Another throat twenty-first-century Black US persona poetry and the archive / Ryan Sharp.

Contents Introduction: Signifyin' on the archive -- Translating misconstrued words. Elizabeth Alexander's American sublime and the folk hero as persona -- Adrian Matejka's The big smoke and the shadow of the archive -- Listening for the unsaid. Frank X Walker's Buffalo dance and the talking book -- Natasha Trethewey's Native guard and persona as palimpsest -- Refashioning dis/nonfigured lives. Cornelius Eady's Brutal imagination and the plausible villain/victim -- Patricia Smith's Blood dazzler and reading (through) the spectacle -- Coda: Poetic fabulation.
Abstract "The early twenty-first century has seen a sharp rise in Black US poets employing the mask of persona, often including and interrogating archival materials as they do so. While some have observed this rise and noted its connection to historical figures, Ryan Sharp explores it more deeply, as a project-based historical and poetic practice. Sharp examines its sustained use of historical persona and capacity for conjuring Black speakers as a countermeasure against the archival silencing and misrepresentation of Black voices and histories - a tactic he theorizes as poetic fabulation - through the poetry of Elizabeth Alexander, Cornelius Eady, Adrian Matejka, Patricia Smith, Natasha Trethewey, and Frank X Walker. This poetic practice is not only about looking back but about critically and creatively (re)imagining the past to expand the possibilities for Black presents and futures. Through his argument, Sharp demonstrates how the unique aesthetic and rhetorical license afforded to poetry, along with the interiority of persona, empowers such historically minded projects to be concurrently invested in the curation of Black narratives and identities"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
LCCN 2024029889
ISBN9781469680620 (cloth ; alk. paper)
ISBN1469680629
ISBN9781469680637 (paperback ; alk. paper)
ISBN1469680637
ISBN(epub)
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Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Joyner General Stacks PS153 .B53 S47 2024 ✔ Available Place Hold