The Source of Self-Regard

Peril

Authoritarian regimes, dictators, despots are often, but not always, fools. But none is foolish enough to give perceptive, dissident writers free range to publish their judgments or follow their creative instincts. They know they do so at their own peril. They are not stupid enough to abandon control (overt or insidious) over media. Their methods include surveillance, censorship, arrest, even slaughter of those writers informing and disturbing the public. Writers who are unsettling, call­ing into question, taking another, deeper look. Writers journalists, essayists, bloggers, poets, playwrights can disturb the social oppres­sion that functions like a coma on the population, a coma despots call peace, and they stanch the blood flow of war that hawks and profiteers thrill to.

That is their peril.

Ours is of another sort.

How bleak, unlivable, insufferable existence becomes when we are deprived of artwork. That the life and work of writers facing peril must be protected is urgent, but along with that urgency we should remind ourselves that their absence, the choking off of a writer s work, its cruel amputation, is of equal peril to us. The rescue we extend to them is a generosity to ourselves.

We all know nations that can be identified by the flight of writers from their shores. These are regimes whose fear of unmonitored writ­ing is justified because truth is trouble. It is trouble for the warmonger, the torturer, the corporate thief, the political hack, the corrupt justice system, and for a comatose public. Unpersecuted, unjailed, unha­rassed writers are trouble for the ignorant bully, the sly racist, and the predators feeding off the world s resources. The alarm, the disquiet, writers raise is instructive because it is open and vulnerable, because if unpoliced it is threatening. Therefore the historical suppression of writers is the earliest harbinger of the steady peeling away of additional rights and liberties that will follow. The

Toni Morrison

Morrison is more than the standard bearer of American literature. She is our greatest singer. And this book is perhaps her most important song. The New York Times

Dazzlingly heady and deeply personal a rumination on her literary career and artistic mission, which is to reveal and honor the aching beauty and unfolding drama of African American life. O, The Oprah Magazine

A piercing and visionary analyst of history, society, literature, language, and, always, race. . . . The book explodes into pure brilliance. The Boston Globe

This book is a must. The Washington Post

Profoundly insightful. . . . Speaks to today s social and political moment as directly as this morning s headlines. NPR

Moving. . . . Magnificent. . . . It s a large, rich, heterogeneous book, and hallelujah. . . . With this book, one is tempted to quote at length from her words: her acuity and moral clarity are dazzling, but so is her vision for how we might find our way towards a less unjust, less hateful future. The Guardian

Her critical mind is as original as her literary vision. . . .  Morrison s style is, for the most part, stately, not so much ornate as complex, not so much stentorian as insistent, authoritative, often fierce. . . . Morrison is not simply a narrative spellbinder. . . . She is also a thundering prophet for our time. Commonweal

The Source of Self-Regard is a must-read.   Essence

Altogether fantastic. . . . One of the deepest seers of our time. Brain Pickings 

Give[s] insight into Morrison not just as a master of American folklore and the novel but also as a keen observer of humankind.   Vogue

A priceless record of an original thinker s attempt to grapple with some of the hardest and most intractable questions of our time, of language, and of the human condition. . . . Toni Morrison s collection of nonfiction makes a striking contribution to American letters and to an understanding of her own rich and