By Benjamin Davis / The Jambar
Youngstown State University hosted three events Feb. 18 in DeBartolo Hall and Bliss Hall to commemorate Ohio-born novelist Toni Morrison. The events were organized by the Department of English and World Languages, Jazz Studies Program, YSU Poetry Center and YSU Poetry Club.
Christopher Barzak, English professor, said Morrison was one of the most prominent writers in the U.S., with a career of working as both an editor and published author.
“Morrison is one of America’s preeminent authors. She passed away several years ago,” Barzak said. “She had a long and storied career, first as an editor at Random House and then later as an author herself.”
Barzak said Morrison’s most famous novel, “Beloved,” won her a Pulitzer Prize. In addition, she became the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Being born in Lorain, Barzak said the state has decided to celebrate Morrison’s life and work for the entire year, starting on her birthday Feb. 18.
“She grew up in Lorain, Ohio, so not terribly far from here,” Barzak said. “The state of Ohio is celebrating her life for an entire year starting today, Feb. 18, which was her birthday, and [the celebration is] ending on the same day next year.”
To honor Morrison, volunteer students and faculty read excerpts from Morrison’s novel “Jazz” in DeBartolo Hall from 9-11:30 a.m. and 2-3 p.m.
The third event was a jazz performance between the two readings from 12:30-1:30 p.m., performed by students from the Dana School of Music in Bliss Hall.
Barzak said Morrison’s works are famous for their focus on the experiences of Black Americans, their history and racism in U.S. history.
“She tends to write about Black history, [and] about the lives of Black people in various periods,” Barzak said.
The novel “Jazz” is set in Harlem, New York, during the 1920s. This was during a time period when many Black Americans migrated from southern states to the north, including New York.
“The novel that we’re reading from today is called “Jazz,” and that’s set in the 1920s, and is looking at the migratory patterns from the South amongst Black people into cities like New York City, and specifically life in Harlem,” Barzak said.
Barzak said the plot of “Jazz” revolves around a love triangle that causes a murder in the neighborhood of the book’s narrator.
“It’s about a love triangle that’s gone wrong, and essentially is told by a narrator that you never really get to know as an individual,” Barzak said. “A violent murder occurs because of this love triangle. And essentially the fallout in the neighborhood, and amongst the people who live there and the disturbances to their lives and how they come together in the end to resume life again beyond that incident.”
Morrison’s most famous novel, “Beloved,” is about a former slave who kills her own daughter rather than let her be captured by slave catchers.
“It’s about the life of a woman named Sethe,” Barzak said. “She’s a fictional character that is based on an actual event where a mother … murdered her own child rather than have the slave catchers take them back to slavery in the South.”
Barzak said “Beloved” also has supernatural elements, with the daughter’s ghost later haunting Sethe.
“It’s also a ghost story,” Barzak said. “She eventually comes to be haunted by the ghost of the daughter who she killed to keep her out of slavery.”
For those interested, a list of events celebrating Morrison and her work statewide can be found at ohiocelebratestonimorrison.org.