Why read Lucy Negro, Redux?

Book cover of Lucy Negro, Redux: The Bard, a Book, and a Ballet

Book description

"Part lyrical narrative, part bluesy riff, part schoolyard chant and part holy incantation" - New York Times Lucy Negro, Redux, uses the lens of Shakespeare's "Dark Lady" sonnets to explore the way questions about and desire for the black female body have evolved over time, from Elizabethan England to the…

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Poetry

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Why read it?

1 author picked Lucy Negro, Redux as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

James E. Cherry

Author

This book is reminiscent of Jean Toomer’s Cane. It blurs the lines between poetry, history, and the blues. Shakespeare’s Dark Lady sonnets are at the heart of a book that is both breathtaking and spellbinding. But more than that, this book is a reclamation of the Black female body. Over the centuries the Black female body has been defined by everyone but the Black female. Williams redefines notions of beauty, dignity, and self-worth in a world that is antithetical to the Black female body. This book is a salvo across the bough of social, racial, and political history that…

From James' list on The best books by contemporary African American authors and the southern landscape that shaped them.