Ethics and the Modern Novel: Toni Morrison, Henry James and the Problem of Other People

The Modern School's annual Jacques Berthoud Lecture

A public lecture, sponsored by the Distinguished Visitors' Fund. 

The lecture will be followed by a Q&A chaired by Dr Alexandra Kingston-Reese.  A wine reception will follow in the foyer of the Berrick Saul Building.

Abstract: Nobel prizewinner Toni Morrison counts Henry James among the great authors who ask us “to imagine others” and confront “the danger zones such others may represent.”  This lecture will investigate Morrison’s notion of literary ethics and explore James’s own belief that the art of the novel relies on the ethical representation of characters’ lives.