“Toni Morrison Oltre il Romanzo: Il Ruolo dell'Intellettuale Pubblico tra Impegno Editoriale e Produzione Saggistica.”

This present study is aimed at the construction of a new research path concerning Toni Morrison’s working roles. Globally acclaimed as one of the greatest novelists of contemporary times, her working experiences left much more than fictional production as her legacy. This dissertation theorizes the modern and comprehensive public intellectual role that Morrison fulfilled throughout her life, not exclusively for the African American community but for the entire American society. The latter will be demonstrated via the exploration, in each chapter, of her jobs as editor, contributor for magazines –such as The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine, and her interventions concerning relevant news events such as the Simpson trial and the Clarence/Hill accusations. Furthermore, unpublished drafts of her editorial period at Random House will be uncovered to have a clear vision of Morrison’s editorial work, which proved fundamental for the emergence of a generation of young black authors fostered personally by her. Additionally, her Nobel Lecture of 1993 will be taken into analysis as a fitting example of a discourse in which she is able, as a brilliant public intellectual, to deliver a message of peace and hope to a broad and young audience while still paying homage to her African American community, which she served throughout her life in multiple ways.