topic Re: Toni Morrison has passed away in Community Chat

Toni Morrison has passed away

I am still oxox — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 13:54:02 GMT

Toni Morrison was the awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, making her the first African-American woman to win a Nobel Prize.

She was 88

Re: Toni Morrison

spiderw — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 14:14:21 GMT

Toni Morrison was a very talented respected writer and deserved every accolade she received. Her contributions to society will live on for future generations. May she be at peace with God.

Re: Toni Morrison has passed away

Caaareful Shopper — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 14:22:50 GMT

I think I've read nearly everything Toni Morrison has ever written. I ran in pouring down rain for eight blocks when my taxi broke down on our way to Carnegie Hall one year to hear her speak. So incredibly sad.

May she Rest in Peace.

Re: Toni Morrison has passed away

Tique — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 14:35:52 GMT

What a legacy she leaves behind...

Re: Toni Morrison has passed away

SoX — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 14:49:12 GMT

Toni was my idol ... today I am heartbroken.

Re: Toni Morrison has passed away

Caaareful Shopper — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 14:58:19 GMT

@SoX wrote:
Toni was my idol ... today I am heartbroken.

@SoX It's as if family has died. I cannot stop crying.

Re: Toni Morrison has passed away

golding76 — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 15:16:46 GMT

May she rest in peace. A lady of truth and talent.

Re: Toni Morrison has passed away

proudlyfromNJ — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 15:22:00 GMT

RIP. Wonderful woman.

Re: Toni Morrison has passed away

Ms tyrion2 — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 15:26:32 GMT

Such a great loss to the world.

Her legacy will live on forever.

Rest well, Ms Morrison.

Re: Toni Morrison has passed away

hennypenny — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 15:31:52 GMT

Her work touched many, and will continue to do so.

She will be missed.

Re: Toni Morrison has passed away

Anonymous032819 — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 15:34:27 GMT

Talented writer who will be missed.

I'm sure that Oprah is devestated, too.

R.I.P.

Re: Toni Morrison has passed away

ILTH — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 16:06:20 GMT

Although I love all her books, The Bluest Eye is my absolute favorite.

Her words. The cadence. She and Faulkner -- stunning.

Re: Toni Morrison has passed away

golding76 — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 16:29:25 GMT

From a local station's (WTOP) site:

By her early 60s, after just six novels, she had become the first black woman to receive the Nobel literature prize, praised in 1993 by the Swedish academy for her “visionary force” and for her delving into “language itself, a language she wants to liberate” from categories of black and white. In 2012, Barack Obama awarded her a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

“Her writing was not just beautiful but meaningful — a challenge to our conscience and a call to greater empathy,” Obama wrote Tuesday on his Facebook page. “She was as good a storyteller, as captivating, in person as she was on the page.”

Morrison helped raise American multiculturalism to the world stage and helped uncensor her country’s past, unearthing the lives of the unknown and the unwanted, those she would call “the unfree at the heart of the democratic experiment.” In her novels, history — black history — was a trove of poetry, tragedy, love, adventure and good old gossip, whether in small-town Ohio in “Sula” or big-city Harlem in “Jazz.” She regarded race as a social construct and through language founded the better world her characters suffered to attain. Morrison wove everything from African literature and slave folklore to the Bible and Gabriel Garcia Marquez into the most diverse, yet harmonious, of literary communities.

“Narrative has never been merely entertainment for me,” she said in her Nobel lecture. “It is, I believe, one of the principal ways in which we absorb knowledge.”

Winner of the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for “Beloved,” she was one of the book world’s most regal presences, with her expanse of graying dreadlocks; her dark, discerning eyes; and warm, theatrical voice, able to lower itself to a mysterious growl or rise to a humorous falsetto. “That handsome and perceptive lady,” James Baldwin called her.

Re: Toni Morrison has passed away

SahmIam — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 16:26:10 GMT

Another great loss. RIP Ms. Morrison.

Re: Toni Morrison has passed away

Mz iMac — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 16:52:51 GMT

R.I.P.

Re: Toni Morrison has passed away

stellabystarlight — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 18:16:40 GMT

What a great loss! Toni was such a talented and gifted writer. Rest in Peace, Ms. Morrison!

Re: Toni Morrison has passed away

SoX — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 18:44:29 GMT

@ILTH wrote:
Although I love all her books, The Bluest Eye is my absolute favorite.

Her words. The cadence. She and Faulkner -- stunning.

@ILTH ...

My favorite, too. I was hooked after reading this one.

Re: Toni Morrison has passed away

JaneMarple — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 19:07:04 GMT

I loved to hear her speak, I could listen to her all day. She really will be missed.

Re: Toni Morrison has passed away

shoekitty — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 19:20:41 GMT

Powerful master of words. Amazing woman of deep strength, character and talent. To create a life in books that stays in the hearts and mind of those who read, is masterful. She was beautiful as well. She will be missed.