Goodness and the Literary Imagination: Harvard's 95th Ingersoll Lecture with Essays on Morrison's Moral and Religious Vision

by Toni Morrison, Davíd Carrasco (Editor), Stephanie Paulsell (Editor)

What exactly is goodness? Where is it found in the literary imagination? Toni Morrison, one of American letters’ greatest voices, pondered these perplexing questions in her celebrated Ingersoll Lecture, delivered at Harvard University in 2012 and published now for the first time in book form. Perhaps because it is overshadowed by the more easily defined evil, goodness often escapes our attention. Recalling many literary examples, from Ahab to Coetzee’s Michael K, Morrison seeks the essence of goodness and ponders its significant place in her writing. She considers the concept in relation to unforgettable characters from her own works of fiction and arrives at conclusions that are both eloquent and edifying. In a lively interview conducted for this book, Morrison further elaborates on her lecture’s ideas, discussing goodness not only in literature but in society and history―particularly black history, which has responded to centuries of brutality with profound creativity. Morrison’s essay is followed by a series of responses by scholars in the fields of religion, ethics, history, and literature to her thoughts on goodness and evil, mercy and love, racism and self-destruction, language and liberation, together with close examination of literary and theoretical expressions from her works. Each of these contributions, written by a scholar of religion, considers the legacy of slavery and how it continues to shape our memories, our complicities, our outcries, our lives, our communities, our literature, and our faith. In addition, the contributors engage the religious orientation in Morrison’s novels so that readers who encounter her many memorable characters such as Sula, Beloved, or Frank Money will learn and appreciate how Morrison’s notions of goodness and mercy also reflect her understanding of the sacred and the human spirit.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 2019

About the author

Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison, known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist and editor. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed Song of Solomon (1977) brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 1988, Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved (1987); she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993.
Born and raised in Lorain, Ohio, Morrison graduated from Howard University in 1953 with a B.A. in English. Morrison earned a master's degree in American Literature from Cornell University in 1955. In 1957 she returned to Howard University, was married, and had two children before divorcing in 1964. Morrison became the first black female editor for fiction at Random House in New York City in the late 1960s. She developed her own reputation as an author in the 1970s and '80s. Her novel Beloved was made into a film in 1998. Morrison's works are praised for addressing the harsh consequences of racism in the United States and the Black American experience.
The National Endowment for the Humanities selected Morrison for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities, in 1996. She was honored with the National Book Foundation's Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters the same year. President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on May 29, 2012. She received the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction in 2016. Morrison was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2020.

Reviews

[Raven James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad I took the time to read this. Toni Morrison was (and still is) my favorite novelist, so being able to read the interpretation and analysis of her work has honestly motivated me to go back and re-read some of the novels discussed. However, I wouldn't recommend it if you've read any of her novels. They are all mentioned/discussed in this collection of essays and I believe that the context is vital to understand and appreciate this book. Maybe you wouldn't need to read all of them, but I feel it would be helpful to understand Morrison's themes and writing style before diving into this type of work.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morrison's powerful 95th Ingersoll Lecture addresses the question of why the notion of evil is so compelling and pervasive in literature, whereas goodness "seems to be equated with weakness, as pitiful." She summarizes: "Evil has a blockbuster audience; Goodness lurks backstage." The critical essays that follow the lecture examine Morrison's work from various perspectives (religious and otherwise) and include close analysis of how she incorporates goodness. At the conclusion of the lecture, Morrison described her "own understanding of goodness [as] the acquisition of self-knowledge. A satisfactory or good ending for me is when the protagonist learns something vital and morally insightful that she or he did not know at the beginning." Many of the essays focus on specific novels (e.g., Beloved and Song of Solomon) to show this path to self-knowledge. The lecture, the essays, as well as the interview that concludes the book, all increased my understanding and appreciation of Morrison's work exponentially.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super interesting essays about Toni Morrison's work, beginning and ending with Morrison herself.
I learned a lot about history from reading these. I didn't finish all the essays, but enjoyed what I read and the book is due at the library. I did skip to the end to read her interview. I also read the essay by Matthew Potts that talked about the violence in the novels, relating it to the violence in Christianity of Jesus' death on the cross. He asserted that this sacrifice is a mercy.
One of my favorite parts is when she was talking about slavery. She said that the white owners treated them as beasts, but the enslaved people did not become beastly; they created things.

[Naaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, Morrison is searching for the definition of “goodness”. Is it genetic, is it through nurturing, or is goodness an ego boost?
Morrison questions why there is a level of desirability for evil. What makes it so attractive and fascinating? Is it the drama of it all? Is it the passion and danger? Why is goodness seen as weak?
“Evil has a blockbuster audience; Goodness lurks backstage. Evil has vivid speech; Goodness bites it’s tongue.”

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am very glad I read this book. It begins with Toni Morrison’s lecture at Harvard on Goodness in literature. She really makes me think and the essays do the same. The best thing about the book for me was the lecture she gave which appears in total and the interview she does at the end with David Carrasco. It has given me a lot to think about.

[Elbrackeen Brackeen]

8/15/19 Kirkus

[Caroline]

Her essay comprises of only 13 pages. The rest of the book are other essays breaking down her other works. Interesting, but as someone who never read her other works it doesn't quite work for me.

[Mills College Library]

813.54 M882Xc 2019

[Deb Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Totally loved her lecture from Harvard, however, I didn't think the additional essays added anything meaningful.