Few authors have received the international acclaim and the copious, even overwhelming, scholarly attention that Toni Morrison has over her literary career. The various accolades she has garnered testify to her global significance and popularity and have established her as an institution in her own right, as a self-named literary society attests. But the imposing phenomenon that is Morrison is assuaged by and grounded in the African American Nobel Prize-winning author's firm positioning also as an astute, sometimes controversial – even politically incorrect – commentator. Her incise observations and interpretations of American nationalism, race, gender, and culture – situating her as a kind of “moral” barometer – have made her work accessible to a varied readership while simultaneously politicizing the function of art in society.

Tessa Roynon aptly observes that there “is something different about Toni Morrison” (ix), and to approach an author with the enduring stature of Morrison is thus a daunting task. An introduction to an author so well established and arguably “overwritten” by critics and scholars alike is no slight achievement and Roynon's The Cambridge Introduction to Toni Morrison, the aim of which is to “provide one way into and one path through” (ix) the author's world for new and established scholars, takes a particularly innovative and refreshing position. The Introduction provides insightful, original information on Morrison that not only revivifies readings of her work but also gives evidence to Roynon's own personal understanding of and intellectual investment in Morrisonian scholarship. Especially interesting are the latest anecdotes about and by Morrison at (inter)national conferences or readings, which Roynon skilfully links with a critical appreciation of the author's work. Never reducing the author to her fiction, Roynon's perceptive connections, within her own lively discussions, enhance and energize Morrisonian studies and affirm her canonical status.

Roynon does not shirk her critical responsibility, however, and what makes the Introduction such a stimulating read is precisely her ability to honestly and intellectually critique Morrison's techniques and positions without undermining the significance of the author's work. Roynon acknowledges, for instance, that Morrison “is of course not a perfect writer. There are passages that are overwritten, there are moments of cliché, there is withholding of information that is occasionally just frustrating, and there are occasional flashes of didacticism” (16). Indeed, observing the inconsistencies in the positions Morrison adopts, Roynon warns against “relying too strongly on the concept of authorial intention” and the “surrendering of our own power and responsibilities to her views” (93). Where there has been and still is a tendency in scholarship to unambiguously, even uncritically, read Morrison, Roynon's engagement with her fiction is conducted with an integrity that does much to reposition the author as significant sociopolitical literary force.

Roynon notes that Morrison's “triumph is in the fact that her vision of the political realities of African-American life is simultaneously a vision of all humanity” (16), and while she addresses the thematic significance of (African American) race and culture in Morrison's work, Roynon offers a nuanced and complex viewpoint which guards against the racialized polemics that so often characterize criticism of Morrison. Roynon reveals other rejuvenating ways in which the author can be and is being read in an evolving scholarship. Morrison's interest in (West) African and classical intersections, as well as her engagement with and situatedness within transnationalism, modernism and postmodernism, for example, are areas Roynon explores.

While she modestly states that “it is neither possible nor helpful to attempt a comprehensive overview” (114) of Morrison's work, Roynon attempts and achieves precisely that. The Cambridge Introduction to Toni Morrison, clearly structured into four sections, makes for concise yet exhaustive reading. Chapter 1 details Morrison's personal and literary life; chapter 2 provides succinct summaries and criticism of Morrison's fictional (excluding the recently published Home) and nonfictional corpus; chapter 3 places Morrison within historical, cultural, and (trans)national contexts; and the final chapter details Morrison's critical and public reception over her career. Here, the Introduction, in addition to a “Guide to Further Reading,” is especially valuable for its reference to other useful criticism within Morrison scholarship from the 1970s to date.

The Cambridge Introduction to Toni Morrison is a well-researched and beneficial resource for those new to Morrison's work as well as for established scholars. A fluid read and accessibly written, the Introduction does not intimidate but puts forward a personally insightful and intellectually informative analysis of Morrison's literary career, achievements and work. Taking an unpretentious and candid position and offering refreshing and energetic perspectives, Roynon's Introduction is a timely and welcome contribution to Morrisonian scholarship.