Namwali Serpell

I think when you have people who can't read, they're easier to control.

So it should make you suspicious, right, when someone does that.

Morrison in particular is fascinating because you often have students say,

say, well, when I come to lecture and if I haven't read the book, I really want you to give like a plot summary.

But I felt like, no, you need to actually do the reading.

But Morrison obviates this because she gives you the plot summary so often.

But that was actually a wonderful thing because it became very clear to them that a plot summary wasn't going to help.

And so they did actually have to read the book from beginning to end.

And I think her difficulty, she always says there's a way that it's supposed to pull you in so that you can puzzle it out.

So it's a participatory ethos for her, not one that pushes you away with difficulty, but actually one that draws you in so that you can co-create the book.

with her.

And when I teach them about that and then show them how that works on the page, they just light up.

I mean, students actually love a challenge.

The human mind loves to make patterns, right?

So I think if you can get people on board with the idea that language is not just a vehicle for

slogans or for data, that actually a process, an experiential process of learning and of coming to knowledge, I think a lot of readers are happy to climb on board.

And so part of this is Morrison's commitment to what we now, I think,

perhaps a bit reductively, called storytelling.

But a lot of what she's interested in doing on the page is to replicate an experience of listening to stories in her family kitchen or in her living room.

And the orality of her prose was extremely important to her.