overwhelmingly beautiful you

by Kim Hall 3 Comments

Fanon, “Algeria Unveiled”–Post by Michelle Loo

“A strand of hair, a bit of forehead, a segment of an ‘overwhelmingly beautiful’ face glimpsed in a streetcar or on a train, may suffice to keep alive and strengthen the European’s persistence in his irrational conviction that the Algerian woman is the queen of all women” (43).

A strand of hair

a [bit] of forehead

a segment of an overwhelmingly beautiful face

overwhelmingly beautiful

glimpsed in a streetcar or on a train,

yeh you

may suffice to keep alive / strengthen / reinforce the European’s persistence / irrational conviction that the Algerian woman

the overwhelmingly beautiful you

is

the

queen of all women.

 

Breaking the quote into several lines emphasize the pace and flow of the train of thoughts. It begins with short observations, “A strand of hair,” “a [bit] of forehead,” a segment of an overwhelmingly beautiful face,” but then the pattern changes to no longer listing an observation but describing what about the observation, “glimpsed in a streetcar or on a train,” alerting the reader that the poem is ready to go somewhere. “yeh you” is the final scream at the reader to pay attention because the following lines are going to be quick and insightful. The next line explains the significance and violence behind the observations listed in the beginning of the poem. It does so in the longest line of the poem with slashes instead of line breaks to separate fragments in order to convey the overwhelmingness of this unraveling of thoughts. I added extra adjectives to this line because the explanation in this line is so important and I wanted the message to be clear, that the colonizer is persistent and aggressive. This is especially important since the tone in the following lines is no longer direct and straightforward.

I feel that including “the overwhelmingly beautiful you” at the end of the poem turns the poem’s observation [European’s persistence to save the Algerian women] into an action. It demonstrates the tactics they use to approach Algerian women, which is direct and flattering. The Algerian is saying “the overwhelmingly beautiful you / is / the / queen of all women,” who wouldn’t want to join a movement that declares this conviction? It seems that Shange uses the rhetorical “you” in her pieces to do just this. It is a powerful tool to “show and not just tell” her point. By including “yeh you” towards the middle of the poem catches the reader off guard, insinuating that, “while you might not realize it right away, but I am talking about you, this is about you”, referring to the descriptors the poem begins with and what the poem is about.

Comments ( 3 )

  1. Amanda
    Michelle, I really like that you reconstruct Fanon's text with repetition. I think the most illuminating moment where you do this is the initial repetition of 'overwhelmingly beautiful'. It's the moment where the form transformed, in my mind, from prose to rhythm. The way you juxtapose spaced-out lines that list observations and the long line separated by slashes, meant to emphasize the colonizer's persistence and aggressiveness, creates a visual dialogue, which adds to the rewrite's level of performativity. I also really appreciate that you augment the text with your own words. The "yeh you" and the "overwhelmingly beautiful you" communicate a level of directness that makes me feel very much apart of the conversation--as if for these few moments you've intentionally created space for me to experience what the Algerian woman experiences. Their inclusion also make the aggressive flattery and/or violence one that I can feel. The incorporation of your words ideally puts into practice what Shange describes in "my pen is my machete" as "space to literally create our own image."
    • Kim Hall
      A beautiful response Amanda, I had also thought Michelle had really captured the feeling of street harassment as you indicated ( "Their inclusion also make the aggressive flattery and/or violence one that I can feel"), although the surveillance in the Algerian context is even more violently multivalent.
  2. Tiana Reid
    Michelle, thanks for reproducing the Fanon quote as well as your own rewritten piece. It was helpful for me to follow along and read your reflection as I got the sense of your particular "choice of language" (Ngugi 4). Like Amanda commented, I was struck by your use of "yeh you" as a poetic strategy to interpolate the reader and attempt to break through the assumed passive relationship the performer/writer has to their audience/reader, which is a dichotomy Ngugi attempts to rethink through theatre. Even though your post is text, I was reminded of the strutting and funny tone of Shange reading "Faye" (which I learned seems to be spelled Fey according to lost in language and sound. Or maybe there are multiple ways of spelling!). I'm curious to know how you might read this outloud.

Leave a reply