> Canadian writer Margaret Atwood wrote in a review for the New York Times, "Ms. Morrison's versatility and technical and emotional range appear to know no bounds. If there were any doubts about her stature as a pre-eminent American novelist, of her own or any other generation, 'Beloved' will put them to rest."
From the 1987 review of Beloved.
Sure, maybe I was a bit hyperbolic, but it is essentially unarguable that Toni Morrison is one of the most important, respected, and lauded writers in American history.
Indeed, it looks like she's only semi-famous because Oprah featured 4 of her works in her book club. Which is why I don't have any idea who she is or what she wrote, given I've never watched Oprah.
Perhaps you need to grow your bubble a bit. I would say her Nobel (or many other awards[0]) is a greater indication of the reverence given to her than the fact that you have not heard of her.
It looks like there have been 113 individuals that have won a Nobel Prize in Literature. While I'm sure it's an impressive accomplishment I don't think that necessarily means "everyone should know about this person or they are uncultured swine!"
It looks like she's mostly known because 4 of her works were featured by Oprah's book club. I generally don't base my reading list off of the recommendation of day time talk show hosts that have an intended audience of middle-aged women, largely house wives/stay at home mothers.
I mean, if you took a basic look at her Wikipedia you'll see that she had won a Pulitzer and a NOBEL PRIZE before Oprah recommended any of her books.
It's okay that you don't know who someone is, but there's no need to denigrate an artist or question their bonafides because you don't know who they are.
Think about it this way—if you came up to a random person and said "Donald Knuth is one of the most revered computer scientists in human history" and they said "well why haven't I heard of them before", would that mean Donald Knuth is a nobody, or that this person just doesn't really have any interest or background in this person's field?
I almost exclusively read fiction. I do not read a lot of (any) period African-American literature given I read for pleasure and not for tales of historically accurate racism and child molestation (The Bluest Eye apparently) in fiction (which appears to be her thing based on the 5 wiki entries I opened for her works).
> I do not read a lot of (any) period African-American literature
Guess you answered your own question, a hole in your reading preferences is a reflection of you, not society. For the record I read The Bluest Eye in college and it was pretty eye-opening.
