difficulties and the possibilities of finding vi-
able identities and meaningful living spaces. That
means coming to terms with the racialized condi-
tions of American society and with the effects of
that racialized past on African-American identi-
ties, families, and communities. Morrison places
her characters in the margins between historical,
geographical, and cultural forces, where they must
negotiate past and present, North and South, black
and white.
Morrison’s fiction also resonates with readers
because it is simultaneously realistic and mythical.
The novels depict the historical realities of African-
American and American experience from the Mid-
dle Passage, through slavery and Reconstruction,
to life in the rural South, migration to the West
and the urban North, and the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVE-
MENT and beyond. Yet magic and myth exist along-
side realism, as in Milkman’s heroic leap at the end
of Song of Solomon, Son’s headlong flight into the
swamps at the end of Tar Baby, and Beloved’s very
presence. By requiring readers to engage in both
historical and mythical dimensions, Morrison lifts
her fiction, and her readers, into multiple planes
of consciousness.
That pluralism is enriched by the intriguing
open-endedness of Morrison’s fiction. For ex-
ample, she uses multiple modes of narration, in-
cluding numerous flashbacks and flash-forwards
that suggest that time is more circular than linear.
She also insists on constructive ambiguity, leav-
ing space for readers’ imaginations to participate
in the fiction, for example, in the uncertainty sur-
rounding Beloved’s existence and the unresolved
question of which girl is white in Paradise. In
their openness, Morrison’s novels articulate both
an African-American perspective that privileges
double-consciousness and a postmodern perspec-
tive that privileges multiplicity, polyvocalism, and
process. In her vision, the cultural and human
conditions that the novels reflect and re-create
can only be voiced, not resolved, and yet must be
voiced and revoiced. Solution and resolution are
illusory, because African-American life is always at
least double, because American culture is always
already multiple and fragmented and because the
human condition is caught in the endless play of
alternatives.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bouson, J. Brooks. Quiet as It’s Kept: Shame, Trauma,
and Race in the Novels of Toni Morrison. Albany:
State University of New York Press, 2000.
Conner, Marc C., ed. The Aesthetics of Toni Morrison:
Speaking the Unspeakable. Jackson: University of
Mississippi Press, 2000.
Duvall, John. The Identifying Fictions of Toni Morri-
son: Modernist Authenticity and Postmodern Black-
ness. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000.
Middleton, David, ed. Toni Morrison’s Fiction: Con-
temporary Criticism. New York: Garland, 2000.
Page, Philip. Dangerous Freedom: Fusion and Frag-
mentation in Toni Morrison’s Novels. Jackson: Uni-
versity of Mississippi Press, 1995.
Peach, Linden. Toni Morrison: Historical Perspectives
and Literary Contexts. New York: St. Martin’s,
2000.
Rigney, Barbara Hill. The Voices of Toni Morrison. Co-
lumbus: Ohio State University Press, 1991.
Philip PageMos Def (1973– )
Born Dante Terrell (Beze) Smith on December 11,
1973, in Brooklyn, New York, Mos Def (a name
taken from the slang term for “Most Definitely”)
is widely regarded as one of the most introspec-
tive, socially conscious, and talented artists of his
time. Rising to prominence as a hip-hop M.C. in
the 1990s, Mos Def appeared on tracks for several
well-known rap musicians, including De La Soul
and da Bush Babees. In 1997 he released his first
solo project, the single “Universal Magnetic.” His
first full-length album was a collaborative project;
he partnered with fellow artist and activist Talib
Kweli and D.J. Hi-Tek to form the group Black Star.
Their self-titled album was released in 1998.
In 1999 Mos Def released his first solo album
Black on Both Sides, which is widely regarded as
one of the most important albums in contem-
porary hip-hop history. He won acclaim for his368 Mos Def