THE GREAT AMERICAN STORYTELLER
I enjoyed immensely Paul Gray's article about Toni Morrison and her new novel Paradise [BOOKS, Jan. 19]. Few writers of the modern age have been as masterly, as powerful in the use of the language as she is. But Gray left out an important aspect of Morrison: her role as a teacher. Having had her as a professor and adviser, I can tell you that she is an inspirational force who pushes her students to excel far beyond their own expectations. She is accessible to students and committed to seeing us search within ourselves to find our passion and communicate that passion with grace, confidence and a strong intellectual foundation. To me, she is more than a celebrity; she is a teacher, a mentor who shared her gift and taught me what it really means to write. TALEEB NOORMOHAMED Princeton, N.J.
I take issue with Gray's statement that Morrison is "the author who almost single-handedly gave African-American women their rightful place in American literature." That view heedlessly erases the numerous African-American women writers--Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, Gloria Naylor, Paule Marshall, Audre Lorde, Ntozake Shange, Octavia Butler and Carolivia Herron among them--who, as Morrison's sisters, have brilliantly contributed to contemporary African-American letters. THOMAS GRAVE Providence, R.L
Morrison's power and influence as a writer lie in her ability to appeal to critics and ordinary readers alike. Thomas Pynchon and Don DeLillo, authors of top 1997 books, are inaccessible to most of the world. Literature is inexorably about life, and so the best literature should speak, on different levels, to everyone as Morrison's writing does, over and over. Toni Morrison sends us in search of the meanings of love, belonging, ostracism, violence and beauty through stories of black people and, now, raceless people. Thanks for recognizing her as the "Great American Storyteller." SARAH MILLER New Haven, Conn.
Gray delved into the actual process of writing in a way that few writers do. His assertion that William Faulkner's "prose rhythms" crop up in Morrison's writing, however, left me wondering. Morrison won the Nobel. Do we still have to think she needs a role model? JACINDA TOWNSEND New York City
TEENS ON DEATH ROW
The case the prosecution made against accused teenage murderer Shareef Cousin was flimsy, the witnesses uncertain, the evidence insufficient [CRIME, Jan. 19]. It angers me to see a boy just a few years older than I convicted of a horrendous crime while the prosecutors know he may be innocent. Cousin stands in the middle of a blizzard of controversy, screaming for answers, while truth and innocence are lost. Fingers were pointed at a black kid because there was a white victim. Wake up, America! The answers to problems in the judicial system are not on death row. TINGTING PENG, age 14 Lexington, Mass.
We will not have true justice until those who are soft on crime become the victims of the criminals they so blithely excuse. Bad guys (and girls) commit crimes. If they get religion while incarcerated, great! As believers, they should be better able to admit their offense and graciously accept their penalty. BILL STONE Henderson, Nev.