Graywolf Press
Graywolf Press

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The Black Interior

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Cover credits:
Cover design: Julie Metz / Cover art: Elizabeth Catlett, The Black Woman Speaks, licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
"The Black Interior, a critical look at some of black America's most influential cultural voices, may be another such masterpiece....Best known for her poetry, it may be that poet's lyricism and eye for nuance that makes this new work so compelling." SAVOY
Price: $15.00 USD
View all books 1-55597-393-0, 224 pages, Paper

In The Black Interior, poet Elizabeth Alexander explores a wide spectrum of contemporary African American artistic life through literature, paintings, film, and popular media, and discusses its place in current culture. She examines the vital role of such heavyweight literary figures as Gwendolyn Brooks, Michael Harper, and Langston Hughes, as well as lesser known, yet vibrant, new creative voices. She offers a reconsideration of “afro-outré” painter Jean-Michel Basquiat, the concept of “race-pride” in Jet magazine, and her take on Denzel Washington’s career as a complex black male icon in a post-affirmative action era. Also available is Alexander’s much-heralded essay on Rodney King, Emmett Till, and the collective memory of racial violence.

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