Toni Morrison's only short story now in book form

Posted April 7, 2022

By Huda Aden

Staff Reporter

Toni Morrison, the American writer known for her portrayal of the Black female experience, wrote one short story, Recitatif, which is now available in book form.

Recitatif was originally published in 1983. It is a about a friendship between two girls, Roberta and Twyla, who grew up in an orphanage together despite being of different races. Tragically, they were orphaned not because they had dead parents, but because their parents didn’t want them. Twyla and Roberta have an interesting and scary experience in the orphanage. After Twyla and Roberta leave the shelter, theylose contact. Years later, while Twyla is working at a restaurant, they run into each other. Roberta dismisses her, and the two don't talk again until they happen to cross paths in a store's checkout line. This time, Roberta is more pleasant, and the two of them sit down for a cup of coffee. It's awkward at first, but Twyla makes a joke about one of the shelter's directors, and the two of them laugh together.

Morrison was born on Feb. 18, 1931 in Lorain, Ohio. She died August 5, 2019. She received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993. During her life, she published 11 acclaimed novels, several essays, plays, some children's books, and just this one short story. Morrison is one of the most celebrated authors in the world. Her novels have earned countless prestigious awards, including the Pulitzer Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from former President Barack Obama.

“Narratives are radical, creating us at the very moment it is being created," Morrison said. "For our sake and yours forget your name in the street, tell us what the world has been to you in the dark places and in the light. Tell us what is to be a woman so that we may know what is to be a man. What moves at the margin. What is it like to have no home in this place? To be set adrift from the one you may know. What is it to live at the edge of towns that cannot bear company. Was one of the speeches given by her."