Toni Morrison’s first published short story is getting republished as a Book

on Feb 02, 2022

The Late American Novelist and Nobel Prize Winner, known for her examination of the Black experience, Toni Morrison’s only short story is going to be available in book form for the first time.

"Recitatif" is her first published short story which was initially published in 1983 in Confirmation: An Anthology of African American Women, an anthology edited by Amiri Baraka and Amina Baraka and is the only short story written by the acclaimed novelist.
“Recitatif” is about two women, one black and the other one white, the book doesn’t reveal which one is of which colour.

National Public Radio announced this news as the host revealed these details. Leila Fadel, host of National Public Radio talked about Toni Morrison as she said, “Nobel laureate Toni Morrison is famous for those classic novels like "The Bluest Eye”, ''Beloved”, ''Song Of Solomon" She was less known for her short stories. In fact, she's only written one. It is being republished today.”

“Recitatif” is a french word to describe something with a musical quality. The story is about two girls, Twyla and Roberta, who are both wards of the state and spend four months together in a shelter. One is Black, and the other is white. But Morrison doesn't tell the reader which girl is which. Jeffers, host of National Public Radio, says she noticed how Toni Morrison's story challenged stereotypes she herself held about Black and white people.

While announcing the news, Honoree Jeffers, a poet who teaches at the University of Oklahoma, said, “When you think about the short story, there's always this sort of humming under the surface, and that humming is race in America” and further went on saying, “You begin to see a domestic story emerge about how girls grow up in our society, about how women are shuttled into these smaller categories many times. And then it becomes - or at least it became for me - a story about gender.”

While republishing Toni Morrison’s story, it brings another chance to analyse the way Black writers are critiqued. Morrison grew up in the American Midwest in a family that possessed an intense love of and appreciation for Black culture. Storytelling, songs, and folktales were a deeply formative part of her childhood. She has had her own struggles as a black writer. The issues come up in a way but they are never encountered by white writers. Toni Morrison wrote "Recitatif" in 1983. A couple of generations later, it's published in a country that has changed, though maybe not all that much.