Thank you for this. I don't think I've ever head anyone mention Sula other than in a list of her works, but it sounds amazing. Quite coincidentally, I was just noticing last week that I'd never read anything by Morrison (like you, not for any reason other than not having gotten around to her yet). I'd thought of starting with Beloved, but now I think I'll start with Sula.
Sula was the first Morrison novel I read, and my favorite.
"That is, I feel that the way she’s discussed sometimes has little to do with the things that I love in her work."
I completely agree. You know, whenever I read off-the-cuff praise of Morrison, I always wonder if the person has ever actually read her. (The perils of being a snob.) It's always so generic, featuring words and phrases that you've pointed out - titan, dignified, somehow having anything to do with Maya Angelou's work.
"“Wise and confident Black women” is not a literary style." Indeed.
If you’re in the market for underrated American classics, I can recommend “First Blood” by David Morrell. It has precious little in common with the Rambo movies, thankfully. The foreword mentioned that it used to be taught and discussed in college classes before Stallone desecrated it.
But if deep emotional resonance embedded within deceptively simple plots are your thing, you’ll find something to like in there.
"Perhaps the most irrational of the many irrational feelings we hold towards books is being offended that one we love is not more celebrated while simultaneously fearing that it will be discovered and thus cease to be our special thing, our perfect secret."
Ain't that the truth. It's like when your favorite indie band suddenly blows up, becomes popular, and you deride them as "sellouts."
"Were all three not Black women it would be difficult to name anything the others share in common with Morrison. <...> “Wise and confident Black women” is not a literary style." I'm not sure you're allowed to notice that, at least not out in public where anybody can see you.
We had to read "Song of Solomon" in my 11th grade American Lit class and the book was an absolute revelation for me. I had never read anything like that, and to this day there are very few books that can compare. I struggle with poetry, probably b/c I am so left-brained and impatient. I have trouble letting that analytical side of me relax and just enjoy words and images. But this. This was everything I loved in literature-- well-developed, flawed and idiosyncratic characters with a riveting story. Warm, humorous, complex and non-judgmental. But the writing was so achingly beautiful, so poetic, that I would stop to re-read passages just to admire the beauty. Off the top of my head, I can only think of one other book that struck me in the same way and that was "The God of Small Things" by Roy.
It's interesting that you compare her writing to Fitzgerald (we also read "Great Gatsby" that year) b/c I find those two so dissimilar. "Great Gatsby" left me cold -- the 2-D archetypal characters and the sense of a tight narrative from start to finish, the end foreshadowed by the beginning-- while Morrison's writing is so rich, flowing, intricate and meandering. (Probably "Sula" lends itself more to the comparison than "Song of Solomon.")
After "Song of Solomon," I read everything that was written by her up until that point. "Sula" was my second favorite. I remember being slightly disappointed and puzzled by the ending (don't want to give away spoilers) but I was 17 or 18 when I read it and I wonder if my reaction would be different now at 52. When "Beloved" came out, I couldn't wait to read it, but was disappointed. The narrative felt divorced from the writing. I didn't like the stream of consciousness. It just didn't hit me with the same force, the same visceral quality.
Adding this to the list. I will say I don't think you missed much with Beloved (although my let down could be a result of the hype more than any fault of the book. My sense was that the characters were pretty one dimensional). I loved Song of Solomon though.
Somehow, Morrison came up in a community college class I took that, while it was taught by an English prof, was grammar rather than literature. Yet this teacher couldn't suppress her enthusiasms, and one of them was SULA -- her absolute favorite of all Morrison's novels. (On BELOVED, she demurred, "It's strong, but...it has many more issues than does SULA.") So, that was the first Morrison novel I read. You're only the second person in two decades I've heard single it out for highest praise, so yes, "underrated" would seem to apply!
I read Beloved, Sula and The Bluest Eye in college, and it was the latter that truly stood out to me. I could see Beloved as Oprah fodder even at the time, and Sula I didn’t remember much at all until your post...! I recall liking it, but The Bluest Eye was extremely moving and an intense, poetic read for a 20-year-old suburban white kid.
Thank you so much for this beautiful essay on what I agree is Morrison’s masterpiece. I used to teach Sula to my high school students, who were likely much too young to appreciate the book. (I suspect the book was on the curriculum because it was short and had teenaged girls as the main characters—I taught at a girls’ school.) My students were often disturbed and upset by the violence and by Sula’s sexual freedom, and I have often hoped that they would return to the book later.
For me one of the most fascinating themes of the book is that characters find freedom and power by hurting themselves—Nel’s grandmother acquires the family fortune by letting a train cut off her legs and winning a lawsuit; Sula wards off bullies by cutting off a piece of her fingertip in front of them (“If I can do this to myself, what will I do to you?”); and Sula’s sexual adventures give her great freedom and pleasure at the cost of ostracism. I think this was a message my students—almost all of whom were affluent and sheltered—found shocking. But it is a valuable way of looking at an alternate way to power when the typical ways are closed off to you.
I'm not sure if Stanley Crouch meets your definition of a major critic, or if his opinion of Morrison softened with time, but in 1987, I don't think he had her in the pantheon: http://rvannoy.asp.radford.edu/rvn/444/beloved.htm
I didn't like Beloved when I read it, and never went back to Morrison. But I'll give Sula a try. Thanks for the recommendation.
Happy to find someone who treasures this book as much as I do. I read it in order to "work my way up to" Beloved but the two are so different it did not help much. I tried without success to get my university prof book club friends to read it, and no dice. I read them great passages....no dice.
I re-read it every few years and discover more beauty. Thanks again for talking about it.
Great review. And if you ever do read Beloved, that would probably be fascinating to read, too.
Thank you for this. I don't think I've ever head anyone mention Sula other than in a list of her works, but it sounds amazing. Quite coincidentally, I was just noticing last week that I'd never read anything by Morrison (like you, not for any reason other than not having gotten around to her yet). I'd thought of starting with Beloved, but now I think I'll start with Sula.
Sula was the first Morrison novel I read, and my favorite.
"That is, I feel that the way she’s discussed sometimes has little to do with the things that I love in her work."
I completely agree. You know, whenever I read off-the-cuff praise of Morrison, I always wonder if the person has ever actually read her. (The perils of being a snob.) It's always so generic, featuring words and phrases that you've pointed out - titan, dignified, somehow having anything to do with Maya Angelou's work.
"“Wise and confident Black women” is not a literary style." Indeed.
Thanks for the review. This was fantastic.
If you’re in the market for underrated American classics, I can recommend “First Blood” by David Morrell. It has precious little in common with the Rambo movies, thankfully. The foreword mentioned that it used to be taught and discussed in college classes before Stallone desecrated it.
But if deep emotional resonance embedded within deceptively simple plots are your thing, you’ll find something to like in there.
"Perhaps the most irrational of the many irrational feelings we hold towards books is being offended that one we love is not more celebrated while simultaneously fearing that it will be discovered and thus cease to be our special thing, our perfect secret."
Ain't that the truth. It's like when your favorite indie band suddenly blows up, becomes popular, and you deride them as "sellouts."
"Were all three not Black women it would be difficult to name anything the others share in common with Morrison. <...> “Wise and confident Black women” is not a literary style." I'm not sure you're allowed to notice that, at least not out in public where anybody can see you.
I googled “Martial Choreograph” and found a copy on an old RSS feed from an earlier post https://deboer30.rssing.com/chan-29998540/latest-article1.php
I've never wanted to read a book so badly after a review. Dear God, please triple the hours in the day.
We had to read "Song of Solomon" in my 11th grade American Lit class and the book was an absolute revelation for me. I had never read anything like that, and to this day there are very few books that can compare. I struggle with poetry, probably b/c I am so left-brained and impatient. I have trouble letting that analytical side of me relax and just enjoy words and images. But this. This was everything I loved in literature-- well-developed, flawed and idiosyncratic characters with a riveting story. Warm, humorous, complex and non-judgmental. But the writing was so achingly beautiful, so poetic, that I would stop to re-read passages just to admire the beauty. Off the top of my head, I can only think of one other book that struck me in the same way and that was "The God of Small Things" by Roy.
It's interesting that you compare her writing to Fitzgerald (we also read "Great Gatsby" that year) b/c I find those two so dissimilar. "Great Gatsby" left me cold -- the 2-D archetypal characters and the sense of a tight narrative from start to finish, the end foreshadowed by the beginning-- while Morrison's writing is so rich, flowing, intricate and meandering. (Probably "Sula" lends itself more to the comparison than "Song of Solomon.")
After "Song of Solomon," I read everything that was written by her up until that point. "Sula" was my second favorite. I remember being slightly disappointed and puzzled by the ending (don't want to give away spoilers) but I was 17 or 18 when I read it and I wonder if my reaction would be different now at 52. When "Beloved" came out, I couldn't wait to read it, but was disappointed. The narrative felt divorced from the writing. I didn't like the stream of consciousness. It just didn't hit me with the same force, the same visceral quality.
Adding this to the list. I will say I don't think you missed much with Beloved (although my let down could be a result of the hype more than any fault of the book. My sense was that the characters were pretty one dimensional). I loved Song of Solomon though.
Somehow, Morrison came up in a community college class I took that, while it was taught by an English prof, was grammar rather than literature. Yet this teacher couldn't suppress her enthusiasms, and one of them was SULA -- her absolute favorite of all Morrison's novels. (On BELOVED, she demurred, "It's strong, but...it has many more issues than does SULA.") So, that was the first Morrison novel I read. You're only the second person in two decades I've heard single it out for highest praise, so yes, "underrated" would seem to apply!
OK, I read as far as the line and decided to buy the book and read it before reading any further. Thank you.
I read Beloved, Sula and The Bluest Eye in college, and it was the latter that truly stood out to me. I could see Beloved as Oprah fodder even at the time, and Sula I didn’t remember much at all until your post...! I recall liking it, but The Bluest Eye was extremely moving and an intense, poetic read for a 20-year-old suburban white kid.
Thank you so much for this beautiful essay on what I agree is Morrison’s masterpiece. I used to teach Sula to my high school students, who were likely much too young to appreciate the book. (I suspect the book was on the curriculum because it was short and had teenaged girls as the main characters—I taught at a girls’ school.) My students were often disturbed and upset by the violence and by Sula’s sexual freedom, and I have often hoped that they would return to the book later.
For me one of the most fascinating themes of the book is that characters find freedom and power by hurting themselves—Nel’s grandmother acquires the family fortune by letting a train cut off her legs and winning a lawsuit; Sula wards off bullies by cutting off a piece of her fingertip in front of them (“If I can do this to myself, what will I do to you?”); and Sula’s sexual adventures give her great freedom and pleasure at the cost of ostracism. I think this was a message my students—almost all of whom were affluent and sheltered—found shocking. But it is a valuable way of looking at an alternate way to power when the typical ways are closed off to you.
I'm not sure if Stanley Crouch meets your definition of a major critic, or if his opinion of Morrison softened with time, but in 1987, I don't think he had her in the pantheon: http://rvannoy.asp.radford.edu/rvn/444/beloved.htm
I didn't like Beloved when I read it, and never went back to Morrison. But I'll give Sula a try. Thanks for the recommendation.
Happy to find someone who treasures this book as much as I do. I read it in order to "work my way up to" Beloved but the two are so different it did not help much. I tried without success to get my university prof book club friends to read it, and no dice. I read them great passages....no dice.
I re-read it every few years and discover more beauty. Thanks again for talking about it.