Toni Morrison (Photo: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders)
Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison has made American literary history with her greats “The Bluest Eye,” “Song of Solomon,” “Beloved.” She’s looked into the heart of race, violence, sexuality, suffering, redemption.
Now, Toni Morrison — along with fellow literary greats Salman Rushdie, Orhan Pamuk, Nadine Gordimer, the late John Updike, and more — is looking directly at the role of the writer. At censorship and free expression and the importance of imagination’s free rein to a society’s fundamental health and growth.
This hour, On Point: A conversation with Toni Morrison on the power of the free word.
You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.
-Tom Ashbrook
Guest:
Toni Morrison joins us from New York. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1988, for her novel “Beloved.” She is editor of the new collection “Burn This Book: PEN Writers Speak Out on the Power of the Word,” which features essays from writers John Updike, Salman Rushdie, Nadine Gordimer, Orhan Pamuk, and others. Her most recent novel, published in 2008, is “A Mercy.”
You can read excerpts from “Burn This Book” at the publisher’s website.
In this video Toni Morrison delivers her acceptance speech for the PEN/Borders Literary Service Award last December:
Tags: books, freedom of speech, literature
Please ask Ms. Morrison to address the issue of censorship and frequent self-censorship induced by the apparently now widely held belief that believers in one or another form of religion have a right not to be offended.
Posted by George Holoch, on May 28th, 2009 at 8:41 am UTCDid Tom really just say “from whence”? Hello!
Posted by Ronald Johnson, on May 28th, 2009 at 9:22 am UTCWhat about the potential conflict of art and politics? Isn’t it like a one-way street? You can get to politics with good art (good art can be political), but you can’t go the other way. The reason, it seems to me, is that art embraces irony, while politics needs to smooth it all out. And what about Harold Bloom’s claim that Toni was a budding great artist until she got enlisted into politics? Song of Solomon was her last work of art.
Posted by Mark Beatham, on May 28th, 2009 at 9:51 am UTCMs. Morrison:
Your searing insight and depiction of the horrors of slavery in “Beloved” was so heartwrenching, I had to put down the novel and have yet to finish it. Have others had this problem? If so, I think this speaks directly to the power or the written word you and Tom are speaking about today.
Posted by Mary Ellen Stumpf, on May 28th, 2009 at 9:51 am UTC…..Well done Toni Morrison at 78…
Irish music survived because it was banned by the British..
As I write this I hear the man ask the question about cultural acceptance of OPRESSION IN SOME CONTEXTS ….
NOTICE WE IN AMERICA ARE NO LONGER ALLOWED A FREE AND OPEN DISCUSSION OF THE THE WARS ONCE THEY HAVE BEGUN..
Qf course I refer to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Great show guys .
Posted by john oleary, on May 28th, 2009 at 9:56 am UTCjohn
Bring back Toni Morrison for another show!
Posted by Jeremy Baker, on May 28th, 2009 at 10:01 am UTCRe: Toni’s last point, her fear that those who elected Obama will fail by sitting back and waiting for him to fix the problems (health care, etc). What exactly should they be doing that they aren’t? Any specific ides?
Great interview.
Posted by Expanded Consciosness, on May 28th, 2009 at 10:03 am UTCAs a writer, myself, I not only enjoyed every word spoken by Toni Morrison during this segment, I completely endorse the pragmatic reasoning she employed to back them up.
The quote from Franz Kafka, at the end, was the first thought I had at the beginning of this show. How’s that for literary symmetry?
Posted by Mari McAvenia, on May 28th, 2009 at 10:06 am UTCThe most beautiful woman with the most beautiful voice …
Posted by Emily Corwith, on May 28th, 2009 at 10:22 am UTCMaya Angelou’s voice is endlessly beautiful, too.
Posted by Expanded Cpnsciousness, on May 28th, 2009 at 10:26 am UTCThank you for bringing Toni Morrison into this day. Unfortunately I left the radio on and heard the next guest too.
Posted by nora, on May 28th, 2009 at 11:03 am UTCI am inspired by ms. Morrison’s responsibility.
Thank you for this interview. I just came from teaching a basic composition class at a community college in Brooklyn. As a creative writer, I have experienced the sense of agency and control over one’s circumstances that can come from writing about them.
I would love to know if Ms. Morrison can recommend any ways to awaken students to the power and gifts that can come from articulating one’s experiences?
Thank you,
Posted by Lisa, on May 28th, 2009 at 7:29 pm UTCLisa
This is a Brilliant episode of On Point~ Toni Morrison is an inspiration. I’ve not yet read her work, but now will.
Posted by Jonathan, on May 28th, 2009 at 7:42 pm UTCI agree with her totally here, and I recommend everyone listen to this interview and send it to everyone you know. It’s that valuable, that important.
Thank you for airing this incredible interview! Morrison’s themes of freedom through written expression and attempts to stifle disturbing messages resonate through my mind, soul and keyboard.
I wish I could have asked about censorship and blogs, how blogs can turn the writer into a political and/or social target. This has happened to me in Prince William County, VA, and so I am curious to hear others’ experiences.
Posted by Katherine Gotthardt, on May 28th, 2009 at 8:42 pm UTCMs Morrison–just to give you correct information–because Catholics only recently started reading the Bible: the original sin was NOT getting knowledge–it was PRIDE — thinking that one could become God or like God–it was the sin of Satan that is what caused his fall. It is described in Isaiah as well as in Genesis. Thanks
Posted by Mara Fusfield, on May 28th, 2009 at 8:53 pm UTCI listened twice, as the local NPR station repeats broadcast at the end of the day. I am fortunate to have learned about Toni Morrison from a daughter taking an English lit seminar at UCLA. She passed her books on to me with notes in the margins from the class discussions. I have read most of Toni Morrison’s books & re-read some. I appreciate the way she explores the multiple ways in which the most positive human intentions may go awry. I applaud Ms Morrison for her insight into human nature & her courage to speak the truth. That encourages me to explore our experience at a deeper level and to speak the truth. Thank you, Ms Morrison!
Posted by Mary Kay, on May 30th, 2009 at 9:14 pm UTCEverytime I hear this woman speak, it confirms to me that just about anybody can get a Nobel. I just don’t think there’s much substance here. There have to be about a million other people who could talk more intelligently about censorship. More often than not, she seems to talk only about when her own books were censured. Quite the ego. Whatever!
Posted by Jeff, on June 7th, 2009 at 10:14 pm UTCJeff,
For someone who is very critical of Ms Morrison, why do you bother to tune in to hear her if she makes no sense every time she speaks.Shouldnt you be doing better things with your time than listening to her, how about you go write a book yourself!!. If just about everyone can get a Nobel, I wonder if you have any? or maybe you have a Pulitzer or one of the numerous other awards than she has garnered over the years. People like you are just “flies at our feasts” you live to tear down other people and their works hopeing to bring them down to your puny existence, and insecurities. I wonder why you even bother to tune in to NPR and programs like this that encourage discourse and dialogue, shouldnt you rather be listening to Rush and the likes of you at Fox network spewing vitrol and choking in your own bile.
Posted by sam, on June 9th, 2009 at 1:15 pm UTCEmbrace life, you may be shocked that it isnt such a terrible thing afterall!