charlie: did you know josephine baker? toni: no. charlie: who else did you know the expatriate community? any of the jazz artists? toni: no, i did not know anyone. i wish i had. the most beautiful music there

charlie: did you know josephine baker? toni: no.harlie: who else did you know in the expatriate community? any of the jazz artists? toni: no, i did not know anyone. i wish i had. the most beautiful music there is. that was quite an exciting little group, now that i think about it. charlie: paris is a different city, too. as much as i love it. since we are talking about 84, a recent "new york times" article speculated about your legacy and made comparisons with william faulkner. toni: makes sense. charlie: why does it make sense? toni: he had a relationship with black people that was very different from most of the other contemporary writers. he was affectionate or stupid or contemptible but he was easy and clear. and also his language was explosive. and i do not know, the legacy thing, what i would hope is that at some point i would not be described as an african-american woman writer, as though that were a category. i just want to be alphabetized. so you do not say william tolstoy is a white male russian. charlie: i totally agree.