Category Archives: Gender
Mama Day: The Tempest in the Global South
October 2, 2014 Her name is Miranda (“Mama”) Day — yes, that Miranda, the one who said, “Oh, wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is!” Gloria Naylor is not the first to take on Shakespeare, of course. … Continue reading
Ralph Ellison, Marianne Moore: Yams and Nectarines
January 16, 2013 The yams are as real as anything in Invisible Man. The mere smell of them sends a “stab of swift nostalgia” coursing through the protagonist. The years of his life seem so many yams eaten: candied, … Continue reading
Frederick Douglass, H.D.: Egypt Again
Janurary 2, 2013 She never mentioned him and probably never read him. Still, he anticipated her. Visiting Egypt in 1887, Douglass wrote: “I do not know of what color and features the ancient Egyptians were, but the great mass of … Continue reading
Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: “Re Dis Appearing”
October 24, 2012 I’m getting ready for the World Humanities Forum, held next week in Busan, South Korea. So I’ve been thinking about Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, born in 1951 in Busan. She immigrated with her family to the … Continue reading
Jack Kerouac, Edwidge Danticat: Joual and Creole
October 10, 2012 The name on his birth certificate is Jean Louis Kirouac – that’s the most common spelling of the name in Quebec, which is where his parents were from. His father, Léon-Alcide, continued to work as a printer … Continue reading
Seamus Heaney: More Strange Fruit
August 8, 2012 This week I’ve been listening to many versions of “Strange Fruit”: Nina Simone, Jeff Buckley, Gil Evans and the Sting. I have to say: I still prefer Billie Holiday. But I had no idea Seamus Heaney also … Continue reading
Cristina Garcia’s Cuba
April 11, 2012 We had to move the book up from the initial lineup — several people wanted to write about it in their final papers. How did they hear about it? But I should have guessed something like this … Continue reading
Edwidge Danticat: French, English, Creole
March 14, 2012 Her first languages were Creole and French. At 12, she spoke almost no English. At 26, her collection of short stories, Krik? Krak!, was nominated for the National Book Award. It’s mind-boggling to think of that trajectory … Continue reading
Margaret Fuller, H.D., Joanne Kyger
December 7, 2011 Why is it that all of them reach back to ancient Greece, and not always out of any reverence for the classics? Of the three, Margaret Fuller is the most law-abiding: in Woman in the Nineteenth Century, … Continue reading