History Creator / ToniMorrison

She has also authored several non-fiction essays and works dealing with sociopolitical examinations of race and racialization in the United States. Most notably, her essay on UsefulNotes/BillClinton led to him being regarded as "the first black president," despite him being white, because of just how closely his background of lower-class struggle resonated with the black community, demonstrating the oft-overlooked power of black America's voice that would become a more prominent point of focus with the passage of time.

She has also authored several non-fiction essays and works dealing with sociopolitical examinations of race and racialization in the United States.

Toni Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford,[2] February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019) was a Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, editor, and professor. She was born in Lorain, Ohio; her father was a welder, and her mother a domestic. This midwestern working-class background would come to inform the settings and characters of many of Morrison's works, especially early novels ''Literature/TheBluestEye'', ''Literature/{{Sula}}'', and ''Literature/{{Song of Solomon}}''.

She died on August 5, 2019 from complications of pneumonia. She was 88.

Toni Morrison was a Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, editor, and professor. She was born in Lorain, Ohio on February 18, 1931; her father was a welder, and her mother a domestic. This midwestern working-class background would come to inform the settings and characters of many of Morrison's works, especially early novels ''Literature/TheBluestEye'', ''Literature/{{Sula}}'', and ''Literature/{{Song of Solomon}}''.

Toni Morrison is widely regarded as one of the most influential voices in postmodern fiction, and her literary contributions have earned her several prestigious honors, including the 1988 UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize for fiction for her novel ''Literature/{{Beloved}}'', and the UsefulNotes/NobelPrizeInLiterature, which she received in 1993 for her entire body of work. As of 2014, she is the last American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Toni Morrison is a Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, editor, and professor. She was born in Lorain, Ohio on February 18, 1931; her father was a welder, and her mother a domestic. This midwestern working-class background would come to inform the settings and characters of many of Morrison's works, especially early novels ''Literature/TheBluestEye'', ''Literature/{{Sula}}'', and ''Literature/{{Song of Solomon}}''.

She died on August 5, 2019. She was 88.

Toni Morrison is a Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, editor, and professor. She was born in Lorain, Ohio in 1931; her father was a welder, and her mother a domestic. This midwestern working-class background would come to inform the settings and characters of many of Morrison's works, especially early novels ''Literature/TheBluestEye'', ''Literature/{{Sula}}'', and ''Literature/{{Song of Solomon}}''.

Toni Morrison is widely regarded as one of the most influential voices in postmodern fiction, and her literary contributions have earned her several prestigious honors, including the 1988 UsefulNotes/PulitzerPrize for fiction for her novel ''Literaure/{{Beloved}}'', and the UsefulNotes/NobelPrizeInLiterature, which she received in 1993 for her entire body of work. As of 2014, she is the last American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

* OneWordTitle: Six out of her ten novels have a one-word title.

* LitFic: Her name comes up often as an example of authors in this genre.
* NWordPrivileges: She is an African American author, so duh. But she has also been outspoken against efforts to scrub the word from school texts like Mark Twain's Literature/TheAdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn, arguing that it is hypocritical and backwards to erase history instead of trying to examine and learn from it.
* NonPOVProtagonist: Many of her novels involve changing narrators.

* UsefulNotes: Morrison is also known for jokingly referring to UsefulNotes/BillClinton as the United States's "first black President" in 1998, alluding to the trumped up scandals that plagued his career, culminating in his impeachment trial. The comment was made with respect to the treatment of Democrat Clinton by the Republican-controlled Congress being similar to a black man in the justice system: automatically guilty. Morrison was actually trying to make a point about how the Republicans were too eager to try to get Clinton out of office, but the idea of him being the first black President stuck. Then it became [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama a bit hilarious in hindsight]]. There are some UnfortunateImplications involved as well, as people seemed to assume that Morrison was also referring to Clinton's well-documented love of fast food and soul food, his love of jazz, and his being raised in a poor, single-parent household, seemingly equating those characteristics with "blackness."
* YouAreACreditToYourRace: She has expressed disappointment at having been labeled and praised by critics as an exceptional African American author, instead of an exceptional mystery author, or historical fiction author, or an exceptional author period. The Nobel Prize helped to curb that, though.

* MeaningfulName: Big time. Literature/{{Song of Solomon}} is the novel most rife with example of her penchant for this.

* UnconventionalFormatting: She is big a fan of this writing tactic, and often uses it to underline certain themes of her works. For example, in ''Literature/TheBluestEye'', a chunk of language intended to [[TakeThat spoof the idyllic middle class family perfection of the iconic]] Literature/DickAndJane books is repeated, first with no punctuation, and then with no punctuation or line breaks, and no spaces between the words.

!!Works by this author include:

* ''Literature/TheBluestEye'' (1970)
* ''Literature/{{Sula}}'' (1973)
* ''Literature/{{Song of Solomon}}'' (1977)
* ''Literature/TarBaby'' (1981)
* ''Literature/{{Beloved}}'' (1987)
* ''Literature/{{Jazz}}'' (1992)
* ''Literature/{{Paradise}}'' (1997)
* ''Literature/{{Love}}'' (2003)
* ''Literature/AMercy'' (2008)
* ''{{Literature/Home}}'' (2012)

!!Associated Tropes:

'''Toni Morrison''' is a Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, editor, and professor. She was born in Lorain, Ohio in 1931; her father was a welder, and her mother a domestic. This midwestern working-class background would come to inform the settings and characters of many of Morrison's works, especially early novels ''Literature/TheBluestEye'', ''Literature/{{Sula}}'', and ''Literature/{{Song of Solomon}}''.

Toni Morrison is widely regarded as one of the most influential voices in postmodern fiction, and her literary contributions have earned her several prestigious honors, including the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her novel ''Literaure/{{Beloved}}'', and the NobelPrizeForLiterature, which she received in 1993 for her entire body of work. As of 2014, she is the last American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.