Toni Morrison's Sula (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations)

Morrison's rich tale of two women who grow estranged.

The title, Toni Morrison’s Sula, part of Chelsea House Publishers’ Modern Critical Interpretations series, presents the most important 20th-century criticism on Toni Morrison’s Sula through extracts of critical essays by well-known literary critics. This collection of criticism also features a short biography on Toni Morrison, a chronology of the author’s life, and an introductory essay written by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University.

Toni Morrison and Motherhood, by Andrea O'Reilly, provides a critical reading of motherhood and mothering complexly depicted in Morrison's novels from The Bluest Eye to Paradise with an epilog referring to the latest novel, Love. The author closely scrutinizes Morrison's texts, essays, and interviews as well as other critiques of Morrison and feminism to theorize African American women's everyday experiences and practices, which have been largely neglected by white feminists.

This encyclopedia covers Morrison's works, characters, locations, themes (e.g., Children), and general topics (e.g., Oprah's Book Club). The alphabetically arranged entries are the work of 52 contributors. Also included is a 14-page selected bibliography citing Morrison's novels, essays, stories, and interviews, as well as criticism on Morrison's works selected from books and articles. Typically, articles on themes, general topics, and works span several pages, while entries on characters and locations range from one sentence to one paragraph. A list of references concludes many, but not all, entries.

This casebook to Morrison's classic novel presents seven essays that represent the best in contemporary criticism of the book. In addition, the book includes a poem and an abolitionist's tract published after a slave named Margaret Garner killed her child to save her from slavery--the very incident Morrison fictionalizesin Beloved.

Toni Morrison, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, is perhaps the most important living American author today, and certainly one of the most popular in college and high school courses. Her novels, including "Sula", "Song of Solomon", "Beloved", and "Paradise", have won almost every major award available to them. In addition, her influence as a critic, book editor, and mentor to other writers has been incalculable. "Critical Companion to Toni Morrison" examines Morrison's life and writing, featuring critical analyses of her work and themes, as well as entries on related topics and relevant people, places, and influences.