Biblioracle: Dana A. Williams tells the tale of the indomitable Toni Morrison in ‘Toni at Random'

Chicago Tribune

5 hours ago

I'm well acquainted with the fact that Toni Morrison is the greatest American writer of my lifetime. I know this because I've read her books, but I could also point to a little something called the Nobel Prize in literature, which she was awarded in 1993.
I also know that for a number of years in the early 1970s, just as she was publishing her first novels, Morrison worked as an editor at Random House, shepherding books by luminaries like Angela Davis and Muhammad Ali (among many others) to publication.
Previously, this fact was a curio, a trivia question of the 'Did you know?' variety, but thanks to a new book from Dana A. Williams, 'Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer's Legendary Editorship,' I have a new appreciation not just for Toni Morrison the writer and editor, but for the work of writing and editing in general.
Williams, a professor of African American literature and graduate school dean at Howard University, has crafted a book that manages to satisfy as narrative, literary analysis and cultural criticism, offering multiple points of entry for different readers in search of different things. The acknowledgements reveal that the book is 20 years or more in the making and it shows in a book written with great knowledge, deep feeling and a sense of purpose. In this way, Williams mimics the work of her subject.
At its heart, 'Toni at Random' feels like the tale of the 'indomitable Ms. Morrison,' as Williams draws on correspondence and interviews with Morrison to unfurl the tale of a Black woman trying to make space for Black writers in an overwhelmingly white industry. Random House is portrayed as open, even eager to publish Black writers in the immediate wake of the Civil Rights Movement and the rise of the Black Arts Movement of poets like Amiri Baraka and Nikki Giovanni. But Morrison is also swimming against the realities of business and culture, where sales and profit are paramount, and many believe there isn't a sufficient audience for books by Black authors that don't have obvious appeal to white readers.
Carefully, tactically, inexorably, Morrison seeks to challenge this notion while championing writers she sees as unimpeachable in terms of originality and artistry. This included writers like Toni Cade Bambara (who became Morrison's lifelong friend), Gayl Jones (of whose talent Morrison was envious) and Leon Forrest (legendary Chicago writer and longtime professor at Northwestern).
Williams shows how savvy and even calculating Morrison was as she positioned these books for the best chance of success in the marketplace, pursuing blurbs from luminaries like James Baldwin, and horse-trading for pre-publication publicity and review attention. Her attention to detail extended even to a book's interior design.
We learn how Morrison would alternately massage the egos of authors or challenge them to step up the diligence and quality of their work. When she felt her acuity as an editor was being questioned, she would respond with sly barbs asserting her authority. Williams ingeniously structures the book around different threads of Morrison's editorial work, non-fiction, fiction, a whole chapter on Ali, another on Davis, and others. The chronology weaves back and forth, but we're never lost.
Periodically, we're reminded that while all this is happening, Morrison is also writing and publishing 'The Bluest Eye,' 'Sula,' and 'Song of Solomon,' establishing herself as a major literary figure in her own right.
As Williams reveals the inside story of the publishing of some of these books, I kept underlining titles, thinking my next step is to find copies so I can read them and see what Morrison saw.
John Warner is the author of books including 'More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI.' You can find him at biblioracle.com.
Book recommendations from the Biblioracle
John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you've read.
1. 'Spooky Great Lakes' retold by S.E. Schlosser
2. 'Howard's End' by E.M. Forster
3. 'Disappearing Earth' by Julia Phillips
4. 'Bastard Out of Carolina' by Dorothy Allison
5. 'Forward Progress: Confessions from a Rookie College Football Official' by Todd SkaggsFor Tom, I'm going to recommend a highly entertaining tale of adventure and revenge by a writer like no other, 'True Grit' by Charles Portis.
1. 'The Tsar of Love and Techno' by Anthony Marra
2. 'Cosmicomics' by Italo Calvino
3. 'In the Distance' by Hernán Díaz
4. 'The Sympathizer' by Viet Thanh Nguyen
5. 'The Orphan Master's Son' by Adam JohnsonLyle doesn't seem to mind a book with some quirks. 'May We Be Forgiven' by A.M. Homes is near the top of my list of books where you're never on totally solid ground. A wonderful sensation if you're in the right headspace for it.
1. 'I Heard Her Call My Name' by Lucy Sante
2. 'A Field Guide for Getting Lost' by Rebecca Solnit
3. 'Ongoingness: The End of a Diary' by Sarah Manguso
4. 'Miracles' by C.S. Lewis
5. 'Bluets' by Maggie NelsonSome searching writing about life and identity in this list. This brings to mind a favorite of mine, even though the beliefs and life of this author are entirely different from my own: 'The Seven Storey Mountain' by Thomas Merton.
Get a reading from the Biblioracle
Send a list of the last five books you've read and your hometown to [e-mail].