title: Toni Morrison Explained: A Reader's Road Map to the Novels
author:  Ron David 
description: Ron David isn't so audacious as to actually try to explain Toni Morrison. Like a great novel, a complex individual is beyond factual explanation. His "explanation" of Morrison is more an attempt to provide readers with enough information and insight so they can explain Toni Morrison to themselves. For starters, David writes the kind of introduction to an author that he says he would like to read: "creative, provocative, irreverent, passionate, funny, spontaneous, and real." Add "unpretentious" to the list and you get a fair idea of the sort of tone David strives for--and achieves. His stated goals: to get people to read Morrison's books, and once read, to provoke folks to rethink the standard interpretations. David also embraces honesty and humor. He writes, "Toni Morrison is in grave danger of being treated like a sacred cow. I have done my best to protect her from that cruel fate."
zlib_text:  
  BELOVED
  Toni Morrison
  
  Contributors: Selena Ward, Pelagia Horgan, Katie Mannheimer, Sarah Friedberg
  Note: This SparkNote uses the Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century edition of 
  Beloved. While the edition falls into three numbered parts, each part contains many 
  smaller sections, which are unnamed and unnumbered. For the sake of simplicity, 
  this SparkNote refers to these smaller sections as chapters and has assigned each 
  a number. The numbering system runs continuously throughout the book’s three 
  parts.
  Copyright © 2002 by SparkNotes LLC
  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in
  any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the Publisher.
  SPARKNOTES is a registered trademark of SparkNotes LLC.
  This edition published by Spark Publishing
  Spark Publishing
  A Division of SparkNotes LLC
  76 9th Avenue, 11th Floor
  New York, NY 10011
  ISBN 1-4014-0366-2
  Text design by Rhea Braunstein
  Text composition by Jackson Typesetting
  Printed and bound in the 