We kick off this season by discussing Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Erica and Alicia introduce the book, with its intoxicating language, aesthetic complexity, and compelling themes. Also, we hear from two expert guests. First up is Dr. Dana Williams, who is Professor of English at Howard University and President of the Toni Morrison Society. She movingly explains how, in the process of writing, Morrison also crafted a language for African American readers to think alongside. Then, we hear from Dr. Tessa Roynon, who is a research fellow at the Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford, and has published widely on Morrison. She emphasizes the deep connection between politics and aesthetics in Morrison’s writings. Additionally, she expands our conversation by highlighting key allusions to Greco-Roman and African mythologies in Song of Solomon.
Creating this episode really enriched our readings of Song of Solomon. Did listening to it do the same for you? Let us know! And what do you think: is Song of Solomon one of the “books of the century”?
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Sources
Awkward, Michael. “‘Unruly and Let Loose’: Myth, Ideology, and Gender in Song of Solomon.” Callaloo, vol. 13, no. 3, 1990, pp. 482–498. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2931332.
LeClair, Thomas. “’The Language Must Not Sweat’.” The New Republic, 21 Mar. 1981, newrepublic.com/article/95923/the-language-must-not-sweat.
Morrison, Toni. Conversations with Toni Morrison. Edited by Danille Taylor-Guthrie, University Press of Mississippi, 1994.
—. “Nobel Lecture.” NobelPrize, 2011, www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/?id=1502.
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am. Directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, performances by Toni Morrison, Hilton Als, Angela Davis, and Fran Lebowitz, Magnolia Pictures and Perfect Day Films, 2019.