In this episode of  Private Life , the writer and  New York Review  contributor Namwali Serpell joins Jarrett Earnest to discuss her new book,  On Morrison , a collection of essays about Toni Morrison and her work.  Click the “Subscribe” link in the player above to follow this podcast on your favorite listening platform. Their conversation covers Morrison’s life as a literary eminence and public intellectual, but the focus is Serpell’s close-readings of her most famous novels—including  Jazz  (1992),  Sula  (1973),  Song of Solomon  (1977),  Beloved (1987), and  Tar Baby  (1981)—as well as her poetry, criticism, and later books. Earnest also asks Serpell about her essay “ The Banality of Empathy, ” about the concept of narrative empathy, which was published in the  Review ’s March 2, 2019, issue.   Namwali Serpell is a professor of English at Harvard University.…