"Tribute to Judith Ortiz-Cofer." Label Me Latina/o Special Issue 2018: Judith Ortiz Cofer Volume VIII A Tribute to Judith Ortiz Cofer (original) (raw)

Literary correspondence: letters and emails in Caribbean writing

Comma, 2018

This article explores the role of correspondence (and literary archives in general) in illuminating central aspects of Caribbean literary culture and authors' work, with a consideration of the challenges and the need to preserve email correspondence for archives in the future. It aims to demonstrate how the correspondence of a wide range of authors embedded in various literary archives has the potential to deepen our knowledge and sense of the making of Caribbean literary culture and history.

Women of Letters: Mariama Bâ and Alice Walker

It is up to us women to take our fate in our hands in order to overthrow the order established to our detriment instead of submitting to it. We must, like men, use this weapon, peaceful, of course, but effective, which is writing." Mariama Bâ, La Fonction politique des littératures africaines écrites (1981) Navigating both geographic and linguistic barriers, Mariama Bâ's chef-d'oeuvre So Long a Letter (1979) and Alice Walker's The Color Purple (1982) transcend spatial limitations. The works provide unique insight into their historical periods-postindependence Senegal in Bâ's case, the Jim Crow American South in Walker's-and offer scathing critiques of imperial historiographies. Those critiques are "voiced" by letter-writing protagonists who rise from silence to claim both equity and solidarity. Bâ and Walker strategically employ the letter form to challenge literary conventions and archaic notions of female roles and relationships. Over the three decades since So Long a Letter and The Color Purple were published, only a handful of scholars have linked the novels. The two works appeared so closely together that today, we can read them naturally as part of one cultural ethos, despite different languages, countries, and cultures of origin. The critical readings that do examine the texts side by side have studied questions of gender inequity, stylistics, religion, and female empowerment. Threequarters of these readings, we note, come from Africa or the African diaspora; only one was published in the United States-an omission we seek to remedy. 1 Our essay explores the epistolary form as sociopolitical critique. The Color Purple and So Long a Letter highlight the oppression their Black female protagonists experience, complicating traditional ideologies of inclusion and exclusion. We also examine the ways Ramatoulaye (Bâ) and Celie (Walker) create communities of women during and through their narratives. Those communities are far from simple-neither novel traffics in illusion, including one in which the world of women is peaceful or rosy. Some women perpetuate the abuse inflicted by men who have controlled, abused, and betrayed them; others suffer at the narrators' own hands. In both novels, secondary characters underline the importance of reading in a pluralistic, not binary, fashion. Finally, our essay traces connections between the two novels to discuss the idea of a sisterhood of novelists as well. Their contemporaneity stands out precisely because it suggests an empowering literary solidarity that bridges oceans, religions, and languages.

On the Threshold of Becoming: Contemporary Caribbean Women Writers

1997

I N SETTING O UT TO STUDY the w ork of contemp o ra ry Ca r ib bea n women w riters, it w oul d be helpful to co nsid er t he cri tical framework that enters d iscussions of the w riting of a utho rs who are both w omen a nd Carib bea n . The p r evalent cri tical p erspective on Caribbean literatu re demand s that it shed Eurocen tri c views and stress se lf-determination. Thus, the ma in themes of Car ib bean liter atu r e (rootlessness, the d efinitio n of a Ca r ib bean aesthet ic, race and colo r, decolonization of culture a nd la ng uage) are lin ked to the Ca ribb ea n writers' p re scribe d rol e of articulating the need for a ch a nge in d ire c tion. Likewise, the p r evalent feminist persp ective on women's w r iting dem ands that it shed male-centered views a nd stress female self determination. Wo me n 's w r iting sh ould show fem al e character s in th e process of emancip ation fro m patriarchal in stit ution s and values, a nd poin t the way towards sim ilar emancipat ion ou tside of fic tion .

115 Vernon: The Writing Associates Journal, Vol.1, No.1

2003

Table of Contents: 2. Nevvs and Notes ... . Head Tutors 2002-03 Dorothy Francoeur \u2704 Erica Martinson \u2703 3 Thoughts on Writing ....... Maggie Kagan \u2703 4 Entropy .. . Sean Hojnacki \u2705 5 Baby, You\u27re the Write Kind of Wrong ......... Erica Martinson \u2703 7 Some Thoughts on Diversity .... Matt Barison \u2704 9 Musings on Memorials .... Dorothy Francoeur \u2704 10 The Letter. .. Diana Potter \u2703 11 Confession# 9 .... Dorothy Francoeur \u2704 12 The Writing Centerfold .................... Diana Potter \u2703 Sean Hojnacki \u27O5 14 My True Voice .... Emily Foote \u2705 17 Five Pages about a Pirate ..... Diana Potter \u2703 22 Professor Voices..... Irene Papoulis, English Susan Pennybacker, Histor

The virgin's daughters: Catholic traditions and the post-colonial south in contemporary women's writing

I have many personal saints and mentors to thank for their help and support during my graduate school career and the completion of this dissertation. First, I thank my family, most significantly my husband, Willard, whobesides being the love of my lifehas been my mainstay of support and encouragement during this long, often arduous process. And, I thank my two beautiful boys, Benjamin and Charles, who have not yet known me as a mom without my also being a student. Many, many nights and weekends, my three boys have hung out together at the zoo, the bookstore, the theatre, the tennis court, or the ball field so I could "do my homework." I know my boys will always cherish this time together, but I appreciate their patience with the process of my graduate work, and I now look forward to joining them on their adventures. Also, I thank my parents, Kent and Sonie Milton, and my in-laws, Jackie and Billie Ann Beard. I appreciate the many hours of childcarewhich Ben and Charles thoroughly enjoyedand their solid backing for my pursuit of a doctorate degree. Simply put, I could not have done it without you, and I am so very grateful. I also appreciate the values that our parents instilled in Willard and me, including a solid commitment to education, a belief in pushing hard to better oneself, and a desire to live fully, honestly, and enthusiastically. I am thankful for the support (and good humor) of my siblings, Marie, Tommy, and Sarah, and their dear families. I thank my mentors in academia, whom I also count as dear friends. Many colleagues and administrators have aided me in my graduate work at Louisiana State University and at LSU Alexandria, and I sincerely thank you. I want to particularly thank Nichi Rougeau Vanderford, Tracy Beard, Brenda Ellington (and all the dear, strong women of the LSUA Lunch Bunch),