…major work of the 1970s,Song of Solomon (1977), the first African American novel sinceNative Son to be a Book-of-the-Month Club main selection.Song of Solomon blends African American folklore, history, and literary tradition to celebrate the moral and spiritual revival of Macon Dead, the first male protagonist in…

(1970),Sula (1973),Song of Solomon (1977),Beloved (1987),Jazz (1992), andParadise (1998), Toni Morrison created a strikingly original fiction that sounded different notes from lyrical recollection to magic realism. Like Ellison, Morrison drew on diverse literary and folk influences and dealt with important phases

Her next novel,Song of Solomon (1977), featured a male narrator in search of his identity and incorporated elements of magical realism; its publication brought Morrison to national attention, and it won that year’s National Book Critics Circle Award. It was followed byTar Baby (1981), which is…