It seems unlikely that Toni Morrison, already a Pulitzer Prize winner, Nobel laureate and global household name at the time of her death in 2019, could increase in popularity in the years after. However, with the rise of viral reels culled from her interviews and a sharp uptick in books published about her life and work, she has. Harvard professor and novelist (The Old Drift, The Furrows) Namwali Serpell’s On Morrison is a vital addition to this already rich conversation.
Serpell carefully examines Morrison’s oeuvre, from her major novels to her short story “Recitatif” to her poetry, plays and literary criticism. Early chapters are devoted to close readings of Morrison’s first four books, and Serpell’s keen eye for analysis yields fantastic results. In one chapter, she explores how the structure of The Bluest Eye makes it one of Morrison’s most complex books, with its framework that pivots from a deconstruction of the Dick and Jane primer to multivocal narratives that zip between timeframes and locales. In another chapter, Serpell connects Morrison’s blending of biblical epic, reverse migration narrative and Greek legend in Song of Solomon to the African American art forms of signifying and hip-hop.
Serpell’s close readings of Morrison’s work and extensive study of her archives uncover some lovely Easter eggs (check out how she breaks down the significance of Sethe’s home address in Beloved) and a few juicy revelations. Throughout On Morrison, Serpell peels back the many layers of Morrison’s genius, yet does not shy away from moments when the genius missed her mark. In discussions about Morrison’s poetry and some of her later novels, Serpell is unsparing in her critiques, because, as she argues, even Morrison herself saw “failures” as simply information: important data with which to move forward in life, love and, most importantly, art. On Morrison is an astonishing collection of close readings that is an asset to Morrison scholarship, enriching, complicating and, at times, challenging what we have come to know and love about this literary titan.
Read our interview with Namwali Serpell, author of ‘On Morrison.”