When her picture appeared on the cover of Newsweek in 1981 and her fourth novel, Tar Baby, was on the year's best-seller list, Toni Morrison was an anomaly in two respects: she is a black writer who has achieved national prominence and popularity, and she is a popular writer who is taken seriously. She is taken seriously by teachers of literature, who teach her works in genre as well as Afro-American literature courses; by feminists, who point to The Bluest Eye as a rare depiction of the onset of puberty in girls and to Sula as a rare exploration of friendship between women; and by black readers, who cite the accuracy, honesty, and constructiveness of Morrison's portrayal of black life.

Morrison is also a teacher; she has taught Afro-American literature and creative writing for the last decade at SUNY/Purchase, Yale University, and, most recently, Bard College. And she...