What is it about Toni Morrison that puts me off reading her? Superficial things that shouldn’t irk me, her name, her book covers, her. Toni Morrison: nothing wrong with that name, it’s no Salvatore Quasimodo or Vicente Aleixandre but then even Nobel Prize winners are allowed a humdrum name. But no Nobel Prize winner should have a humdrum book & that is what puts me off. The Vintage covers do not help, as they do not help a lot of women writers, & the blurbs only further the things I expect from a black women writer. It seems undermindingly sentimental, obvious &, therefore, uninteresting. I don’t want to buy her books & I put myself off from doing so. So strong is the feeling that they produce in me I can’t help but to believe it to be unfortunately true. Maybe it is not true & when I get round to reading one of her books I’ll be happily relieved, but until then my doubts will stay.
It is worth to reflect how important a writer’s name is. A name like Anatole France sticks in my mind more surely & piques my interest in him up unlike Miguel Angel Asturias. How important is a writer's name, a name like George Orwell, to their success?
She does give good advice about writing though:
"I tell my students one of the most important things they need to know is when they are at their best, creatively. They need to ask themselves, What does the ideal room look like? Is there music? Is there silence? Is there chaos outside or is there serenity outside? What do I need in order to release my imagination?"
She does give good advice about writing though:
"I tell my students one of the most important things they need to know is when they are at their best, creatively. They need to ask themselves, What does the ideal room look like? Is there music? Is there silence? Is there chaos outside or is there serenity outside? What do I need in order to release my imagination?"
