Excellent descriptions of trauma abound, including memoirs, but they are logical and descriptive, constrained by the conventions of straightforward narrative. But trauma itself upends the usual modes ...

In awe of her subtle imagery and slight nods to the Black female psyche, my 14-year-old self clung to Toni Morrison’s depictions of a misunderstood femininity, from blue eyes to bare bellies. This ...

In the final instalment of her series on the novel, Jane Smiley on why Toni Morrison’s Beloved - a sensational story of slavery and racism in America - has endured It is clear from Morrison's ...

Few characters in modern literature embody the weight of history as profoundly as Sethe, the tragic heroine of Toni Morrison’s 'Beloved'. Born into slavery and driven by a mother’s desperate love, ...

After a difficult week, Candice Marie Benbow reminds us of the hope we can find in ourselves as we start a new one. “You are your best thing, Sethe. You are.” I have run to this particular passage in ...

As Toni Morrison’s Beloved illustrates, maternal love defies restrictions based on the intersection of race and gender, and exists beyond patriarchal rules of ownership. By Glosswitch What is a “good ...