In an excerpt from her introduction to the reissue of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Bernardine Evaristo discusses the lessons she learned reading the work of this legendary writer. “Reading Morrison always feels like coming home, as her writing connects me to my emotions, my imagination and my soul,” Evaristo writes.
Evaristo says she required multiple readings to fully appreciate Morrison’s Beloved. “Morrison utilizes multiple perspectives that fade in and out of an often elliptical text with temporal interruptions through which we witness characters relive the past,” Evaristo writes. “The non-chronological structure sees the past and present slyly segueing into each other so that the reader has to constantly adjust to shifting time sequences. Yes, the text can be oblique and ambiguous, but that was Morrison’s intention. She asks us to do some of the work.”
During some of the most gripping moments in the novel, Morrison holds back detail to force the reader to use their imagination. “We are required to go from passive to active, which deepens our engagement with the story,” Evaristo says. “We are no longer just in the audience; we’re helping to construct the narrative for ourselves.”
Morrison also brought her unique experience – unapologetically black – to the page. “Morrison’s practice came out of her childhood, country, culture, generation, era, educational background, religion, dialect, idiolect, literary influences and oral tradition—including the African-American folk tales her parents told her and the songs they passed on—and her imagination, emotional literacy and intellectual curiosity,” Evaristo writes. While impossible to recreate Morrison’s genius, Evaristo says she learned the importance of expressing her individuality through her own practice and aesthetics.
For example, Morrison did not write in perfect English. “Instead, she wrote what I call ‘interesting English,’ employing a narrative style that subtly echoed the cadences, syntax and orality of her own culture, and slipping into the vernacular of her characters when appropriate,” Evaristo explains. “The lesson I learned from her as a young writer was that I did not have to adhere to any literary traditions that alienated me, but could do my own thing.”
