On Morrison

Deep and enriching…. I have waited years for this book…. Serpell has managed to deliver a book that works on many levels: as a study of craft, as a critical appraisal, and as a tribute to an artist who was difficult in all the right ways – Laila Lalami * Guardian *I did not expect reading this learned work of literary criticism to be some of the most fun I’ve had this year – Sara Collins * Observer *[Serpell has] hopped on a rocket and touched the Tonisphere, with her mind… Serpell’s excitement, her sense of discovery and dismay, become yours – Wesley Morris * NYTBR *Serpell brings her expertise and eye to Toni Morrison’s singular literary genius. Maybe you’ve memorised The Bluest Eye, Sula or Morrison’s essays by heart, or you’ve decided to revisit an author you were first introduced to in school. Either way, this work will deepen your understanding of and appreciation for one of the greatest writers and editors of the 20th century * Harper’s Bazaar *Serpell is a superlative essayist, and On Morrison a high-flying, fantastically erudite rendition of how Morrison wanted to be read, blending the scholarly and the personal response to her work with seamless flair and conviction – DIANA EVANS, author of Ordinary PeopleInformed, accessible literary analysis – Sam Sax * Wall Street Journal *Serpell examines Toni Morrison’s oeuvre with the rigor of an academic and the admiration of a fellow creative... refreshingly jargon-free and accessible to most readers of Morrison’s novels and essays * Los Angeles Times *In On Morrison, Serpell applies her prodigious intellect, vast literary archive, and her own calling as a novelist to magnificent effect in this breathtaking, provocative, and refreshing engagement with Morrison as a thinker as well as an artist – IMANI PERRY, author of South to AmericaHer reading of Morrison is thick: layered with frameworks and a sophisticated ability to render critical inquiry legible – Danielle Amir Jackson * Guardian *A thrilling, candid and immersive study… A necessary book, and a brilliant achievement – PRETI TANEJA, author of We That Are YoungStunning reconsiderations of Morrison… incisive, tender, and also honest and unsparing – HANIF ABDURRAQIB, author of A Little Devil in AmericaIt’s like attending a graduate seminar on Toni Morrison… [it’s] been my greatest joy in the last few months – TAHMIMA ANAM, author of UprisingOn Morrison is not simply a literary miracle; it is a cultural feat, a damn near perfect concoction made maybe once in a generation… we should be thankful to share the earth with this art object – KIESE LAYMON, author of Heavy: An American MemoirAs gripping as it is intellectually brilliant… a lucid and revelatory close-read of all of her work… On Morrison is a classic – CATHY PARK HONG, author of Minor FeelingsSerpell’s deep but clear investigation of Morrison’s literary genius is one of the best primers to an author’s oeuvre I’ve ever read * Esquire *

Namwali Serpell was born in Lusaka and lives in New York. Her debut novel, The Old Drift, won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the Los Angeles Times’s Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. Her second novel, The Furrows, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and selected as one of The New York Times’s Ten Best Books of the Year. Her book of criticism, Stranger Faces, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She is a professor of English at Harvard University.

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