Grasping the Ungraspable in M. NourbeSe Philip’s Poetry
This article investigates M. NourbeSe Philip’s recent collection of poetry, Zong! (2008) in which the poetess attempts to reconstruct history and extend the limits of memory. The book recounts the 1781 story of the slave ship Zong, whose captain threw 132 African slaves overboard for the insurance m...
Enregistré dans:
| Dans: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ces, |
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| Auteur principal: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Langue: | Anglais |
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Commonwealth Essays and Studies
2022
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| Accès en ligne: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Résumé: | This article investigates M. NourbeSe Philip’s recent collection of poetry, Zong! (2008) in which the poetess attempts to reconstruct history and extend the limits of memory. The book recounts the 1781 story of the slave ship Zong, whose captain threw 132 African slaves overboard for the insurance money. The traumatic story is told through fragments of voices and memories through which Philip unsettles the forms of canonical English poetry and exploits the limits of the page. Her writing encourages the reader to share her African spiritual quest and her triangular journey from the Caribbean to Canada and back to West Africa. Philip’s poetry demonstrates how boundless diasporic spaces can be, as the Diaspora displaces home and away, here and elsewhere, thus constantly redefining the limits of its own horizon. |
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