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PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 7 august 2019

Nobel laureate Toni Morrison dead at 88

By HILLEL ITALIE than ever. I felt all of that,
Associated Press and put all of that together
NEW YORK (AP) — Nobel and went out and had a
laureate Toni Morrison, a good time.”
pioneer and reigning giant Morrison was born Chloe
of modern literature whose Anthony Wofford in Lorain,
imaginative power in “Be- Ohio, a steel town outside
loved,” ‘’Sula” and other of Cleveland.
works transformed Ameri- She attended Howard Uni-
can letters by dramatizing versity, where she spent
the pursuit of freedom with- much of her free time in the
in the boundaries of race, theater, and met and mar-
has died at age 88. ried a Jamaican architect,
Publisher Alfred A. Knopf Harold Morrison, whom she
announced that Morri- divorced in 1964. They had
son died Monday night at two children, Harold and
Montefiore Medical Center Slade.
in New York after a brief ill- Even when she was grow-
ness. ing up, she believed she
“Toni Morrison passed was smarter than the white
away peacefully last night kids and took it for granted
surrounded by family and she was wiser.
friends,” Morrison’s family She was an honors student
said in a statement through In this photo of April 5, 1994, Toni Morrison in the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New and attended Howard be-
the publisher. “She was an York. cause she dreamed of life
extremely devoted mother, Associated Press spent among black intel-
grandmother, and aunt her country and the world Winner of the 1988 Pulitzer labeling one of her novels, lectuals.
who reveled in being with about the private lives of Prize for “Beloved,” she was “Love,” as “perfect” and But although she went on
her family and friends. The the unknown and unwant- one of the book world’s rejecting the idea that ar- to teach there, Howard dis-
consummate writer who ed. In her novels, history — most regal presences, with tistic achievement called appointed her. Campus life
treasured the written word, black history — was a hid- her expanse of graying for quiet modesty. seemed closer to a finishing
whether her own, her stu- den trove of poetry, trag- braids; her dark, discerning “Maya Angelou helped school than to an institution
dents or others, she read edy and good old gossip, eyes; and her warm, the- me without her knowing of learning.
voraciously and was most whether in small-town Ohio atrical voice, which could it,” Morrison told The As- Protesters, among them her
at home when writing.” in “Sula” or big-city Harlem lower to a mysterious growl sociated Press during a former student Stokely Car-
Few authors rose in such in “Jazz.” She regarded or rise to a humorous fal- 1998 interview. “When she michael, were demanding
rapid, spectacular style. race as a social construct, setto. was writing her first book, equality. Morrison wanted
She was nearly 40 when her and through language “That handsome and per- ‘I Know Why the Caged that, too, but wondered
first novel, “The Bluest Eye,” founded the better world ceptive lady,” James Bald- Bird Sings,’ I was an editor what kind.
was published. By her early her characters suffered to win called her. at Random House. She was “I thought they wanted to
60s, after just six novels, she attain, weaving in every- Her admirers ranged from having such a good time, integrate for nefarious pur-
had become the first black thing from African literature college students and and she never said, ‘Who poses,” she said.
woman to receive the No- and slave folklore to the housewives to Barack me? My little book?’ “I thought they should
bel literature prize, praised Bible and Gabriel Garcia Obama, who awarded “I decided that ... winning demand money in those
in 1993 by the Swedish Marquez. her a Presidential Medal of the (Nobel) prize was fabu- black schools. That was the
academy for her “vision- “Narrative has never been Honor; Bill Clinton, whom lous,” Morrison added. problem — the resources,
ary force” and for delv- merely entertainment for the author called “our “Nobody was going to take the better equipment, the
ing into “language itself, a me,” she said in her No- first black president”; and that and make it into some- better teachers, the build-
language she wants to lib- bel lecture. “It is, I believe, Oprah Winfrey, who helped thing else. I felt representa- ings that were falling apart
erate” from categories of one of the principal ways expand Morrison’s reader- tional. I felt American. I felt — not being in some high
black and white. in which we absorb knowl- ship. Morrison shared those Ohioan. I felt blacker than school next to some white
Morrison helped educate edge.” high opinions, repeatedly ever. I felt more woman kids.”q

Suspense builds to a crescendo in Sandra Brown’s ‘Outfox’

By JEFF AYERS disappeared after their meets the suspect’s wife, crescendo as Easton starts
Associated Press funds were drained. Talia Shafer. She is so beau- to realize that Ford seems
“Outfox: a Novel” (Grand Easton wants to help every- tiful, Easton finds himself to know his every move.
Central Publishing), by San- one who has questions get distracted and unable to Sandra Brown is a master
dra Brown closure. focus on anything but her, when it comes to rogue
FBI agent Drex Easton has Now he has a shot when which puts the stakeout in characters, increasing the
been pursuing Weston Gra- his colleagues learn of a re- jeopardy. level of tension to cause
ham for a long time, but the cently married man named The closer Easton gets to the pace of the narrative
man has remained elusive Jasper Ford. Talia and her husband, the to move faster and faster,
using a variety of disguises The profile they have cre- more convinced he is that with scenes of supersteamy
and aliases to stay one step ated for this sociopath fits Ford is the person he’s been sex.
ahead of Easton. Ford perfectly. seeking all these years. But This time she not only nails
Graham has successfully Easton moves next door is his judgment clouded by a story that has several sur- This cover image released
embezzled the fortunes to start surveillance of this his growing attraction to prises, but also maintains by Grand Central Publishing
of eight women over the suspect, but his plan goes Talia? the quality that everyone shows “Outfox,” by Sandra
Brown.
years, and all the victims awry immediately when he The suspense builds to a expects in her novels.q Associated Press