The Dancing Mind: Speech Upon Acceptance of the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished C Ontribution to American Letters

By Toni Morrison

Book Overview

On the occasion of her acceptance of the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters on the sixth of November, 1996, Nobel laureate Toni Morrison speaks with brevity and passion to the pleasures, the difficulties, the necessities, of the reading/writing life in our time.

She was our conscience. Our seer. Our truthteller. --Oprah Winfrey

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 037540032X
• ISBN13: 9780375400322
• Release Date: December 1996
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 24 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.4" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

The Dancing Mind

One of the best speeches you'd ever want to read or listen to....I have listened to it many many times over---exquist writing and insiration. roma guy

Read.. And Grow

This amazing work is about the pleasure and intellectual stimulation one can find through reading. Dance to a different drum and check this out.

A Different Kind of Dance to a Different Kind of Beat

The fact that the first African-American to win the Nobel Prize for literature is reading this amazing work on the pleasures of intellectual stimulation and growth through reading is really the only qualification it needs to command the highest recommendations. Nevertheless, by moving beyond the sense of awe that Toni Morrison tends to inspire just by being Toni Morrison, one is able to delve into the wonders of her own dancing mind as revealed in this thrilling audio book. Morrison's original and illuminating insights invite readers to enjoy a different kind of aesthetic dance to a different more individually empowered kind of intellectual beat. Here, fascination meets knowledge with significant purpose. Aberjhani author of "Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance" "The Wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois" and "Visions of a Skylark Dressed in Black"

You can almost hear Morrison's voice reading the speech

"The Dancing Mind" is not your typical book. It is not a fiction book, nor is it really a non-fiction book. "The Dancing Mind" is a speech Toni Morrison gave when she accepted The National Book Foundation Medal. This is a very slim volume, coming in at only 17 pages, but it is an opportunity to read something that I never would have encountered anywhere else. Toni Morrison gave two unrelated anecdotes, but tied them together at the end of the speech. The first was a story of a young man from an affluent family. He grew up being forced to read certain book and participate in certain activities, and when he was finally out of school, he had no inclination to ever read another book. The only experience of reading he had was for an assignment and for a grade, and never for pleasure. The second story was of a woman writer and approached her, telling Morrison of the difficulty of writing honest literature while living in a country that would suppress literature. The only connection between the two is that the both deal with books, one from the reader's perspective, the other from the author's. Morrison combines these two into a brief discussion on the necessity of reading and writing, and the enjoyment that can be found from each, and how these are necessary despite (or perhaps, because) of how much of an industry books has become. This is such a short speech that it won't take up much time to read it, and I think I heard the cadences of Morrison's speaking voice while reading the text. I would imagine that hearing Morrison give the speech would be a superior experience over reading it, but I'm glad that I read it. This is an acceptance speech, but it gives an insight into the mind of Toni Morrison.

Very well said

The auto cassette of this wonderfully poetic acceptance speech was given to me as a gift and ranks among my all time favorites. In her acceptance of the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, Morrison elaborates on the reader-writer relationship, symbolized in terms of a dance of open minds. She expounds on the importance of an education that allows for and encourages students to (through literature) dance in the company of their own mind. The Nobel Laureate then shares a personal encounter with a fellow female writer from Strasbourg whose country rewards creative and nonrestrictive writing with persecution and imprisonment; the effect of which on the writing soul is indistinguishable from literally being shot down on the street. Morrison wraps up her speech with a personal account of what it means for her to write, to engage in a dance with her mind and the mind of her reader. This speech, like everything she writes, is both captivating and enlightening. The knowledge given is as powerful and elegant as the delivery. Whether you listen to it or read it, this speech is worth knowing. Enjoy.