Recitatif (1983)Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison (b.1931)Winner of 1993 Nobel Prize for literature, first African American to receive this prizeBorn in Lorain, Ohio, basis for some of her fictional settingsB.A., Howard Univ.; M.A., Cornell, thesis on Woolf and Faulkner; taught at Howard Univ.Editor for Random House publishersNovels include The Bluest Eye (1970), Sula (1974), Song of Solomon (1977), Beloved (1987), Jazz (1992), Paradise (1988), Love (2003)

Toni Morrison (b.1931)Criticism: Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the American Literary Imagination (1992)Professor of Humanities at Princeton UniversityThemes: American race relations, history and memoryRecitatif (1983) is Morrisons sole published short story A recitatif or recitative is a vocal style in which a text is declaimed in the rhythm of natural speech with slight melodic variation (American Heritage College Dictionary, 3rd ed., 1997). The story is Twylas recitatif.

DoublesRecitatif is a story of doubles, one black and one white, but the reader cant say for sure which is whichSimilarities to Poes William Wilson: first-person narration; early institutional experience (school/orphanage); meetings at intervals later in life; narrator is challenged and hurt by the doubleBut Recitatif ends with their reconciliation

DoublesBoth are misfits in the orphanage: they dont have beautiful dead parents in the sky (2255); their mothers are alive:Twylas mother dances lateRoberts is sickBad students: Twyla couldnt remember things (2254)Roberta cant read

Racial Ambiguity 2253 Roberta a girl from a whole other race (but which?)2254 like salt and pepper2259 Everything is so easy for them. They think they own the world2262 how it was in those days: blackwhite2262-65 bussing (to integrate schools black & white): Twylas son Joseph is getting bussed; but Robertas kids face the same prospect

Historical Structure (age 8 is definite, later ages are estimates)Twyla and Roberta meet at different ages, in different settings: at 8 (orphanage, 4 months) at roughly 18-20 (Howard Johnsons on thruway near Kingston, NY, August)Twyla a nightshift waitressRoberta passing through with two men, going to see (Jimi) Hendrix, whom Twyla calls sheRoberta and men laugh at Twyla, dont say goodbye

Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970)

Historical Structureat roughly 30-32 (Food Emporium, Newburgh, NY, late June)key to ages on page 2260: about 20 yrs after orphanage; 12 yrs after Howard Johnsons; Twylas son Joseph in junior high school (about 12 yrs old)Twyla married to James Benson, a fireman, with son Joseph: middle classRoberta married to Kenneth Norton, in computer industry: wealthy--limo & servantsin a neighborhood full of doctors and IBM executives (2259); 4 stepchildren

Historical StructureAt roughly 30-32 (Picket-lines, Fall)Twyla, pro-bussingRoberta, anti-bussing I wonder what made me think you were differentI wonder what made me think you were different (2263)Roberta betrays Twyla: refuses to help: no receiving hand was there (2263)

Historical StructureAt roughly 30-32 (Picket lines, Fall)Twylas and Robertas identities are defined in relation to one another: Actually my sign didnt make sense without Robertas (signs depend on one another) (2264)Later 30s (coffee shop, Christmas Eve); Joseph in college (about 18)Reconciliation, but Maggie issue still unresolved

Historical StructureThis story of doubles is suspended through recent American history:Race relationsBussing (to integrate schools)Computer industryChanges in town of Newburgh, New York: once upstate paradise, then half on welfare, with new wealthy tech class working for IBM

Archetypal StructureEaster (2255), Christmas (2265)Story of Maggiea mute womanalso partakes of archetypal structure: this is a story of primal guilt which (like the story of Adam and Eve) takes place in a garden, an apple orchardSee 2254gar girls (corruption of gargoyles, the evil stone faces [2260]): associated with evil, like the gargoyles of medieval Gothic cathedrals

Gargoyles, Notre Dame, Paris

The Significance of Maggie:Shifting memories/ shifting meanings:Maggie fell (2245)Maggie didnt fall, was knocked down (2261)Twyla and Roberta both kicked Maggie, who was black (2264)Twyla didnt kick Maggie, but wanted to (associated Maggie with her mother) (2265)Roberta didnt kick Maggie, but wanted to (associated Maggie with her own mother) (2266)

Consumer Culture: name-brand products, corporations, TV shows, pop icons:Klondike ice cream barsTabYoo-HooChicletsElmers glueIBMA&PThe Wizard of OzThe Price Is RightThe Brady BunchJimi Hendrix

SettingRecitatif takes place in impermanent, transient settings. What effect or significance might this feature of setting have?OrphanageHoward JohnsonsNew shopping mall/parking lotPicket linesCoffee house

ConclusionAs doubles, Twyla and Roberta share an uncomfortable pastRoberta challenges Twyla to remember parts of her past Twyla prefers to forget Reality and repressed desire get mixed up In the present, they are one anothers racial and class otherThey collaborate to reconstruct their shared past and bridge their differences of class and raceBut what happened to Maggie?