Madwoman (book)
| Preceded by | This Strange Land |
|---|---|
Madwoman is the fourth collection of poetry by Jamaican American poet Shara McCallum. Published in 2017 by Alice James Books, in Madwoman McCallum expands her work to the personal by exploring the difficulties of womanhood, madness, and motherhood. Madwoman's 55 poems use both English and elements of Patwa, the Jamaican creole language she heard people speak (but never saw written) while she was growing up in Jamaica. Madwoman won the poetry category of the 2018 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.
Overview
The poems in Madwoman discuss three different stages: childhood, adulthood, and motherhood, in relation to the study of identity and what it means to be a woman. She speaks about the relations between three different life stages and their intersection.
Madwoman was written in two distinct periods: before and after giving birth. Once the manuscript was written, McCallum spread the work on the floor and ordered them anew, reading the poems out loud and deciding by ear which poems belong.[4]
Themes
Mythology, womanhood, Rastafarian life, and memory are significant themes throughout the text. In the poem "Madwoman as Rasta Medusa," McCallum fuses her own struggles with racial identity with mythology, while also commenting on the many histories of female rape victims being vilified. The conceptualization of memory likewise is a common theme used by McCallum throughout her work. She explores memory in various ways: the personal, memories relation with emotions, its relation with identity, and collective memory.[5][4]
Use of Patwa
McCallum writes in both normalized English and Jamaican
Reception
Madwoman has been met with high praise and several awards. An individual poem from the collection "Memory" was selected by poet and critic Terrance Hayes for publication in The New York Times Magazine. Hayes wrote that McCallum's work "makes you ponder the relationship between memory and madness" and commented on McCallum's treatment of memory: she "casts memory as both wild and vulnerable, sentient and elusive".[6] A reviewer in Publishers Weekly notes that McCallum's Madwoman is dynamic and unpredictable; the collection investigates identity and the lack of control a woman, especially a biracial woman, has over it. The reviewer cites from the poem "Red" and comments, "identity [is] an heirloom, a force that imprints on a lineage of women". In the poem "Race", the reviewer said that "the constant anxiety of straddling two worlds leaves the subject isolated and dehumanized".[7]
Emily Sterns describes McCallum's use of poetic tools, such as breaks and rhythm, to challenge the reader in the interpretation and understanding of feminism and race.[2] Likewise, McCallum is praised for using her Jamaican traditions to understand her own past and use this form of identity to free the "Madwoman".[7] Her work shows her deep connection towards her Jamaican roots using the style to make sense of the world around her. In a review of Madwoman and interview with McCallum for the Small Axe Project, Opal Palmer Adisa says McCallum has a "familiar and fresh" voice and the poems have "breathy rage and sure-footedness", blending "autobiographical and fictional data".[3]
Awards
- 2018 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature Poetry prize winner[8]
- 2018 Sheila Margaret Book Prize[9]
- "Sorrow" selected 2017 best of the net anthology[10]
References
- ^ "Madwoman". www.peepaltreepress.com. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
- ^ a b c Sterns, Emily (2018-04-11). "Shara McCallum's Madwoman: an Exploration of Female Identity, Race, and Strength". Gandy Dancer. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
- ^ a b Adisa, Opal Palmer. "is mad she mad or sensible she sensible?". Small Axe Project. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
- ^ a b Mill, Tyler (Nov–Dec 2016). "'Dear History': An Interview with Shara McCallum". The Kenyon Review. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
- ^ a b c "Conversation with Shara McCallum". Mentor & Muse. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
- ^ McCallum, Shara (2017-06-30). "'Memory' by Shara McCallum". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
- ^ a b "Review of Madwoman". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
- ^ "The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature". Bocas Lit Fest. Retrieved 2022-10-11.
- ^ "Madwoman". Alice James Books. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
- ^ "2017 Best of the Net Anthology". www.sundresspublications.com. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
External links
- Chakrabarti, Monmita (February 7, 2019). "Shara McCallum shares poetry uplifting the "Madwoman"". The Kenyon Collegian. Retrieved January 23, 2020.