the other works (her latest novel -Home,- 2012; short story; perhaps a play; and non-fiction) will be contained in the photocopied -seminar reader,- available from me at the beginning of the semester. Anglistik - Sprachpraxis Universität Siegen SoSe 2013 Ph.D. Waegner Cathy Ph.D