![]() And it is this mixture of poetic form and scientific method in Morrison that is, to my mind, unique. To read the startlingly detailed auto-critiques of her own novels in that last book, “ The Source of Self-Regard,” was to observe a literary lab technician reverse engineering an experiment. Perhaps the weight of responsibility she felt herself to be under did not allow for it. Most writers work, at least partially, in the dark: subconsciously, stumblingly, progressing chaotically, sometimes taking shortcuts, often reaching dead ends. It’s hard to overstate how unusual this is. There are eleven novels and one short story, all of which she wrote with specific aims and intentions. There are no dashed-off Morrison pieces, no filler novels, no treading water, no exit off the main road. In 1980 Toni Morrison sat down to write her one and only short story, “Recitatif.” The fact that there is only one Morrison short story seems of a piece with her œuvre.
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