[Ads-l] Question about a quotation employed by Toni Morrison

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Yes, I agree that the quotation is embedded, and it is employed by
"some young people". What is the connection to Tolstoy?
Garson


On Sun, Feb 5, 2023 at 8:18 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
>
> I do not have the requested identity, maybe, maybe because this is a story that does not require such?
> This may be a quote within a quote by "some young people"--plural, yet speaking with one voice?
> Did Morrison sneak in a technically inaccurate allusion to non-Nobel winner Tolstoy?
> sg
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Sunday, February 5, 2023 4:07 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Question about a quotation employed by Toni Morrison
>
> Nobel laureate Toni Morrison credited a quotation to an unnamed poet
> in her Nobel Lecture. A doctoral student sent me a request to identify
> the unnamed poet, but I have not made any progress. Perhaps someone on
> this mailing list would be willing to explore this topic. Below is the
> excerpt containing the quotation:
>
> Website: nobelprize.org
> Article: Nobel Lecture
> Lecture date: December 7, 1993
> Author: Toni Morrison
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1993/morrison/lecture/__;!!OToaGQ!tBdTVSCAmr3ptoVuDHBPPfUu2Etfprp973eBt7z4ADtkrNRTRDGb0HGh3BYxC3M8ioyShKbGxNzDUcWz5RXZpX3JUg$
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> We have heard all our short lives that we have to be responsible. What
> could that possibly mean in the catastrophe this world has become;
> where, as a poet said, "nothing needs to be exposed since it is
> already barefaced." Our inheritance is an affront. You want us to have
> your old, blank eyes and see only cruelty and mediocrity.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson O’Toole
> QuoteInvestigator.com
>
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