Toni Morrison interview on "The Bluest Eye" and "Paradise" (1998)
Toni Morrison gives insight into her works "Paradise" and "The Bluest Eye," criticizes sloppy criticism, and explains the challenge of writing about race for African-American writers.
Check out these Toni Morrison books on Amazon!
Conversations with Toni Morrison: geni.us/TjUZ
The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations: geni.us/BbwH
Jazz: geni.us/wUuyFH
Beloved: geni.us/JvOc7j
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Check out these Toni Morrison books on Amazon! Conversations with Toni Morrison: geni.us/TjUZ The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations: geni.us/BbwH Jazz: geni.us/wUuyFH Beloved: geni.us/JvOc7j Join us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/ManufacturingIntellect Donate Crypto! commerce.coinbase.com/checkout/868d67d2-1628-44a8-b8dc-8f9616d62259 Get Two Books FREE with a Free Audible Trial: amzn.to/313yfLe Checking out the affiliate links above helps me bring even more high quality videos to you by earning me a small commission on your purchase. If you have any suggestions for future content, make sure to subscribe on the Patreon page. Thank you for your support!
The way she elevated that question with such an eloquent answer... A masterclass.
What an amazing woman. I was introduced to her work my freshmen year of high school with Sula , and instantly fell in love. In a curriculum full of Shakespeare and your usual literature she made me wake up. She shaped my love of Black literature and made me the woman I am today. She's an ancestor now , and I'll sing her praises and honor her until I am one as well.
Well said, Milady. Well said, indeed.
I share your opinion with her majestic spirit and soul❤👑💎📚✒️✏️
She’s amazing
that was expressed with a sincere appreciation for someone experience and point of view. Bless you for that opinion
her voice is so smooth
The Bluest Eye is such a beautiful, tragic, heartbreaking book, that you will read over and over
When she said, “the glove has to be pulled inside out.” >>>>>>>
I don’t think she thought too much into the question. Expanding our perspective comes with seeing behind the many layers a question holds
Amazingly phenomenal author. The world is richer for having been blessed with Toni Morrison's existence. 🙏🏽
I liked this video because Toni is a seeker of apparently indecipherable truths for many people, as clearly shown at the 25:00 minute mark by Charlie. All those questions he asked up to that point and the insights he made were brilliant and instilled a sense of understanding in him. Then when he brings up the inevitable shallow inquiry that I believe she had thought she may have finally been able to extinguish at least in that conversation was all brought back to the forefront as if all the work and sweat, tears, and pieces of herself she had given so sacrificingly and bestowed upon us, to our world, equated to nothing in the face of a superior race topic..Then to add condescending insult to injury, tries to justify his intent by defending the interviewer who posed the question in the first place and proceeds to an undermining rhetoric that enrages me! She was so gracious, so open to interpretation but as there is one truth between every two opposing sides, she was as always on the money with what is the innate complex that white or non people of color have towards the African American society and anything not having to do with their own race. The irony of this is that she is sharing her soul and the souls of so many unheard or lost in the horrific numbers to a man who at the end of her elouquence just shakes it off as a blip in his broadcast. It is infuriating, it is degrading and it is a slap in the face of educated scholars such as Toni and even himself who have spent their whole careers defying the status quo to only have things simplified to its densest form. I liked the video for Toni and all the ground and voices she has broke through the ever widening cultural barriers however the Charlie in this discussion, I am very disappointed with his motives here. He is a wonderful mediator at times and I highly respect his approaches at large to get to the heart of the sociological/moralistic issues at hand and not afraid to state his own personal involvement with a hot button topic. He does much better in 2008 with Toni, and I can see the shorthand taking place with such ease between them and a real camaraderie amongst the two...but here in 1998 he was in rare form it seems
He has! He isn't on television anymore.
One of my favorite writers. ❤️ “Beloved” is a masterpiece.
Happy Birthday Ms. Morrison. Rest in peace.
This is one of the most essential visual interviews she gave. I study the science called Toni Morrison for live and I keep on watching this interview on days that I need medicine. Thank you thank you thank you. I agree Paradise is her best work, though Sula is my favorite.
It's interesting how writing through a black perspective automatically translates the work is about "race" (when, in fact, it simply deals with human experience and development). If a piece of literature speaks from a white perspective it translates as universal but in fact it can't be. Unfortunately, such type of discourse is still present and it contributes to the invalidation and belittling of all perspectives that don't speak whiteness. It refuses to acknowledge the complexity of writing by reducing it to a "racial" topic. She was so right saying the other (white) literature is about race as well, but it is placed in a discourse of universality through unexpressed and unmentioned white perspectives. On the other hand I wonder how the work of an artist like Morrison would have been perceived had she not openly and explicitly written from and about black perspectives. I am not an author, therefore I don't know if it would be possible to tell a story through a perspective or identity other than your own (especially when it comes to profound belonging such as race f.i.). But meaningful literature deals with universal human topics in most cases, it just speaks from many different perspectives. It's the white discomfort that can't endure the mentioning of race, that focuses on and obsesses with it, portrays it as the only marker. This discomfort disqualifies any literary perspectives, other than white, from being universally relevant. How can one read Morrison and not be amazed by the way she speaks, describes and limnes with words? How she fiercely and warily awakens her characters whose journeys portray the deepest questions of humanity namely because of an omnipresent racialization of the societies they navigate in. I don't understand why so many white people need to see themselves portrayed in order to relate to the work's topics, protagonists or social commentaries. I don't think American literature can emancipate itself from the burden of racialization or even the white gaze (even as much as Morrison aspired to redeem her writing from it, it was somehow always implied within her writing, playing a role in the protagonist's inner struggle and self reflection and the development of the plot. It also isn't true that she wasn't writing about white people. Whiteness was continuously an omnipresent factor, she just didn't tell their stories. And why would she? ). It is important, however, to appreciate and acknowledge the importance of perspective centering. What matters are the characters and their innermost and deepest confrontations with their experiences, lives, emotions, desires and decisions throughout their identity. If you are an even halfway breathing and feeling human, you should be able to empathize instead of desiring another narcissistic reflection of yourself and revel in your own guilt
Ms. Morrison is so clear, thoughtful.
He’s one of the worst interviewers for continuously interrupting her and not allowing her to complete her initial thoughts before jumping in with something off topic. Luckily for him she is more than enough for us to ignore his lack of self control.
He's being disrespectful towards her. 🤬
He also turned out to be a horrible person and lost his job. Most people as well as myself, interrupt in conversations
It’s a conversational style of interviewing. And they were friends.
Such royalty here! What a regal woman!
I admire her so much.
came to this vid after just finishing Paradise. it was just what i needed. thx for uploading!!!
Paradise, a very beautifully crafted work of literature that unveils the new problems of African Americans and also offers a solution to it establish a Paradise. Besides, it sheds light over the shortcomings of such separate existence.
she mentioned that black people used to preach in caves, in what they called "quilt churches" does anyone have more information about "quilt churches" or where i could read about this
She is right
She was brilliant ❤
Just WOW! Phenomenal human.
Just finished reading Paradise for the second time, having been unable to get it out of my mind since the first time I read it as a junior in high school. Morrison and this book mean so much more to me than I can articulate. I’m probably going to read this book repeatedly for the rest of my life. SN: the hopeless romantic in me wishes Consolata & Deacon’s story would’ve ended differently!!!
The “love is a diploma” passage literally stays hung up in my mind.
Amazing woman,
is the interviewer drunk?? many places lead me to this inclination, but mostly it's the look he produces at 13:06
ok I just did some research and its highly likely that charlie rose was drunk here. probably feeling intimidated by Toni Morrison and overdid it on the pre-interview confidence juice.
He had to get sauced up to calm his nerves because he knows Aunty Toni's words took no prisoners.
❤
Her life was a defense of the humanities, and humane letters. Yes, literature is watered-down philosophy, and at the same time, can distill politics, economics, and change. She became self-invented, and must have sprang from past lives, many, and numerous sufferings, and still never let go of forgiveness and compassion. Morrison is immortal in her books, because she invested her entire soul into her work. There is no equal to Morrison, and never will be. These thoughts are how we recognize virtuosity and greatness. Americans know why and how race was invented, and sustained. Only, some of us choose to resist what's in our bones. She challenges us, discomforts, and hopefully creates respect and love. My review is even limited by my experiences. Morrison was infinitely freer than our individual interpretations.
Own timestamp: Slaves and religion 13:10
I love Chinua Achebe's and Toni Morrison's writings. We are the only ones who can write most truly about ourselves. Thanks to our gods, he never won their filthy NOBEL WAR PRIZE.
Awesome
What a woman.
I would love to have heard Miss Morrison’s “take” on the January 6th insurrection. “How could they do it?” Previously law abiding, “Christian” men and women beating and killing others. Just as in Paradise…. courage is gained when it’s a PACK.
Charlie rose really dropped the ball here. As morrison touched on, why isnt robert frost or stephen king or jk rolling why she isnt writing about black people.
Africa's.... Again...Thanks NYPD