The Toni Morrison Society is a preeminent author society dedicated to the work and life of Toni Morrison. It offers rich resources and programming on Toni Morrison. Please see the website for more.

“Toni Morrison.” In Black and White: Six Profiles of African American Authors. Directed by Matteo Bellinelli, California Newsreel, 1992. https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/toni-morrison.

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am. Directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Magnolia Pictures, 2019.

Four Girls and Toni Morrison. Directed by Irene Hatz, Landmark Media, 1994.

Where indicated, some of these chapters are also located in databases.

Awkward, Michael. “Roadblocks and Relatives: Critical Revision in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.” Critical Essays on Toni Morrison, edited by Nellie Y. McKay. G. K. Hall & Co, 1988, 57-68. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1100049806/LitRC?u=txshracd2573&sid=LitRC&xid=22932007. Accessed 22 July 2020.

Bouson, J. B. “‘Quiet as It’s Kept’: Shame and Trauma in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.” Scenes of Shame, edited by Joseph Adamson, and Hilary Clark. State U of New York Press, 1999, 207-236. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1100118095/LitRC?u=txshracd2573&sid=LitRC&xid=ed15399d. Accessed 22 July 2020.

Bouson, J. B. “‘The Devastation that Even Casual Racial Contempt Can Cause’: Chronic Shame, Traumatic Abuse, and Racial Self-Loathing in The Bluest Eye.” Quiet as It’s Kept: Shame, Trauma, And Race in the Novels of Toni Morrison. State U of New York P, 2000, 23-45. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1100118096/LitRC?u=txshracd2573&sid=LitRC&xid=6d306e01. Accessed 22 July 2020.

Furman, Jan. “Black Girlhood and Black Womanhood: The Bluest Eye and Sula.” Toni Morrison’s Fiction. University of South Carolina Press, 1996, 12-33. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1100060627/LitRC?u=txshracd2573&sid=LitRC&xid=ed60093c. Accessed 22 July 2020.

Ledbetter, Mark. “Through the Eyes of a Child: Looking for Victims in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.” Literature and Theology at Century’s End, edited by Gregory Salyer, and Robert Detweiler. Scholars Press, 1995. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1100049814/LitRC?u=txshracd2573&sid=LitRC&xid=307c755. Accessed 3 August 2020.

Page, Philip. “The Break was a Bad One: The Split World of The Bluest Eye.” Dangerous Freedom: Fusion and Fragmentation in Toni Morrison’s Novels. University Press of Mississippi, 1995, 37-59. Gale Literature Resource Center; Gale, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1420117451/LitRC?u=txshracd2573&sid=LitRC&xid=82bc82ae. Accessed 3 August 2020.

Black Girlhood/ Children’s Literature 

Azouz, Samy. “Cinema and Ideology in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.” Americana: E-Journal of American Studies in Hungary, vol. 4, no. 2, 2008. MLA International Bibliography, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,uid&db=mzh&AN=2009280216&site=ehost-live. Accessed 31 July, 2020.

Brooks, Wanda M., and Jonda C. McNair. ““Combing” through Representations of Black Girls’ Hair in African American Children’s Literature.” Children’s Literature in Education, vol. 46, no. 3, 2015, pp. 296-307. Academic Search Ultimate, doi:10.1007/s10583-014-9235-x. Accessed 31 July 2020.

Brooks, Wanda, et al. “Narrative Significations of Contemporary Black Girlhood.” Research in the Teaching of English, vol. 45, no. 1, 2010, pp. 7-35. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25704894. Accessed 31 July 2020.

Gibson, Simone. “Adolescent African American Girls as Engaged Readers: Challenging Stereotypical Images of Black Womanhood through Urban Fiction.” The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 85, no. 3, 2016, pp. 212-224. Education Source, doi: 10.7709/jnegroeducation.85.3.0212.  Accessed 22 July 2020.

Hill, Dominique C. “Blackgirl, One Word: Necessary Transgressions in the Name of Imagining Black Girlhood.” Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, vol. 19, no. 4, 2019, pp. 275-283. Sage Journals, doi.org/10.1177/1532708616674994. Accessed 22 July 2020.

Ku, Chia-yen. “Not Safe for the Nursery? Toni Morrison’s Storybooks for Children.” EurAmerica: A Journal of European and American Studies, vol. 36, no. 4, Dec. 2006, pp. 613–649. MLA International Bibliography, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,uid&db=mzh&AN=2007531557&site=ehost-live. Accessed 22 July 2020.

Lewis, Janaka B. “Building the Worlds of our Dreams: Black Girlhood and Quare Narratives in African American Literature.” South: A Scholarly Journal, vol. 51, no. 1, 2018, pp. 96–114. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26814216. Accessed 15 July. 2020.

Lindsey, Treva B. ‘One Time for My Girls’: African-American Girlhood, Empowerment, and Popular Visual Culture.” Journal of African American Studies, vol. 17, no. 1, 2013, pp. 22–34. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41819273. Accessed 15 July 2020.

Love, Bettina L. “Chapter 6 Visionary Response: Biracial Identity, Spiritual Wholeness, and Black Girlhood.” Counterpoints, vol. 454, 2013, pp. 167–173. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/42982251. Accessed 15 July 2020.

Ropero, Marίa Lourdes Lόpez. “‘Trust Them to Figure It Out’: Toni Morrison’s Books for Children.” Atlantis, vol. 30, no. 2, Dec. 2008, pp. 43–57. Humanities International Index, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,uid&db=hft&AN=509876283&site=ehost-live. Accessed 15 July 2020.

Wright, Nazera Sadiq. “Ntozake Shange and a Literary Genealogy of Black Girlhood.” CLA Journal, vol. 62, no. 1, Mar. 2019, pp. 96–109.

Hyman, Ramona L. “Pecola Breedlove: The Sacrificial Iconoclast in The Bluest Eye.” CLA Journal, vol. 52, no. 3, Mar. 2009, pp. 256–264. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44325476. Accessed 3 August 2020.

Jovović, Tamara. “Rethinking Race: Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and God Help the Child.” B. A. S.: British and American Studies/Revista de Studii Britanice Și Americane, vol. 25, 2019, pp. 199–204, https://litere.uvt.ro/publicatii/BAS/pdf/no/bas_2019.pdf. Accessed 3 August 2020.

Khan, Reza Hassan, Md., and Md. Shafiqur Rahman. “The Framework of Racism in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye: A Psychosocial Interpretation.” Advances in Language and Literary Studies, vol. 5, no. 2, 2014, pp. 25–28. file:///C:/Users/AHARRI~1/AppData/Local/Temp/296-570-1-SM.pdf. Accessed 3 August 2020.

Koopman, Emy. “Incestuous Rape, Abjection, and the Colonization of Psychic Space in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Shani Mootoo’s Cereus Blooms at Night.” Journal of Postcolonial Writing, vol. 49, no. 3, July 2013, pp. 303–315.

Krupa, N. D. “Racism and Religion in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.” Veda’s Journal of English Language and Literature, vol. 2, no. 1, 2015, pp. 143-148. http://joell.in/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/racism-and-religion.pdf. Accessed 22 July 2020.

Kuenz, Jane. “The Bluest Eye: Notes on History, Community, and Black Female Subjectivity.” African American Review, vol. 27, no. 3, 1993, pp. 421–431. MLA International Bibliography, doi:10.2307/3041932. Accessed 22 July 2020.

Kulkarni, Harihar. “Mirrors, Reflections, and Images: Malady of Generational Relationship and Girlhood in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.” Indian Journal of American Studies, vol. 23, no. 2, 1993, pp. 1-6. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1100049811/LitRC?u=txshracd2573&sid=LitRC&xid=7c10a30. Accessed 3 August 2020.

López Ramírez, Manuela. “The Theme of the Shattered Self in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and A Mercy.” Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies, vol. 48, 2013, pp. 75–91,  https://www.miscelaneajournal.net/index.php/misc/article/view/196/90. Accessed 3 August 2020.

Lobodziec, Agnieszka. “Theological Models of Black Middle-Class Performance in Toni Morrison’s Novels.” Black Theology: An International Journal, vol. 8, no. 1, Apr. 2010, pp. 32–52. Academic Search Complete, doi:10.1558/blth.v8i1.32. Accessed 3 August 2020.

Mahaffey, Paul D. “The Adolescent Complexities of Race, Gender, and Class in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.” Race, Gender & Class, vol. 11, no. 4, 2004, pp. 155–165. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43496824. Accessed 15 July 2020.

Malmgren, Carl D. “Texts, Primers, and Voices in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.” Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, vol. 41, no. 3, 2000, pp. 251–262. Proquest Research Library, doi:10.1080/00111610009601590. Accessed 15 July 2020.

McKittrick, Katherine. “`Black and ‘Cause I’m Black I’m Blue’: Transverse Racial Geographies in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.” Gender, Place & Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography, vol. 7, no. 2, June 2000, p. 125. Proquest Research Library, doi:10.1080/713668872. Accessed 15 July 2020.

Mermann-Jozwiak, Elisabeth. “Re-Membering the Body: Body Politics in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.” Lit: Literature Interpretation Theory, vol. 12, no. 2, June 2001, pp. 189–203.

Putnam, Amanda. “Mothering Violence: Ferocious Female Resistance in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Sula, Beloved, and A Mercy.” Black Women, Gender & Families, vol. 5, no. 2, 2011. MLA International Bibliography, doi:10.5406/blacwomegendfami.5.2.0025. Accessed 15 2020.

Ramírez, Manuela L. “The Theme of the Shattered Self in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and A Mercy.” Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies, vol. 48, no. 48, 2013, pp. 75-91. https://www.miscelaneajournal.net/index.php/misc/article/view/196/90. Accessed 22 July 2020.

Ropp, Sarah. “Troubling Survivorism in The Bluest Eye.” MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S., vol. 44 no. 2, 2019, p. 132-152. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/727618. Accessed 22 July 2020.

Rosenberg, Ruth. “Seeds in Hard Ground: Black Girlhood in The Bluest Eye.” Black American Literature Forum, vol. 21, no. 4, 1987, pp. 435–445. JSTOR, doi:10.2307/2904114. Accessed 22 July 2020.

Roye, Susmita. “Toni Morrison’s Disrupted Girls and their Disturbed Girlhoods: The Bluest Eye and A Mercy.” Callaloo, vol. 35, no. 1, 2012, pp. 212-227. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41412505. Accessed 15 July 2020.

Scott, Lynn. “Beauty, Virtue and Disciplinary Power: A Foucaldian Reading of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.” Midwestern Miscellany, vol. 24, 1996, pp. 9–23.

Vásquez, Sam. “In Her Own Image: Literary and Visual Representations of Girlhood in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Jamaica Kincaid’s Annie John.” Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, vol. 12, no. 1, 2014, pp. 58–87. JSTOR, doi:10.2979/meridians.12.1.58. Accessed 15 July 2020.

Vickroy, Laurie. “The Politics of Abuse: The Traumatized Child in Toni Morrison and Marguerite Duras.” Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal, vol. 29, no. 2, June 1996, pp. 91–109. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44029748. Accessed 15 July 2020.

Vimalan, A., and S. Subbiah. “Redefining Beauty in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.” Literary Endeavour, vol. 9, no. 4, Oct. 2018, pp. 150–152, https://www.literaryendeavour.org/files/ssy9ikzogu6messgwav2/Issue-2018-10.pdf#page=159. Accessed 15 July 2020.

Ward, Jervette R. “In Search of Diversity: Dick and Jane and Their Black Playmates.” Making Connections: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Cultural Diversity, vol. 13, no. 2, Spring 2012, pp. 17–26. Academic Search Complete,  search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,uid&db=a9h&AN=94625034&site=ehost-live. Accessed 15 July 2020.

Werrlein, Debra T. “Not So Fast, Dick and Jane: Reimagining Childhood and Nation in The Bluest Eye.” MELUS, vol. 30, no. 4, Winter 2005, pp. 53–72. Humanities International Index, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,uid&db=hft&AN=509831900&site=ehost-live.

Williams, Jessica Horvath. “Unlike the Average Mental Disability as Narrative Form and Social Critique in Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.” Studies in American Fiction, vol. 45, no. 1, 2018, pp. 91-117. ProjectMUSE, doi:10.1353/saf.2018.0004. Accessed 3 August 2020.

Wu, Hong, and Liping Yang. “Call-and-Response in The Bluest Eye.” Theory and Practice in Language Studies, vol. 3, 2013, pp. 1143+. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A350978093/LitRC?u=txshracd2573&sid=LitRC&xid=ebb1c7e6. Accessed 3 August 2020.

Yancy, George. “The Black Self within a Semiotic Space of Whiteness: Reflections on the Racial Deformation of Pecola Breedlove in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.” CLA Journal, vol. 43, no. 3, Mar. 2000, pp. 299–319. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44329576. Accessed 3 2020.

Young, Harvey, and Jocelyn Prince. “Adapting The Bluest Eye for the Stage.” African American Review, vol. 45, no. 1/2, 2012, pp. 143–155. Academic Search Complete, doi:10.1353/afa.2012.0020. Accessed 15 July 2020.

Criticism and Interpretation of Morrison’s Desdemona

Carney, Jo Eldridge. “‘Being Born a Girl’: Toni Morrison’s Desdemona.” Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation, vol. 9, no. 1, 2014, http://www.borrowers.uga.edu/1217/show. Accessed 4 August 2020.

African American Women in Literature

Edim, Glory. Well-Read Black Girl: Finding our Stories, Discovering Ourselves: An Anthology. Ballantine Books, 2018.

Literary Criticism and Interpretation

Carrasco, David et al, editors. Goodness and the Literary Imagination: Harvard Divinity School’s 95th Ingersoll Lecture: With Essays on Morrison’s Moral and Religious Vision. University of Virginia Press, 2019.

Bennett, Juda et al. The Toni Morrison Book Club. University of Wisconsin Press, 2020.

Interviews

Denard, Carolyn C., editor. Toni Morrison: Conversations. University Press of Mississippi, 2008.

Morrison’s Children Literature

Morrison, Toni, and Slade Morrison. The Ant Or the Grasshopper. Scribner, 2003.

—. The Big Box. Hyperion Books for Children, 1999.

—. The Book of Mean People. Hyperion Books for Children, 2002.

—. The Tortoise Or the Hare. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2010.

—. The Lion Or the Mouse? Scribner, 2003.

—. Little Cloud and Lady Wind. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2010.

—. Peeny Butter Fudge. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2009.

—. Please, Louise. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2014.

—. Poppy Or the Snake? Scribner, 2003.

Morrison’s Fiction and Plays

Morrison, Toni. God Help the Child. Alfred A. Knopf, 2015.

—. Home. Alfred A. Knopf ,  2012.

—. A Mercy. Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.

Morrison, Toni, and Rokia Traore. Desdemona. Oberon Books, 2012.

Morrison’s Non-Fiction

Morrison, Toni. Mouth Full of Blood: Essays, Speeches, and Meditations. Chatto & Windus, 2019.

—. The Origin of Others. Harvard University Press, 2017.

—. The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations. Alfred A. Knopf, 2019.

Black Girlhood

Webb, Sheyann, et al. Selma, Lord, Selma: Girlhood Memories of the Civil-Rights Days. University of Alabama Press, 1997.