An american lyric and four previous books, including dont let me be lonely. Citizen stretches the conventions of traditional lyric poetry by interweaving several forms of text and media into a collective portrait of racial relations in the united states. You are in the dark, in the car, watching the blacktarred street being swallowed by speed. It is prevalent all over the world and that is not something to be proud of for anyone.
But rankine wants us to know that no american citizen is ever really free of race and racism. Intermedia arts, 2822 s lyndale, minneapolis, mn 55408. With the sophistication of its dialectical movement, the gravitas of its ethical appeal, and the mercy of its psychological rigor, claudia rankines citizen combines traditional poetic strains in a new way and passes them on to the reader with replenished vitality. Rankine, who was born in kingston, jamaica, and moved with her family to new york when she was 7. Some of the engaging power of citizen stems from rankines effective use of the second person. In citizen, poet strips bare the realities of everyday racism january 3, 2015 for her latest collection, claudia rankine mined her and her friends encounters with racism. An american lyric, and photographer john lucas join laura regensdorf in a conversation about their collaborative exhibition, stamped, on view this summer at pioneer works in brooklyn. Claudia rankine claudia rankine biography poem hunter. Author and anthropologist zora neale hurston wrote, i feel most colored when i am thrown against a sharp white background. What links here related changes upload file special pages permanent link.
Simone white, kyoo lee, and gabriel ojedasague on july 15, 2017. Oct 19, 2016 i meet claudia rankine, the poet and author of 2014s national book awardwinning citizen. An american lyric october 2014 and dont let me be lonely 2004, both published by graywolf press. Poet claudia rankine on the violent deaths of black men. Claudia rankine and john lucas on stamped at poetry. Jan 21, 2015 claudia rankines editor on the genius of citizen. It was a finalist for the national book award in poetry and winner of the naacp image.
In claudia rankines national book awardshortlisted citizen. Poet and playwright claudia rankine is fascinated with stories about the interactions both intimate and large scale between the races. Citizen was also a finalist for the 2014 national book award and the 2015 t. For complete recording and program notes go to jacket2. Oct 07, 2014 citizen an american lyric by claudia rankine is a book which can be applied to anywhere in any country. Jun 15, 2015 citizen is a text that extends beyond words, to visual language and rhetoric, the way things appear to the artists eye, how pictures, modern art, and images work in conjunction with text, verse, and prosethese mediums work together to constitute something beautiful yet brutal. I meet claudia rankine, the poet and author of 2014s national book awardwinning citizen. Ive read and reread it since it published in october, relied on it as model, motive, consolation. Claudia rankine is the author of five books, including dont let me be lonely. A booklength poem, much of citizen chronicles, in spare secondperson prose. Our addressability is tied to the state of our belonging, rankine argues, as are our assumptions and expectations of citizenship. You think maybe this is an experiment and you are being tested or retroactively insulted or you have done something that. An american lyric by claudia rankine reading guide for. At its most basic level, lyric poetry refers to poetry that expresses personal emotions or feelings and that these emotions are typically.
Claudia rankine, author of the 2017 common read citizen. Ask the class to think deeply about times when they have been made to. Synopsis a searing representation of the current american zeitgeist, citizen. She is the author of five volumes of poetry, two plays, and various essays. Introduce citizen and explain how the work, by africanamerican poet claudia rankine, explores the pervasiveness of racism in american culturenot just the violence discussed earlier, but also the small, routine slights experienced by minorities in this country every day. An american lyric is a genrebending meditation on race, racism, and citizenship in twentyfirst century america. Nov 17, 2014 as with rankines 2004 work, dont let me be lonely, citizen pierces our sociopolitical structure with emotional exactitude, and in turn, demonstrates the inseparability of the two. Citizen takes us further, articulating how the implications of racialized stressors extend to the formation of individual subjectivity, ones embodied experience of the world. Citizen an american lyric by claudia rankine is a book which can be applied to anywhere in any country.
The videos exist around public experiences in individual lives. Race ignites lies about flesh and bone that claim some bodies should lose heart beats, bus seats, birthrights, in an ongoing list of how, possibly. Claudia rankines citizen eschews the likes of iambic pentameter and rhyme to command the readers attention in laying out a series of incidents in which black americans encounter racism. She is a chancellor of the academy of american poets and the 2014 winner of the jackson poetry prize. On the night of the grand jurys failure to indict darren wilson for the murder of michael brown and again the night after, marching the length of manhattan with a few thousand others, trying and failing to find some place sufficient to accommodate our anger or our grief, our newly or longbroken hearts, our need to feel responsive or responded to, a line from claudia rankines citizen. Jun 07, 2015 claudia rankines citizen eschews the likes of iambic pentameter and rhyme to command the readers attention in laying out a series of incidents in which black americans encounter racism. Some of these encounters are slights, seemingly slips of the tongue, and some are intentional offensives in the classroom, at the supermarket, at home, on the tennis court with serena williams and the soccer field with zinedine zidane, online, on tv.
Published a little more than a year ago, in october 2014, claudia rankines citizen. Citizen by claudia rankine this entry was posted in uncategorized on october 30, 2015 by kristina marie darling with the sophistication of its dialectical movement, the gravitas of its ethical appeal, and the mercy of its psychological rigor, claudia rankines citizen combines traditional poetic strains in a new way. These experiences turn into situations that resonate. Rankine will be giving a public lecture as well as leading a student master class and a student leadership seminar. She has taught at case western reserve university, barnard college, university of georgia, and in the writing program at the university of houston. Cloud state university teaching and learning guide this guide was developed through a partnership between the common reading. Jan 18, 2016 introduce citizen and explain how the work, by africanamerican poet claudia rankine, explores the pervasiveness of racism in american culturenot just the violence discussed earlier, but also the small, routine slights experienced by minorities in this country every day. This guide is a tool for facilitators to conduct discussions on claudia rankines book.
Six chapters into her latest book, claudia rankine writes, it is the white man who creates the black man. Citizen reflects issues and feelings that have long been on the mind of ms. All content included on our site, such as text, images, digital downloads and other, is the property of its content suppliers and protected by us and international laws. The subject matter is explicit, yet the writing possesses a selfcontainment, whether in verse or in prose. The word as image and the image as word are rankines tools. An american lyric is a 2014 booklength poem by american poet claudia rankine. Books by claudia rankine claudia rankine average rating 4. An american lyric, won the the national book critic circle award in poetry, and was the first book ever nominated in two categories poetry. The potential to say a racist thing or think a racist thought resides in all of us like an unearthed. Citizen is a book of lyricism, image, blank space, identity, and tribute.
Rankine was born in jamaica, and, at seven, moved to the bronx, new york, where she attended catholic schools. Code switch writer and photographer syreeta mcfadden says that when shes challenged to prove the existence of everyday racism, she. An american lyric is the 2017 leading woman in the arts. Recorded live at wkcrfm new york by tom kelly on may 17, 2002. Rankines citizen has been called lyrical prose, prose poetry, and just. An american lyric, may be thought of as a book of poetry, especially because it was the recipient of the naacp image award for outstanding literary work in poetry. Claudia rankine has 34 books on goodreads with 124899 ratings. Aug 17, 2017 claudia rankines book of poetry, citizen. An american lyric by claudia rankine in doc, epub, rtf download ebook.
An american lyric is sweeping the country, already chosen by dozens of schools and centers as a community read book. The aesthetics of racism in claudia rankines citizen. To say that citizen engages in an implicit critique of the lyric form requires, first, that i clarify what the lyric form really means. I ask this because the book citizen is so much about toneof voice, atmosphere, historythe unsaids james baldwins questions hidden by the answers, the saids, the spaces within a conversation holding up the encounter both in the sense of sustaining it and of blocking it claudia rankine tone is an everyday kind of maneuver. An american lyric by chris guzaitis this semester in the odyssey project s second year course we are examining ideas of citizenship through literary, historical, legal, and philosophical frameworks while building on the critical skills and disciplinary methods students learned in odysseys first year course. In scene after scene of injustice recalled, from her own existence passed over while in line at.
In the year 2014, claudia rankine published her book of poems, citizen. Code switch writer and photographer syreeta mcfadden says that when shes challenged. Citizen stretches the conventions of traditional lyric poetry by interweaving several forms of text. In essay, image, and poetry, citizen is a powerful testament to the individual and collective effects of racism in our contemporary, often named postrace society. Citizen by claudia rankine overdrive rakuten overdrive. It is on racism and according to me racism is not just deeprooted in the united states of america. An american lyric, hurstons words are applied like a telescopeto insidious, accumulative instances of racial aggression. The book is divided into seven sections, each of which takes a slightly different approach to the introduction. An american lyric, which is now known as part criticism and part poetry. These experiences turn into situations that resonate with us, not only. An american lyric by claudia rankine from 03102017 to 04022017 at. Claudia rankines editor on the genius of citizen the. The book ranked as a new york times bestseller in 2015 and won several awards, including the 2014 national book critics circle. Its clear that rankines work challenges common conceptions of what makes something poetry.
A chancellor of the academy of american poets, she is the winner of many prizes including the 2015 national book critics circle award for poetry and a 2016 macarthur fellowship. For poet and artist claudia rankine and photographer john lucas, regensdorf writes, tugging at the thread of the. An american lyric by claudia rankine 201718 common reading program, st. But it is the black man who createsthis endless struggle to achieve and reveal and confirm a human identity, human authority, contains, for all. However, the pieces collected in this book defy easy classification. Rankines citizen has been called lyrical prose, prose poetry, and just poetry. She is a chancellor of the academy of american poets, the winner of the 2014 jackson poetry prize, and a contributing editor. Claudia rankines talks about her book of poetry citizen. An american lyric by claudia rankine frank theatre. If the racial tumult and civil rights successes of the mid20th century taught us anything, they taught us that american racism is paradoxically at its most vulnerable when its expressed most furiously. Citizen managed to raise a lot of questions and possible answers as well, almost, if not all, dealing with the issue of race. Sep 27, 2016 in the year 2014, claudia rankine published her book of poems, citizen.
Claudia rankines bold new book recounts mounting racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in twentyfirstcentury daily life and in the media. Claudia rankine on citizen and racial politics the new. Teaching a singleauthor poetry book is a different enterprise than assigning poems from an anthology. Claudia rankine is an american poet and playwright born in 1963 and raised in kingston, jamaica and new york city. Claudia rankine is the author of five books, including citizen. Dec 12, 2014 rankines book calls out to each of us in this moment, this country, this nightmare. In her critique of racism and visibility, rankine details the quotidian. Claudia rankines citizen is a book deeply embedded in the body, in the body before race, as in the body unable to escape either itself or its color. With citizen, rankine is successfully probing the pervasive malignancy of a peculiarly american form of trauma. Jamaicanborn author claudia rankine is the author of five collections of poetry, two plays, and numerous video collaborations. An american lyric, on the roof of her highrise manhattan apartment building. Dec 28, 2014 but rankine wants us to know that no american citizen is ever really free of race and racism. An american lyric by claudia rankine 201718 common.
1571 919 588 220 583 788 1043 600 907 1254 1378 315 172 231 936 871 251 500 1456 148 369 162 1254 997 226 605 906 379 827 1441 1469 94 261 1166 129 654