The Averted Gaze: Audre Lorde’s <i>Zami</i> and the Death of Emmett Till
This essay considers Audre Lorde’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1982) as an example of the neoliberal turn to memoir that both complicates and exemplifies important aspects of the relationship between literary form and ideological expressions of racial and sexual identity. By examining...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2019-08-01
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| Series: | Humanities |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/8/3/136 |
| _version_ | 1818135453182722048 |
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| author | Rachel Watson |
| author_facet | Rachel Watson |
| author_sort | Rachel Watson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This essay considers Audre Lorde’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1982) as an example of the neoliberal turn to memoir that both complicates and exemplifies important aspects of the relationship between literary form and ideological expressions of racial and sexual identity. By examining a hitherto un-noted omission from Lorde’s memoir, the death of Emmett Till, this essay illuminates the political significance behind Lorde’s choice to narrate Till’s death in the form of a poem while conspicuously omitting it from her prose memoir. Incorporating a broader selection of Lorde’s work, and comparative analysis with other poetic responses to Till’s death, this essay shows through this example how the intense personalization of an historical event can formalize the embodiment of an essentialized, and thus timeless, racial identity. As such, Lorde’s work demonstrates how literary form can both communicate and obscure paradoxical aspects of contemporary racial ideology by rationalizing the embodiment of racial difference in the post-Civil Rights world. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T09:24:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2a4f997c8ff64552bbe5b108afbc49d3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0787 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T09:24:45Z |
| publishDate | 2019-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Humanities |
| spelling | doaj.art-2a4f997c8ff64552bbe5b108afbc49d32022-12-22T01:13:11ZengMDPI AGHumanities2076-07872019-08-018313610.3390/h8030136h8030136The Averted Gaze: Audre Lorde’s <i>Zami</i> and the Death of Emmett TillRachel Watson0Department of English, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USAThis essay considers Audre Lorde’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1982) as an example of the neoliberal turn to memoir that both complicates and exemplifies important aspects of the relationship between literary form and ideological expressions of racial and sexual identity. By examining a hitherto un-noted omission from Lorde’s memoir, the death of Emmett Till, this essay illuminates the political significance behind Lorde’s choice to narrate Till’s death in the form of a poem while conspicuously omitting it from her prose memoir. Incorporating a broader selection of Lorde’s work, and comparative analysis with other poetic responses to Till’s death, this essay shows through this example how the intense personalization of an historical event can formalize the embodiment of an essentialized, and thus timeless, racial identity. As such, Lorde’s work demonstrates how literary form can both communicate and obscure paradoxical aspects of contemporary racial ideology by rationalizing the embodiment of racial difference in the post-Civil Rights world.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/8/3/136Audre LordeEmmett TillAfrican American literatureAfrican American poetrymemoirautobiographyfeminismsexualityraceidentity |
| spellingShingle | Rachel Watson The Averted Gaze: Audre Lorde’s <i>Zami</i> and the Death of Emmett Till Humanities Audre Lorde Emmett Till African American literature African American poetry memoir autobiography feminism sexuality race identity |
| title | The Averted Gaze: Audre Lorde’s <i>Zami</i> and the Death of Emmett Till |
| title_full | The Averted Gaze: Audre Lorde’s <i>Zami</i> and the Death of Emmett Till |
| title_fullStr | The Averted Gaze: Audre Lorde’s <i>Zami</i> and the Death of Emmett Till |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Averted Gaze: Audre Lorde’s <i>Zami</i> and the Death of Emmett Till |
| title_short | The Averted Gaze: Audre Lorde’s <i>Zami</i> and the Death of Emmett Till |
| title_sort | averted gaze audre lorde s i zami i and the death of emmett till |
| topic | Audre Lorde Emmett Till African American literature African American poetry memoir autobiography feminism sexuality race identity |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/8/3/136 |
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