Selbstachtung

The Legacy of Toni Morrison: This volume gathers essays, speeches, and lectures from half a century. Toni Morrison addresses controversial social issues that have been her themes throughout her life: everyday racism in America, the assimilation of the foreign, the legacy of slavery, violence against Black people, and human rights. She reflects on art, the possibilities of literary imagination, the power of language, the African American presence in US literature and society. It concerns respect and self-respect, gaps in history, and long-held prejudices. A comprehensive assessment - some observations recur in her speeches and lectures over the decades; they are the old questions in a new context. Is there social progress? Is there hope? The elegance of her thinking, the clear beauty of her language, and above all, her upright moral stance were her outstanding characteristics and were instrumental in her receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. These texts are a position statement of burning relevance and a passionate call to resist oppression.