ENG 4938 - Fall 2026 - Okonkwo

Toni Morrison (1931-2019) was a literary, intellectual, and cultural luminary that needs little or no introduction to readers worldwide, especially English majors. She is the author and editor of several books, the subject of documentaries, interviews, and professional conferences, and likely one of the most studied and influential American writers. She was also the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama, and the first African American writer, in fact the first black woman, to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. In this capstone, we will focus on her last five published novels: Paradise, Love, A Mercy, Home, and God Help the Child. We will also explore her interviews, poetry, essays, and her play Desdemona. If you have read any of her other novels, be it The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, Tar Baby, Beloved, or Jazz, or her short story “Recitatif,” then you already know what an extraordinary mind and storyteller she was. But if you’re new to her world and work, or curious about the Toni Morrison legend, the texts we will read will help you, help us, appreciate why she was such a singular force. She’s been called a sage and a beacon. As you may have heard, I am a huge fan of hers. It is my hope that after this course you will join the ever-growing TM Club. Consider this senior seminar your lifetime membership, dues fully paid!

Distribution: Course Diversity and Genre requirement