THE BLUEST EYE
Early paperback reprint Morrison's first novel — from the library of groundbreaking Black feminist Barbara Smith.
Very good.
Price: $250.00
THE BLUEST EYE
"Here was an ugly little girl asking for beauty." — page 137, bracked in ink by Barbara Smith
Barbara Smith's life and career as a Black lesbian feminist activist has had an immense impact upon multiple fields. She was the author, co-author, or editor of many of the founding documents of Black feminism, from the epochal 1977 Combahee River Collective Statement (a work credited with largely establishing the intersectional theory Davis applies here); to TOWARD A BLACK FEMINIST CRITICISM (1977), "the earliest theoretical statement on black feminist criticism" (McDowell); to HOME GIRLS: A BLACK FEMINIST ANTHOLOGY (1983), issued by her Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press (co-founded with Beverly Smith, Cherríe Moraga, and Audre Lorde, and which also republished THIS BRIDGE CALLED MY BACK). Smith's papers were recently placed at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Harvard Radcliffe Institute; the Schlesinger not acquiring duplicate titles, this book comes directly from Smith's remaining library.
THE BLUEST EYE is the story of the little girl Pecola growing up in Morrison's own midwestern hometown during the Great Depression, struggling against American standards of beauty defined by whiteness. As a critic and professor, Smith engaged deeply with this novel. THE BLUEST EYE is examined in TOWARD A BLACK FEMINIST CRITICISM: "Morrison's work poses both lesbian and feminist questions about Black women's autonomy and their impact on each other's lives" (23). Smith as annotated this copy with brackets, underlines, and asterisks. She has also tucked into the leaves nearly a dozen small paper slips — perhaps for quick retrieval of specific passages while teaching. Page 19 contains such a slip, with brackets around a quote relevant to Smith's comments in TOWARDS A BLACK FEMINIST CRITICSIM: "I have not yet arrived at the turning point in the development of my psycho which would allow me to love her."
The Object
New York: Washington Square Press / Pocket Books, (1972). 6.75'' x 4.25''. Original color photographic wrappers, 53146-8, cover price $3.95. 160 pages. From the library of Barbara Smith, with her ink owner name to first leaf, paper tabs, and markings in a variety of colored inks. Light spine creasing and marginal toning; slight ripple to text block and other faint signs of handling.
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