Namwali Serpell on Toni Morrison, Criticism, and Narrative Empathy

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In this episode of Private Life , the writer and New York Review contributor Namwali Serpell joins Jarrett Earnest to discuss her new book, On Morrison , a collection of essays about Toni Morrison and her work. Their conversation covers Morrison’s life as a literary eminence and public intellectual, but the focus is Serpell’s close-readings of her most famous novels—including Jazz (1992), Sula (1973), Song of Solomon (1977), Beloved (1987), and Tar Baby (1981)—as well as her poetry, criticism, and later books. Earnest also asks Serpell about her essay “ The Banality of Empathy, ” about the concept of narrative empathy, which was published in the Review ’s March 2, 2019, issue. Namwali…