Playing in the Dark

“Knowledge is what’s important, you know? Not the erasure, but the confrontation of it.” — TONI MORRISON In this wide-ranging collection of thought-provoking interviews — including her first and last — Toni Morrison (whom President Barrack Obama called a “national treasure”) details not only her writing life, but also her

Examines the effect of a racially divided society on ninteenth century American writings, and discusses works by Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, and Twain

Traces the life of the first African-American author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, discussing how she overcame racial and economic barriers to become a successful writer.

Interviews from over the course of her career document Morrison's views about fiction, writing technique, and the role of the novelist

Set in Harlem during the 1920s, this novel chronicles a bittersweet triangle involving Joe Trace, a middle-aged door-to-door salesman, his mentally unstable wife Violet, and his eighteen-year-old girlfriend. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.