This compelling study explores the inextricable links between the Nobel laureate s aesthetic practice and her political vision, through an analysis of the key texts as well as her lesser-studied works, books for children, and most recent novels.

Acclaimed for the lyric beauty of her prose, Toni Morrison is recognized as one of America's finest novelists. But the distinguished career of this Nobel Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winning author encompasses many literary genres ? including editor, essayist, playwright, children's book author, and librettist. In this compelling new study, Valerie Smith analyzes the celebrated fiction of Morrison in relation to her critical writing about the process of reading and writing literature, the relationship between readers and writers, and the cultural contributions of African- American literature. Through a close reading of Morrison's novels, children's books, short story, and other works as they relate to her cultural and literary criticism, Smith reveals the inextricable links between Morrison's aesthetic practice and her political vision, arguing that Morrison's writing simultaneously exposes the ways that language can fracture our sense of common humanity, while binding readers into a sense of a shareable existence. Toni Morrison: Writing the Moral Imagination offers provocative new insights and a refreshingly original contribution to the scholarship of one of the most important ? and beloved ? contemporary American writers.