Becca

“Black literature is taught as sociology, as tolerance, not as a serious, rigorous art form.”
― Toni Morrison

“I never asked Tolstoy to write for me, a little colored girl in Lorain, Ohio. I never asked [James] Joyce not to mention Catholicism or the world of Dublin. Never. And I don't know why I should be asked to explain your life to you. We have splendid writers to do that, but I am not one of them. It is that business of being universal, a word hopelessly stripped of meaning for me. Faulkner wrote what I suppose could be called regional literature and had it published all over the world. That's what I wish to do. If I tried to write a universal novel, it would be water. Behind this question is the suggestion that to write for black people is somehow to diminish the writing. From my perspective there are only black people. When I say 'people,' that's what I mean.”
― Toni Morrison

“To get to a place where you could love anything you chose--not to need permission for desire--well now _that_ was freedom.”
― Toni Morrison

“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”
― Toni Morrison, Beloved