Toni Morrison

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).

“In sum, Valerie Smith has risen to the challenge of presentation and synthesis, while making a personal contribution to Morrison scholarship.”  (Cercles, 1 December 2015)“This concise volume will be of special value to less experienced (including high school) readers who want to go deeply into Toni Morrison’s work, and it provides an invaluable starting point for anyone who wants to understand the works themselves in their cultural contexts.  Summing Up: Highly recommended.  Lower-and upper-division undergraduates; general readers.”  (Choice, 1 March 2013)

• Acknowledgments viiIntroduction 11 The Bluest Eye and Sula 192 Song of Solomon and Tar Baby 413 Beloved 614 Jazz and Paradise 775 Books for Young Readers, Love and A Mercy 99Epilogue: Home 131Further Reading 137Works Cited 141Index 147