Timehost says, "Welcome everyone this evening to the Time room. We're very privileged tonight to have with us author Toni Morrison. Her newest book, "Paradise," is just out. It's her seventh novel. Her others include "Beloved," "Jazz" and "Song of Solomon." She won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. Thank you very much for joining us this evening."
Toni_Morrison says, "I'm delighted to be here."
Timehost says, "Let's take a question from online."
Timehost presents question #1021 from Anivil:
Many of your stories take place in a time long before your own. Why is that?
Toni_Morrison says, "I'm interested in the way in which the past affects the present and I think that if we understand a good deal more about history, we automatically understand a great more about contemporary life. Also, there's more of the past for imaginative purposes than there is of the future."
Timehost says, "TIME's Paul Gray, who wrote the magazine's cover story about you last week had a question he wanted me to pass along."
Timehost presents question #1012 from Paul_gray:
Do you pay attention to reviews, positive or negative, of your books? If so, how important are they to you?
Timehost says, "And let me add that maybe in answering that, you might have some thoughts to add to the Time story? Or about the way you feel you are portrayed in the media in general?"
Toni_Morrison says, "I read all the reviews of my work, collect them in fact. I am very interested in the responses I get to my work, not only because it reflects my own work's reception, but also because it reflects the way in which women's and African American literature is received and discussed.In response to that second part, I have had,in the 27 years that I have been publishing novels, reviews that appeared designed to make me quit writing and I have had reviews that seemed designed to encourage me."
Timehost presents question #1029 from Dkurz:
Do you read old newspapers or magazines to get a feeling for the past?
Toni_Morrison says, "I read magazines and newspapers of a particular place and period in order to soak up the atmosphere and the relevant discourse, the relevant headlines and matters that seem to be important to people.For example, in "Jazz," I read both mainstream newspapers for 1926 and newspapers published by black publishers in New York and elsewhere."
Timehost presents question #1030 from Beatle4:
I just got finished reading "Beloved" for my 12th grade AP English class. I have to give a seminar on it next week and am working on it now. What do you think are some good activities that my group and I can do with "Beloved"?
Toni_Morrison says, "I remember once an honors class complained that there were no Cliff notes of "Beloved" and I suggested to them that they make them. And at the end of the semester, this class sent me the project that they had done, which were designed to be like Cliff notes. The teacher was as excited as the students were by how effective the project was in analyzing the book as well as the history that prompted the book."
Timehost says, "Here's another question about "Beloved"..."
Timehost presents question #1028 from Magma:
Ms. Morrison, I was very moved by the character Paul D in "Beloved." Do you think he will ever appear in one of your novels again?
Toni_Morrison says, "I often think about rewriting or continuing the life of particular characters in subsequent books, but I have found that it's a kind of trap because you never really go on to another topic. Paul D was a favorite character of mine because he was complicated, vulnerable, strong and he evolved.But I think I will let him alone for the duration."
Timehost says, "We have a comment from one reader I think you'll appreciate..."
Timehost presents question #1027 from Anivil:
Just wanting to say thank you, "Beloved" was one of those books that I purposely read slooooowly so that I wouldn't get to the end and it would be over....
Toni_Morrison says, "Lovely."
Timehost presents question #1026 from Athena01:
How did the Nobel Prize change you, and or your writing? Also , I think you are an amazing role model for all! I am a 14-year-old girl who is honored to have this opportunity. thank you]
Toni_Morrison says, "The Nobel Prize is the best thing that can happen to a writer in terms of how it affects your contracts, the publishers, and the seriousness with which your work is taken. On the other hand, it does interfere with your private life, or it can if you let it, and it has zero effect on the writing.It doesn't help you write better and if you let it, it will intimidate you about future projects.But the downside is very small compared to the upside."
Timehost presents question #1025 from Belmar:
Did you have any teachers who were a positive influence on you when you were younger?
Toni_Morrison says, "Very much so. I had a Latin teacher and an English teacher. Two English teachers, in fact. One when I was in the 6th grade and one when I was in the 12th grade, who made a big difference in my life. They were supportive, they gave me books and they were impressed by my intelligence and were not reluctant to say so. And I owe them a lot."
Timehost presents question #1040 from Beatle4:
After reading Beloved, I started to read the Cliff Notes about it. In there they said that a lot of the book had an underlying sexual meaning. For example the canoe resembled female anatomy, etc. Is this what you wanted it to mean?
Toni_Morrison says, "I think all of the sexual or sensual implications of the book are overt.There was no covert or hidden sexual metaphorical language. I certainly did not mean to suggest that the canoe itself was anything more than a canoe which was the means by which she could cross the river and at the same time provide a place where the baby could be born like a cradle."
Timehost presents question #1041 from Greenacres:
Paradise is dedicated to "Lois". Who is that?
Toni_Morrison says, "She's my best friend and, also, my sister."
Timehost presents question #1043 from Doormouse:
What is your favorite jazz album or artist?
Toni_Morrison says, "That's difficult.Among the jazz musicians I like Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett."
Timehost presents question #1044 from Lisaak:
How do you view the struggle for African Americans today?
Toni_Morrison says, "If you mean by that economic strides that some African Americans have made, I am very encouraged by the changes since the 60s and the increased number of professional African Americans in all walks of life, from Wall St. to the Academy, to corporations and business community.If your question refers to the level of violent racism in the U.S., I am not at all optimistic.It seems as though the progress that African Americans make historically is accompanied by an equally negative response to that progress."
Timehost says, "Here's a follow-up to the question about jazz..."
Timehost presents question #1045 from Doormouse:
Are there any similarties between jazz and writing? And why do you like Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett?
Toni_Morrison says, "I try to echo some of the basic characteristics of jazz music in that book by refusing to have a narrator or leader who knew everything and exactly how the music was going to turn out. Instead, the narrator had to listen to the characters the way Miles Davis listened while he performed with his musicians,and depending on what they did, that would affect the next solo or alteration in the music."
Timehost says, "Here's a deceptively simple question..."
Timehost presents question #1050 from Riaton:
Mrs. Morrison, where do you find your inspiration?
Toni_Morrison says, "Sometimes ideas arrive through reading contradictory things in history books or newspapers,sometimes it's a response or reaction to current events.But that only explains where some of the themes come from. I can't explain inspiration. A writer is either compelled to write or not. And if I waited for inspiration I wouldn't really be a writer."
Timehost says, "As I understand it, one of the major inspirations for "Paradise" was coming upon the phrase "Come Prepared Or Not At All", a sentiment expressed by towns who did not want to welcome ex-slaves."
Toni_Morrison says, "That's not entirely true. The towns were made up of ex-slaves completely. What they were asking in that phrase was that the other ex-slaves who came to homestead there, came with enough money and supplies for a couple of years. And the instance that struck me was the observation by an historian that 200 ex-slaves came and they didn't have enough money, they didn't have enough resources, and were turned away. So it wasn't a question of their slave status, it was a question of their money. And that was what compelled me to wonder about what might happen to ex-slaves being turned away by other ex-slaves."
Timehost says, "We have a question about that..."
Timehost presents question #1009 from Dearreader:
On page 189 of "Paradise," you write, or one of your characters writes, "Everything anybody wanted to know about the citizens of Haven or Ruby lay in the ramifications of that one rebuff out of many." I believe you call that the "Disallowing." I take it that there's a much larger point there?
Toni_Morrison says, "Well, the larger point is the point of the novel, which is the construction of an isolated community which can't survive. The larger issue is the idea of paradise, which is built on exclusion. Chosen people always being those people chosen by God to exclude other people. And fostering an idea of isolation, of safety and bounty is a very appealing idea. But in the Christian sense of the willingness to reach out to others who may be different is the argument of the book. The whole idea of disallowing people is the whole idea of the book."
Timehost presents question #1058 from Eric_bauer:
Much has been written about your use of improvisation in your writing, especially with the novel, "Jazz." Through your writing, I am sometimes convinced that the lives of the characters thay you create guide you more than you seem to guide them. I curious about this because in the novel "Jazz," you state that the novel is going to end in "violence," but the only one who seems to be hurt in any way at the end of the novel is you, the narrator, for presuming to know how the characters of your novel would end up.I am interested to know, especially in a novel like "Jazz," if you have defined a start and finish to your novel(s) when you begin writing?
Toni_Morrison says, "I always know the ending of the novels when I begin because the ending contains the entire idea of the novel.In "Jazz" it was technically difficult to write a novel that was supposed to feel as if it were improvised.I had to keep in mind, and I think readers should keep in mind, that all of it is artifice. It's all planned, but it should look unplanned. The narrator was designed to be unreliable and to have only part of the story and to be the one that was most inaccurate by the time one reaches the end, but at the same time, the narrator learned about its own vulnerability.I wanted to explode the idea of an all-knowing, omnipotent, totalitarian, authorial voice and to parallel the democratic impulse of jazz ensembles."
Timehost presents question #1062 from Anivil:
So does that mean you're a bit of an anarchist at heart?
Toni_Morrison says, "In my work, I am. But my life is very conventional."
Timehost presents question #1063 from Interested:
Speaking of endings, someone mentioned to me that the final word in "Paradise," which incidentally is "Paradise" was supposed to begin in lower case rather than upper case. Is that true? If so, does it matter?
Toni_Morrison says, "It is true. And in a very small way to the reader, but in a very large way to me, it does matter.I wanted the book to be an interrogation of the idea of paradise and I wanted it to move it from its pedestal of exclusion and to make it more accessible to everybody.Thus, I meant, but forgot, to make the last word begin with a small letter. I have asked the publisher to correct that in subsequent printings."
Timehost says, "We've gotten a number of questions about teaching..."
Timehost presents question #1054 from Jen_goebel:
What is the most important idea a literature teacher can teach her studentss?
Toni_Morrison says, "An eagerness and curiousity to read deeply. Not to be satisfied with the superficial or the first reading."
Timehost presents question #1053 from Lisaak:
So many of great African American professors, like yourself, teach at Ivy League schools. Why don't more scholars teach at historically black institutions?
Toni_Morrison says, "The majority of the faculty at historically black institutions are black. I have taught at two black universities and I had a position at a state university in New York. What was intersting about the state university was how few black students were majoring in English, so I had very few black students. But when I went to Princeton, I had a great number of black students who were interested in what I taught and who came from all over. And I have had more black students at Princeton than at the state university in New York."
Timehost says, "In fact, we also have a few questions from people at Princeton...and its daily student newspaper...They'd like to know what you like most and least about teaching there and whether you're planning on staying there for a while."
Toni_Morrison says, "Well, what I like most is the quality and the dedication commitment of the students.And the fact that it's small. I teach usually two or three courses and I have thesis students, creative writing students, as well as in other disciplines, so I have what could be called a full load, with conference and office hours as much as any other faculty member has.I plan to be at Princeton for some time, in answer to your earlier question. I have no plans to leave."
Timehost says, "They also told me that you're planning on teaching a course with another Nobel Prize winner, Garbiel Garcia Marquez. Do you know what the course will be like? (Where do we sign up?)"
Toni_Morrison says, "The artists who come to Princeton to work in a class I teach called the Princeton Atelier, come provided they have almost complete annonymity."
Timehost presents question #1038 from Sassycoll:
I read somewhere that the title of your latest novel (Paradise) was not the title that you had originally chosen. What was that title and why was it changed?
Toni_Morrison says, "My original title was "War." But the publisher thought that was unattractive."
Timehost presents question #1065 from Pennyf:
How long did it take to write "Paradise"? Do you work on one book at a time?
Toni_Morrison says, "I started thinking about "Paradise" in 1992. I started literally writing it in 1994. Yes, I only work on one book at a time."
Timehost presents question #1010 from Paul_gray:
You were quoted in the TIME cover story as saying, "Race is the least reliable information you can have about someone. It' s real information, but it tells you next to nothing." Could you elaborate on this intriguing comment?
Toni_Morrison says, "Oh, yes. I'll be happy to. There are racial differences among us. Exaggerated and exploited for political and economic purposes. And we have a great deal of baggage, personal feelings about other races because the society has been constructed along racial division.But in fact, when we meet another person one on one, and we know or recognize their race, we pull from that large suitcase of stereotypical information, of learned responses, of habitual reaction, which is the easiest and the laziest way to evaluate other people. The difficult thing and the important thing is to know people as individuals.So knowing that an individual is Asian or white or black is knowing next to nothing. It's knowing some cultural information which one can assume, but one must be wrong.But one must know much more than simply a racial marker. Knowing another person's race is like knowing their height or some other almost irrelevant piece of biological information.
Toni_Morrison says, "It was important to me to demonstrate that in "Paradise," by withholding racial markers from a group of black women, among whom was one white woman, so that the reader knew everything, or almost everything, about the characters, their interior lives, their past, their faults, their strengths, except that one small piece of information which was their race.And to either care about that, like the characters, dislike them, or dismiss the characters based on the important information which was what they were really like. And if I could enforce that response in literature, it was a way of saying that race is the least important piece of information we have about another person.Forcing people to react racially to another person is to miss the whole point of humanity."
Timehost says, "We're running out of time..."
Timehost presents question #1073 from Johnbaldwin:
How do you respond to the flack Oprah Winnfrey is receiving now that she has recommended your latest novel; supposedly, she is under scrutiny from her fans who are saying that she only recommends novels that her friends write. I, nevertheless, am grateful because "Paradise" is my first read of yours, and I am enjoying it immensely.
Toni_Morrison says, "I wasn't aware that she was getting that kind of flack about her book choices. I don't know if it's true. There must be 12 or 14 people whose books she has recommended. She probably knows only a couple of them personally. But what cannot be gainsayed is that her interest in getting other people to read is sincere and it has had a profound effect on the reading habits of many in this country. All of us benefit by that kind of effort to get us to turn off the television and to read a serious book."
Timehost says, "Thanks for taking the time to be with us this evening..."
Toni_Morrison says, "This is only the second time that I've done this and I have enjoyed both times very much and I am inclined to do more. Thank you very much for having me. Good night."
Timehost says, "We would love to have you back--anytime."
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