Welcome
The present plan is to combine materials authored by the site editor, Amardeep Singh, with student-contributed materials. All student-contributed materials will be credited to the authors themselves.
Some planned materials might include:
- Annotated scholarly bibliography of criticism on Toni Morrison’s writings, possibly including criticism by Toni Morrison herself. First, there are hundreds of scholarly articles that have been published on Morrison. It might be helpful to have a guide to some of them, including a general sense of the topic and method, a brief summary of the main arguments with a couple of highlighted points, and a shortlist list of keywords. I’m also interested in having you read some of Morrison’s other critical essays, interviews, and other public statements.
- Dates and locations in Morrison’s novels. What does Toni Morrison’s map of the U.S. look like? What cities and states feature in her books, and what geographic patterns can we trace? Ohio is obviously important in The Bluest Eye and Sula; Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Virginia in Song of Solomon; Kentucky, Georgia, Delaware, Ohio in Beloved; Virginia, Baltimore, and NYC in Jazz, and so on. I have been assembling digital ‘maps’ on the project that is in progress, but there is much more to be done.
- Historical reference points, artifacts, and events that are important to understanding Toni Morrison’s novels. Examples might include:
History: the East St. Louis Riot of 1917 (Jazz);
History: tensions between Black and white workers in northern cities (Sula and Jazz)
Multimedia: Early (1920s) Jazz and “Race” music, especially musicians, record labels, and performers that are cited by name in Jazz
a close look at The Harlem Book of the Dead (if you can find a copy, i.e., by Interlibrary loan);
History: the story of Margaret Garner (1856);
Critical deep dive: A detailed look at the production of the Margaret Ganer opera in Cincinnati and Detroit in 2005-6, including scholarly overview and news coverage;
Critical deep dive: A detailed look at the production of the productions of Desdemona in 2011-2012, including the French & Italian productions and the U.S. production at Berkeley, including scholarly overview and news coverage;
Multimedia: the 1934 film Imitation of Life (The Bluest Eye);
Multimedia: Black performers like Bojangles (The Bluest Eye);
the lynching of Emmett Till and subsequent acquittal of his killers (Song of Solomon);
early Black militant movements (Song of Solomon);
The impact of Dick and Jane books on American education; the slow progress towards increasing diversity and representation in books for early childhood education (The Bluest Eye)
The “Doll Test” (psychological study) (The Bluest Eye)
Critical deep dive: Use “Lexis-Nexus” to look at original book reviews of Morrison’s novels when they were first published as printed in major newspapers and magazines. What did reviewers pick up on in her books? What did they value? What are some of the odd moments?
Multimedia: take a look at several media appearances by Morrison you can find online, including appearances on shows like ‘Oprah’ as well as other venues (i.e., Charlie Rose). Watch and annotate; what are topics covered? Special highlights or memorable moments? Key quotes?