"She was our conscience. Our seer. Our truth-teller. She was a magician
with language, who understood the power of words." - Oprah Winfrey A vital
non-fiction collection from one of the most celebrated and revered American
writers Spanning four decades, these essays, speeches and meditations
interrogate the world around us. They are concerned with race, gender and
globalisation. The sweep of American history and the current state of
politics. The duty of the press and the role of the artist. Throughout
Mouth Full of Blood our search for truth, moral integrity and expertise is
met by Toni Morrison with controlled anger, elegance and literary
excellence. The collection is structured in three parts and these are
heart-stoppingly introduced by a prayer for the dead of 9/11, a meditation
on Martin Luther King and a eulogy for James Baldwin. Morrison's Nobel
lecture, on the power of language, is accompanied by lectures to Amnesty
International and the Newspaper Association of America. She speaks to
graduating students and visitors to both the Louvre and America's Black
Holocaust Museum. She revisitsThe Bluest Eye, Sula and Beloved; reassessing
the novels that have become touchstones for generations of readers. Mouth
Full of Blood is a powerful, erudite and essential gathering of ideas that
speaks to us all. It celebrates Morrison's extraordinary contribution to
the literary world.