Toni Morrison's first novel,

, was published by Holt, Rinehart, and Winston in 1970 while Morrison was an editor for Random House in New York City. She remained at Random House until 1983, the year after the publication of her fifth novel

. Morrison's inaugural novel received faint praise from most, though not all, reviewers, primarily because few of the reviewers for the well-known national publications understood the book. Reviews in small circulation publications such as

and

were notable exceptions. Nevertheless, as a first-time novelist Toni Morrison's notices in the

and

gave her national recognition that was invaluable for even the moderate success of her innovative novel. Morrison had embarked…

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Citation: Jimoh, A Yemisi. "The Bluest Eye". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 September 2003; last revised 20 March 2012. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1425, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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