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.
Source: www.graywolfpress.org
Graywolf Press | January 2004 | ISBN: 1-55597-393-0 | Pbk., 224 pages
View faculty member’s biographical page: Elizabeth Alexander