Toni Morrison, author, editor and professor, has crafted some of America's finest literary gems. Born Chloe Anthony Wofford in Lorain, Ohio, Feb. 18, 1931, Morrison has become one of the preeminent African-American novelists of all times and can be included among the great contemporary authors of any color in the United States.
Morrison's ascension to the Valhalla of contemporary literature has been earned by her many literary trophies which include among others, her first chef d'oeuvre, the haunting "The Bluest Eye" (1970).
Morrison has continued to churn out one thought-provoking tome after another. She soon followed up "The Bluest Eye," a tale which focuses primarily on the character of Pecola Breedlove, with the "Sula" (1974), a tale of a women overcoming social mores and "Song of Solomon" (1977), which follows the strangely bizarre history of Morrison's protagonist, Milkman Dead.
"Song of Solomon" later garnered the National Book Critics Circle Award. Morrison's highly-touted "Beloved" was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 and in 1993 she was awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature.
Morrison is also a Robert F. Gooheen Professor at Princeton University and has a total of six novels under her belt.
Now after having conquered all that the literary world had to offer, gaining worldwide recognition for her talents and having been featured prominently as (not one but) two Oprah Winfrey Book Club selections, what does Morrison hope to prove with her latest work, a complex and mystical story, simply titled "Paradise?"
"Paradise" marks Morrison's first novel since she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature and there remains a six-year gap between this latest endeavor and her last, "Jazz" which was published in 1992. But Morrison manages to churn out another exciting and thought-provoking tale and this time she focuses her energies on the goings-on in a small Oklahoma town.
"Paradise" begins in media res and quickly focuses on a band of nine men from the local town of Ruby (pop. 360) who storm the Convent, a safe haven for women, in order to kill them.
"They shot the white girl first," Morrison harshly writes in the first sentence of the book. "With the rest they can take their time. No need to hurry out here. They are seventeen miles from a town which has ninety miles between it and any other."
Likewise, Morrison has 318 pages to take her time and weave her magical web of metaphors and images. After this brief interlude in the beginning chapter, Morrison then goes on to script a story about history and what led people to this desolate town in Oklahoma. The ominous adage, "Come Prepared or Not at All" as read in newspapers during this time about the West, remains a motif throughout the entire book.
Tracing the story back to the early 1870s, Morrison details the journey of a group of ex-slaves and freedmen who travel west to the Oklahoma Territory. There they settle in a town only to be rejected by its local people. With this occurrence fixed in their memories, the families then establish the Haven where they live in isolation of the world and are ruled dominantly by the male patriarchs.
Later the families move to a town they name Ruby which is 90 miles from anywhere else except for a convent which is occupied solely by women.
Thus the event which begins and ends the book is of the men of Ruby assaulting the women of the convent. Yet Morrison brings to her tale much more than the obvious female/male dynamics in the book. "Paradise" questions social mores, power and contemporary issues.
"Paradise" only acts to highlight Morrison's literary talents and features some of her best work yet. For example, Morrison describes the women in the convent as "bodacious black Eves unredeemed by Mary, they are like panicked does leaping toward a sun that has finished burning off the mist and now pours its holy oil over the hides of game."
"Paradise" is a riveting tale which delves deep into the heart of male/female relationships and age old questions that have faced civilizations and African Americans for years.
Elegantly composed and wonderfully written, "Paradise" will become a staple of future English class book lists. A melange of imagination and social commentary, "Paradise" only showcases Morrison's genius.
