In this introduction to the Nobel Prizewinning fiction of Toni Morrison, Jan Furman surveys six novels, a short story, and a book of criticism to reconstruct the development of Morrison's creative vision and to assess its influence in contemporary literature. She traces the recurrent characters, themes, and settings that embody Morrison's literary vision and strike such familiar chords for Morrison's readers. Demonstrating that Morrison strongly supports...

In the first full-length critical analysis of Reynolds Price's writings to appear in more than a decade, James A. Schiff traces the development of one of America's most esteemed contemporary writers from the publication in 1962 of his awardwinning first novel, A Long and Happy Life, to the arrival in 1995 of the third volume of his Mayfield trilogy, The Promise of Rest. Demonstrating how literary trends have often run counter to Price's career, Schiff...