Be your own story! ⊙ 연설 배경

토니 모리슨은 1953년 노벨 문학상을 탄 대표적 미국 소설가이다.

흑인 페미니즘 문학의 진수를 보여주고 있는 것으로 유명하다.

이 연설은 토니 모리슨이 2004년 5월 미국 레슬리대 졸업식에서 행한 연설이다.

⊙ 원문 읽기 (상략) Maybe the past offers a better venue.

You already share an old tradition of an uncompromisingly intellectual women’s college，and that past and that tradition is important to both understand and preserve． It’s worthy of reverence and transmission.

You’ve already learned some strategies for appraising the historical and economical and cultural past that you have inherited.

But this is not a speech focusing on the splendor of the national past that you are also inheriting.

You will detect a faint note of apology in the descriptions of this bequest，a kind of sorrow that accompanies it，because it’s not good enough for you.

Because the past is already in debt to the mismanaged present.

And besides，contrary to what you may have heard or learned，the past is not done and it is not over，it’s still in process，which is another way of saying that when it’s critiqued，analyzed，it yields new information about itself.

The past is already changing as it is being reexamined，as it is being listened to for deeper resonances.

Actually it can be more liberating than any imagined future if you are willing to identify its evasions，its distortions，its lies，and are willing to unleash its secrets.

But again，it seemed inappropriate，very inappropriate，for me to delve into a past for people who are in the process of making one，forging their own，so I consider this focusing on your responsibility as graduates-graduates of this institution and citizens of the world-and to tell you once again，repeat to you the admonition，a sort of a wish，that you go out and save the world.

That is to suggest to you that with energy and right thinking you can certainly improve，certainly you might even rescue it.