海角大神

Author Toni Morrison, who died on August 5, bequeathed a rich literary legacy to the world, including the novels 鈥淏eloved鈥� and 鈥淪ong of Solomon.鈥� In a 1981 interview with staff writer Maggie Thomas, Ms. Morrison commented on the role of history in her writing. Her remarks speak to America鈥檚 ongoing discussion about race.

A theme that winds through her work is how historical wrongs 鈥� such as slavery 鈥撀� inform the present. 鈥淚 want to dust off what was already there, turn it up, and shine it up,鈥� she said. 鈥淟et鈥檚 take a look ... and see if it has anything to do with the way we live.鈥澛�

Ms. Morrison observed that Americans live in denial of their history. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a quality of not having any past 鈥� not just for blacks, just people in the country. Nobody is from anywhere. ... The cult of the new and the young ... is one of the characteristics of this country.鈥�

She was concerned about the tendency of upwardly mobile black people, and she included herself in that group, to 鈥渓ose a lot of the good stuff,鈥� to jettison part of their culture and bury their origin story. 鈥淪ome of it was awful,鈥� she said of black history, 鈥渂ut the point is to know what it was.鈥�

Recognizing that some people would consider many of her characters socially unacceptable, she said, 鈥淭hey are us, and the feeling of the ancestor is there.鈥� And she cautioned against passing judgment, explaining that she pulled things inside out, 鈥渟o that you can see what it is made of. Then if you still think this person鈥檚 bad, this one鈥檚 good, it鈥檚 based on real information, rather than assumptions.鈥�

When asked how she managed this process in her writing, Ms. Morrison said, 鈥淥ne way to do it is to become a grown-up, wide-spirited person.鈥�