On Morrison
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Publishing:19th Feb '26
£22.50 was £25.00
This title is due to be published on 19th February, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
'Serpell is a superlative essayist' DIANA EVANS
'Breathtaking, provocative, and refreshing' IMANI PERRY
The essential companion to Toni Morrison’s work, written by Namwali Serpell, ‘one of the most innovative and intelligent writers today’ (Financial Times)
Toni Morrison, Nobel Laureate and most beloved of writers, has inspired generations of readers. But her artistic genius is often overshadowed by her monumental public persona, perhaps because, as Namwali Serpell puts it, ‘she is our only truly canonical black, female writer – and her work is highly complex.’ In On Morrison, Serpell brings her unique experience as both an award-winning writer and professor to illuminate Toni Morrison’s masterful experiments with literary form.
This is Morrison as you’ve never encountered her before, a journey through her vivid fiction and criticism, as well as her lesser-known dramatic works and poetry – with contextual guidance and original close readings. Accessible and thrillingly rigorous, On Morrison is a primer not only on how to read one of the most significant American authors of our time, but how to approach any great work of literature. The conversation between the two black women artist-readers that rises from these pages is stylish, edifying and spectacular in its scope and erudition.
'A literary miracle' KIESE LAYMON author of Heavy: An American Memoir
'Incisive, tender, and also honest and unsparing’ HANIF ABDURRAQIB, author of A Little Devil in America
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 People
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 America
A thrilling, candid and immersive study... A necessary book, and a brilliant achievement -- PRETI TANEJA, author of We That Are Young
Stunning reconsiderations of Morrison... incisive, tender, and also honest and unsparing -- HANIF ABDURRAQIB, author of A Little Devil in America
On 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 Memoir
Morrison gave me language to understand the voices of my African-American kin. In this brilliant book, Namwali Serpell invites the reader into an intimate conversation. She is scholar - with an incisive intellect and a questing spirit. And she is literary bestie: accessible, challenging and illuminating -- ELLAH P. WAKATAMA
As 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 Feelings
An impressive, nuanced work of scholarship * Kirkus, starred review *
Insightful and stimulating... Through exceptional close readings and sharp analyses, Serpell puts Morrison’s genius on full display. This will enthrall Morrison fans and cultivate new ones * Publishers Weekly, starred review *
ISBN: 9781784746438
Dimensions: 240mm x 156mm x 40mm
Weight: 500g
384 pages