Toni Morrison: A Giant, Formidable, Intellectual Force!

It was during the fall semester of 1989. My senior year of college that I read Beloved. The powerful, intense, emotional, gut wrenching Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Toni Morrison. I remember the class discussions that took place in my African American Literature course that were deeply infected with passion, emotion and a degree of heightened anticipation as to what sort of comment(s) fellow students would espouse. The commentary that occurred during discussion of that novel were among the most provocative of my undergraduate career.

A few months short of 30 years later, the incomparable Ms. Morrison has departed this earth at the age of 88. The void that has been left in the literary world is immensely less complete. Not since the death of James Baldwin, (I was much younger then), had I felt such a profound loss toward a writer. It is hard, in fact, virtually impossible to wholly describe the indescribable impact that Toni Morrison had on both, the literary world and the larger society in general.

The first Black American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in literature. The author of 11 novels, in addition to children’s books and numerous essays collections. Her work has been read, critiqued by high school, undergraduate and graduate students. Professors, both domestically and internationally have eagerly and passionately employed and recited her work in their courses. She has been a routine topic (and will likely continue to be) at academic literary conferences and her books are a…