“The Poetics of Self-writing: Women and the National Body in the Works of Lucille Clifton” by Dr. Tanfer Emin Tunç explains the deep intersectionality that exists between racial studies and feminism as exemplified through the work of Lucille Clifton’s autobiography and her poetry. Dr. Tunç is a professor at University in Ankara, Turkey in their Department of American Culture and Literature with her main focus being in women and gender studies and medical humanities pertaining specifically to women’s health. She sheds light on the widely overlooked voice that is black womanhood through an analysis of Clifton’s autobiography, Generations, and close readings of Clifton’s poetry. In doing this, she positions Clifton as a representation of black female bodies that have been abused, oppressed, and underrepresented in American history.
Tunç introduces her article with the idea of reimagining the literary cannon. She claims that the literary cannon was constructed to associate “men to culture and women to nature” (190) and explicitly leaves out the voices of people of color and women, leaving black women’s experiences and stories out the picture entirely. She argues that Clifton’s use of intimate self-writing, specifically about her physical body, places black female bodies in the political and historical discourse of American identity and culture. What is most interesting about this is that Clifton does this through her references to Walt Whitman. Tunç acknowledges that Whitman and Clifton are extremely different people with highly different experiences but also draws similarities between the two through their hope for an equal and equitable America (191). Through Clifton’s references to Whitman, Tunç argues that she “embeds herself within the (white male) American literary canon,… position[s] herself alongside one of its ‘masters’,” and reclaims what it means to be American (191).
The next section, “(Re)Narrating the Black Experience: (Re)Writing Slavery through the Female Body,” provides a deep analysis of Clifton’s work. She opens the section by expressing how intimate and intense Clifton’s self-writing truly is. Clifton’s familial history includes the enslavement and lynching of black women, such as her great-grandmother Lucille Sayles, whose story is told by Clifton in Generations. Tunç presents the reader with this history to contextualize the “binaries of violence and peace, and birth and death — especially as manifested through the female body Tunç that are so prevalent in Clifton’s poetry. The poem “i am accused of tending to the past” feminizes American history as a black baby that is alive and must be nurtured, which Clifton represents through the mention of a breastfeeding. Tunç places this poem in direct reference to the previously presented familial history included in Generations, affirming both Clifton’s poetry and autobiography as “calls for the rewriting of a new, polyvocal national history which not only reconciles African Americans’ violent past of slavery, rape, and lynching, but also includes a distinct female perspective” (193). She also analyzes the use of self-writing in “why some people be mad at me sometimes,” which she considers to be Clifton’s “most controversial” pieces (195). This poem, along with all of Clifton’s other poems, are a direct rejection of the literary canon and the language used by white men to persecute black women. There is a heavy emphasis on Clifton’s blatant disregard for proper grammatical rules, such as the use of punctuation and capitalization, as well as the use of African American colloquial language in the title and throughout her poem. Tunç argues that this poem was key in reimagining what “proper” poetry is and who American history pertains to.
The last section, “(Re)Generation: The Black Female Body as a Locus of Identity Negotiation within the American Nation,” focuses on her poems specific to her body. Tunç references various poems that pertain to the physicality of being a black woman, such as “my dream about being white,” “aunt jemima,” and “poem in praise of menstruation.” Within these close readings, Tunç mentions that Clifton wrote poems pertaining to everything from her hair to her period blood, which was highly feminist and widely taboo. Tunç acknowledges that black women were depicted to look a certain way and were representative of the character of the nurturer. In response to the usual comparison between black women and domesticity and servantship, Clifton’s poems repositioned black female bodies to be strong, fierce, matriarchal, and even “mystical” (Tunç 196). Furthermore, Tunç asserts that they work to represent the ideology that black woman must come to terms with the “’double consciusness’ – of being black and female,… embracing the aesthetics of the black female body, that they can achieve true liberation from the burden of slavery and the white historical narrative” (Tunç 196).
As shown through Tunç’s article and Clifton’s works, America was built by black women. Cared for by black women. Loved by black women. So, I question why we choose not to accredit black women for their integral role in the shaping of our nation. Even further, I question why we continue (in 2024) to dismiss and overlook the voices of black women. Lucille Clifton is not the only woman who is using her voice to tell the stories of the unheard. There are many other black women whose stories are out there for us to hear and recognize. We just need to be quiet and listen.
Source:
Tunç, Tanfer Emin. “The Poetics of Self-Writing: Women and National Body in the Works of Lucille Clifton.” Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 26.1 (2009).
Picture:
Griffiths, Rachel E. “Author Lucille Clifton.” Slate. 05 Oct. 2012. https://slate.com/culture/2012/10/lucille-cliftons-collected-poems-reviewed.html. Accessed 15 Oct. 2024.
Gabby, reading your work reminds me of why I value your voice in class so much, and why I appreciate what you have to say – possibly because we have such intersecting feelings about so many things. Once again, we managed to write about incredibly similar topics, and our takes on things could be sisters. Whodathunkit?
Yes, you two are certainly in sync! Our critical reading for today also mentioned Clifton’s poetics of black female embodiment, and I appreciate how the article you discuss here expands on that. I was also very interested in the Whitman piece, and how poets continue to “talk back” to this key figures. The idea of Clifton as embedding herself in the canon is so interesting. I think reporters embedding themselves in contexts of conflict–both insider and outsider, both in the game and outside the game. Thanks for this excellent critical post!
The summary of this article made me want to read it myself! Understanding that women have distinct voices, and especially the African American community in regard to the history and experiences they have gone through has been well articulated and discussed in the article you reviewed. Your question of why are we not listening to black woman more and accrediting them more in the integral role they have had in America’s history, reminds me of during the BLM movement how individuals who were outside of the African American community needed to uplift the African American communities voices more than their own voice. It tends to be a trend where we see these voices being put on the back burner instead of just listening and accepting their voices.