The great lady of American letters, author of the best-seller "Beloved" and Nobel Prize in Literature 1993, died at the age of 88 on the night of August 5

America is in tears. The great lady of American letters died on the night of Monday, August 5, said her editor, Knopf. She was 88 years old. The first black woman to receive the Nobel Prize in literature in 1993, Toni Morrison published her first novel, L'Oeil le plus bleu, in 1970, the story of a young black girl who dreams of having azure eyes. Sula (1973) and The Song of Solomon (1977) followed. In 1987, the worldwide success of Beloved, his masterpiece, Pulitzer Prize 1988, consecrated her as one of the greatest feathers of the twentieth century.

The story of this former slave, who slit the throats of her own child to spare her bondage, is a vivid illustration of the trauma of slavery, recounted with rare finesse and radicality. A novel on memory and sonship, it also shows the way to continue living, despite past suffering. Other jewels by the novelist include Jazz (1992) and Paradise (1997).

 

Professor at Princeton from 1989 to 2006 and editor at Random House for nearly fifteen years, Toni Morrison, who notably published the biographies of Muhammad Ali and Angela Davis, is the inspiration of many American writers of all generations, such as Gabriel Tallent, the author of My Absolute Darling, Colson Whitehead (The Underground Railroad), deeply moved by his Song of Solomon. or Ta-Nehisi COATES, the author of Une colère noire: Lettre à mon fils.