On Morrison

A giant in American letters, and one of our most beloved writers, Nobel laureate Toni Morrison has inspired generations.

But her artistic genius is often overshadowed by her monumental public persona, perhaps because, as Serpell puts it, ‘she is our only truly canonical black, female writer—and her work is complex.’ In On Morrison, Serpell brings her unique experience as both an award-winning writer and a professor of literature at Harvard University, to illuminate Morrison’s masterful experiments with literary form.

This is Morrison as you’ve never encountered her before, a journey through her oeuvre—her fiction, poetry, dramatic works, and criticism—with contextual guidance, archival discoveries, and original close readings. At once accessible and uncompromisingly rigorous, On Morrison is a primer not only on how to read one of the most significant black American authors of all time, but also on how to read great works of literature.

Stylish, edifying, and electrifying in its intelligence, this dialogue on the page between two artist-readers is literary criticism at its very best.