is by no means secure? I don't read much literary criticism, but this struck me as an odd statement.

I put in an honest effort to read Morrison, and put the book down half-read. The hype machine needed a Toni Morrison, and the hype machine got her. I seriously doubt people will be reading her in fifty years - at least outside college English departments.

I agree. I thought her reputation was one of the MOST secure in the field right now.

V.S. Naipul, Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott will be read into distant centuries. Toni Morrison...well...I tried over the years to read her. I never got past a few days and a few serious attempts. I had to stop to leave her banalities and histrionics before I became mummified by boredom. Of certain intellectual Swedes, one might ask, since when does the politics of a sitting president cause writers not to be selected? After all a great writer like Gunter Grass, who I greatly admire, had hidden ties and associations with Nazis and Facists. Maybe having used some of the profits made from exporting dynamite has the poor souls conflicted. I regularly meet Iranian, Mexican, Scots, Chinese, Malaysian immigrants cum citizens at work. A very rich brew indeed. Anyway, the new, best prize for literature will come from Asia and most likely from India.

But that's me.

P.S. Aren't English departments the ones who kind of dictate who gets read in 50 years?

I sure hope not. I go out of my way to ignore what the English department recommends.

That certainly seems unfortunate for you and incredibly myopic. While English departments can make poor choices and be conformist, there is no denying that people in those departments have dedicated their lives to the study of literature and probably have much to offer by way of literary appreciation.

Morrison is typical of the Swedish Academy´s desperately trying to be with its times delighted at finding a non white American and a woman.

Bingo. An unfortunate choice of course let alone the lady behaved like ten opera divas when in Stockholm.

Toni Morrison is a great writer and all of us Americans should be proud of her. Of course we don't all like the same authors and there are many other worthy authors in the world (the US is part of the world, right?), but individual preferences are not relevant to this discussion. The personal attacks seem odd to me. We are not talking about a political candidate but an author whose works are respected all around the world.

So I have two suggestions:

1. read her works...

2. travel a little, at least to Canada or Mexico if other continents are outside your reach, and inquire if there is anyone out there who actually believes that Morrison was awarded the Nobel prize because she is an African American and a woman...

Shame on you! (Do you think Morrison acted "uppity" in Stockholm, or was she uppity just because she was in Stockholm, or perhaps because she dared put pen to paper and write books?)

Right on kati! I completely agree.

It just amazes me that in both the original article, in other discussions of the Nobel I've read online, and in far too many of the comments here, Toni Morrison's reputation is being continually attacked by people who obviously have never even attempted to read her work. And yes, my first post on this subject "Old School Racism" (where I am currently defending Morrison) was written in anger and may have been a bit reactionary, but I stand by my assertion that anyone with even a cursory understanding of American literature would plainly see that her critical reputation (canonicity) is firmly established and that she completely deserved to win the Nobel Prize. People have their own opinions on writers, which is fine (I personally can't stand John Updike), but the comments of some of these people posting: "I tried reading [insert Morrison novel here - and I'm guessing you were probably forced to read it in high school] and didn't like it, THEREFORE she's a bad writer and doesn't deserve the Nobel Prize" are just plain absurd. And the accusation that she only won because she's an African-American woman are beyond insulting, and yes, completely racist and sexist.

BlackAthena, I responded to your Old School Racism tread before reading this. I don't think you were too extreme at all. I seem to detect a sort of sterility in many of the more literate posts, and, in many others, childishness of the sort "If I don't like an author, she shouldn't get the Nobel" --or perhaps "if I don't like an author, no one else should like her"? Paradoxically there is very little knowledge and love of literature manifested in the article as well as in a number of posts, so that they end up doing a lousy job presenting American literature to the world.

I do have the impression that the attacks on Morrison, particularly on Beloved are powered by a sort of subterranean racism and discomfort with any reminder of slavery.

I also think magical realism is wonderful. And not just in Toni Morrison. Who could ever forget Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude among many great works in this genre? Again, whether one likes this genre or not is a personal matter and not a valid comment on its literary merits.

Personally, I think Morrison is better than Marquez. But all of this comes down to personal preferences. I feel like I may be the only high school English teacher that really hates Edgar Allan Poe. The dude is just overrated.

Handing out awards for literature is stupid, when you think about it. Some of the greatest artists around are completely ignored by the establishment until they are dead and gone. Sometimes it's just not possible to recognize genius in your own time.

I couldn't finish Beloved, so I'm guilty of subterranean racism? Nice way to dispute literature. I wasn't racist - I was bored to tears. And no, if I can't finish, much less get anything out of what is supposed to be the best of an author, then in my opinion that author should not get a world literature prize. Books are meant to be read. If you can't keep a reader's attention, then there must be someone in the world doing better work.

JonFrum:

I couldn't finish Beloved, so I'm guilty of subterranean racism? Nice way to dispute literature. I wasn't racist - I was bored to tears. And no, if I can't finish, much less get anything out of what is supposed to be the best of an author, then in my opinion that author should not get a world literature prize. Books are meant to be read. If you can't keep a reader's attention, then there must be someone in the world doing better work.

Well, that's you...I was enthralled by Beloved from the first page. It's a matter of personal taste. Just consider how many millions read that sappy crap-shoveler Nicholas Sparks.

I'm amazed. Readers professing dislike for writers. Who knew!

At any rate, Morrison rates high (highest, in my estimation, but that's an OPINION) not only because she's an excellent writer, essayist, critic, et al, but because of the universality of the themes propounded in her work. While much of her work sifts the African American experience via, in some cases, the aforementioned "magical realism", the struggle, uncertainty, love, loss and discovery that form the thread through each of her works can, I think, be understood by and are a reflection of everyone. I would no sooner dismiss the author and the lens through which she writes than I would dismiss Shakespeare for Eurocentricity or Bellow for his focus on the Jewish experience in America. As for the charge of her work being boring, hopefully reasonable people can agree to disagree on the aesthetic, ideological and literary methods of Ms. Morrison's, or any other canonical author's, work. And yes, the academy has decreed Ms. Morrison's work canonical. Security of her reputation, indeed.