The Black Interior

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by Elizabeth Alexander

Graywolf Press

Due/Published December 2003, 208 pages, paper

ISBN 1555973930

Alexander explores a wide spectrum of contemporary African American artistic life through literature, paintings, popular media, and films, and discusses its place in current culture. In The Black Interior, she examines the vital roles of such well-known literary figures as Gwendolyn Brooks, Langston Hughes, and Rita Dove, as well as lesser known, 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.

Alexander has taught and lectured on African American art and culture across the country and abroad for nearly two decades. In The Black Interior, she directs her poet's eye to the urgent cultural issues of the day.

Review

The acclaimed poet Elizabeth Alexander is also a uniquely insightful commentator on African-American culture and literature. The essays in this collection are united by the idea of “the black interior” and the ability of Black writers and artists to challenge and transcend expectations and stereotypes of African Americans. The creation of “the black interior” allows artists to envision “complex black selves, real and enactable black power, rampant and unfetishized black beauty.” Elizabeth Alexander uses this framework to explore a variety of topics relating to African American culture, including the poetry of Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks, the worldview of Jet magazine, depictions of African Americans in film, and the Rodney King video. Whatever her subject, Alexander’s viewpoints come across as fresh and insightful. Her essays are at once broad in scope, beautifully written, and fearless in their exploration of the complexities of African American culture and representation.

Arnold Rampersad writes, “Elizabeth Alexander is one of the brightest stars in our literary sky, a poet of poise and power. Now we see that she’s also capable of striking prose. These essays speak eloquently not only about literature – especially poetry – but also about life itself and the complicated culture in which we live. Her sharp intelligence and her knowledge of the contemporary arts make her a superb, invaluable commentator on the American scene.”