Read more
In this study of Toni Morrison's writing, Lawrie Balfour explores the idea of freedom through Morrison's novels and nonfiction. Morrison's writing illuminates the meanings of freedom and unfreedom in a democratic society founded on both the defense of liberty and the right to enslavement. Balfour considers how Morrison's writing ignites new ways of being free in the shadow of racial slavery and colonialism.
List of contents
- Introduction: Freedom and Word-Work
- 1. "To Manipulate American English"
- 2. "Modern Life Begins with Slavery"
- 3. Taking Flight
- 4. Taking Responsibility
- 5. "All the Waste and Beauty of the World"
About the author
Lawrie Balfour is James Hart Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia and author of Democracy's Reconstruction: Thinking Politically with W. E. B. Du Bois and The Evidence of Things Not Said: James Baldwin and the Promise of American Democracy. Her research explores how slavery, colonialism, and their legacies shape modern political life.
Summary
When Toni Morrison declares that she “can't wait for the ultimate liberation theory to imagine its practice and do its work,” she raises an issue at the heart of modern political thought: How should we understand freedom? And what does freedom mean in the shadow of racial slavery and colonialism? In this study of Toni Morrison's writing, Lawrie Balfour explores Morrison's reflections on the idea of freedom in her novels and nonfiction. While Morrison's literary achievements are widely celebrated, her political thought has yet to receive the same attention. Balfour shows how Morrison's writing illuminates the meanings of freedom and unfreedom in a democratic society founded on both the defense of liberty and the right to enslavement.
Morrison's fiction and meditations on the power of language challenge wishful notions of color-blindness and complaints that it is time to move beyond thinking and talking about race. Her attentiveness to the experiences of people “no one inquired of”--especially her interest in the lives of black women and girls--reorients democratic study toward racial slavery, settler colonialism, and the ongoing processes of theft and domination instituted by these practices. Morrison's writings kindle new forms of freedom-seeking that do not rely on the subjugation of others.
Additional text
This accessible volume is required reading for anyone seeking to understand the ways in which Toni Morrison's fiction offers political practices and ideals necessary for the current moment. Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.
