Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Recitatif | 1983 | Toni Morrison | Buy |
| 2 | Race | 2017 | Toni Morrison | Buy |
Toni Morrison published very little short fiction during her career, making these two works notable. Recitatif (1983) is her only published short story and has been widely anthologized and studied. The story follows Twyla and Roberta, who first meet as children in a shelter and reconnect several times as adults. Morrison never identifies which woman is Black and which is white, forcing readers to examine their own racial assumptions.
Race (2017) is a shorter work that addresses racial identity more directly. Together, these two pieces show Morrison working in a concentrated format, stripping her themes down to their essentials.