Toni Morrison's only short story is available in book form for the first time

Toni Morrison's only short story is available in book form for the first time

Transcript¹

Author Toni Morrison pictured at Princeton University in New Jersey² in October 1993. She is known for her 11 novels, but her single short story has often been forgotten.

Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images

Toni Morrison - the late author and Nobel laureate whose work focused on Black life and culture - published 11 acclaimed³ novels, several essay collections, about half a dozen children's books and just one short story: "Recitatif."

"Recitatif" was originally published in a 1983 anthology that has since gone out of print and was rarely seen in intervening decades, as The Associated Press has reported. But it's making a comeback, this time in book form.

The republished story is hitting shelves and online stores on Tuesday in what Knopf Doubleday says is the first-ever hardcover edition. The book includes an introduction by writer Zadie Smith, and the audio edition is read by actor Bahni Turpin.

Its title refers to the French word for "recitative," which Merriam-Webster describes as a "rhythmically⁴ free vocal⁵ style that imitates the natural inflections of speech."

"When you think about the short story, there's always this sort of humming under the surface," said Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, a poet who teaches at the University of Oklahoma. "And that humming under the surface is race, in America."

The story follows two girls, Twyla and Roberta, who spend several months as roommates in a children's shelter and run into each other on occasion as adults. One is Black and one is white - but Morrison doesn't tell the reader which is which.

Morrison once described the book as "an experiment in the removal of all racial codes from a narrative⁶ about two characters of different races for whom racial identity is crucial." She refers to things like hair length, social status and family memories throughout, keeping readers guessing - and thinking.

Jeffers told Morning Edition that she noticed the story challenged stereotypes⁷ she herself held about Black and white people.

She described searching for clues about the characters' races, only to eventually step back and ask herself: "Why did I need to know so badly?" When she stopped focusing on race, she said, she saw the story in a different light.

"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," Jeffers said. "And then it becomes, or at least it became for me, a story about gender⁸."

Autumn M. Womack, a professor of English and African American Studies at Princeton University, told the AP that "Recitatif" speaks to themes found in Morrison's novels, like the complicated relationship between two women in 1973's Sula and the racial blurring⁹ she used in Paradise in the late 1990s.

But she also noted¹⁰ the important differences between the short story and Morrison's longer works.

"One of the main takeaways from ["Recitatif"] is that you'll begin to think of her as someone who experimented with form," Womack said. "You'll get away from the idea that she was solely¹¹ a novelist and think of her as someone who was trying all kinds of writing."

Jeffers says republishing also offers another opportunity to examine the way Black writers are critiqued.

"These issues of race constantly come up in ways that they don't come up for white writers," she explains. "White writers are never asked why they wrote about white characters, white writers are never asked to justify¹² the importance of what they're writing. Only writers of color and, in particular, African American writers, are asked to do that."

Audio for this story was produced by Ziad Buchh and Ben Abrams.

The digital version of this story originally appeared in the Morning Edition live blog.

NPR has compiled a list of stories, performances and other content that chronicles the Black American experience for Black History Month. See the whole collection here.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

3 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

4 rhythmically   

adv.有节奏地

参考例句：

• A pigeon strutted along the roof, cooing rhythmically. 一只鸽子沿着屋顶大摇大摆地走，有节奏地咕咕叫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Exposures of rhythmically banded protore are common in the workings. 在工作面中常见有韵律条带“原矿石”。 来自辞典例句

5 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

6 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

7 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

9 blurring   

n.模糊，斑点甚多，（图像的）混乱v.（使）变模糊( blur的现在分词 )；（使）难以区分

参考例句：

• Retinal hemorrhage, and blurring of the optic dise cause visual disturbances. 视网膜出血及神经盘模糊等可导致视力障碍。 来自辞典例句
• In other ways the Bible limited Puritan writing, blurring and deadening the pages. 另一方面，圣经又限制了清教时期的作品，使它们显得晦涩沉闷。 来自辞典例句

10 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

11 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

12 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？