SONG OF SOLOMON

　　In this celebrated novel, Nobel Prize-winning author ToniMorrison created a new way of rendering the contradictory nuancesof black life in America. Its earthy poetic language and strikinguse of folklore and myth established Morrison as a major voice incontemporary fiction.　　Song of Solomon begins with one of the most arresting scenes inour century's literature: a dreamlike tableau depicting a manpoised on a roof, about to fly into the air, while cloth rosepetals swirl above the snow-covered ground and, in the astonishedcrowd below, one woman sings as another enters premature labor. Thechild born of that labor, Macon (Milkman) Dead, will eventuallycome to discover, through his complicated progress to maturity, themeaning of the drama that marked his birth. Toni Morrison's novelis at once a romance of self-discovery, a retelling of the blackexperience in America that uncovers the inalienable poetry of thatexperience, and a family saga luminous in its depth, imaginativegenerosity, and universality. It is also a tribute to the ways inwhich, in the hands of a master, the ancient art of storytellingcan be used to make the mysterious and invisible aspects of humanlife apparent, real, and firm to the touch.