Answer either or both:
1. Compare the poem "The Genetics of Leaving" and its treatment of the matters of language and memory with Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous?
2. Choose a favorite poem and try to pinpoint what interests you in it and how does the work on language contribute to enhance your attention.
Here is the link to the author's page: https://www.shaunabarbosa.com/
1. Shauna Barbosa’s "The Genetics of Leaving," in _Cape Verdean Blues_, can be compared to Ocean Vuong’s _On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous_ regarding its approach to an identity built upon memory and moulded by language.
ReplyDeleteThis poem delves into the author's roots through the story of her grandmother, "Vovo," who immigrated to America from Cape Verde, a small African country of archipelagos. Similarly, in Vuong's novel, Little Dog retells the stories of Vietnam relayed to him by his mother, Rose, and grandmother, Lan.
Hundreds of thousands of Cape Verdeans emigrated to the United States during the nineteenth century, and many of them settled in Massachusetts, including the author's family. Barbosa's identity is thus split between two cultures: she was raised in Boston, Massachusetts, by an African American mother and a Cape Verdean father.
Memory is addressed as a catalyst for self-reflection. The Cape Verdean diaspora left a collective nostalgia for the image of a faraway homeland, as though missing something unknown, i.e., feeling the untranslatable “sodade.” This desire to remain linked to a geographically distant but culturally close culture is pervasive among the children of immigrants.
The majority of Little Dog's life is spent in the United States throughout the novel. His Vietnamese identity is therefore strongly intertwined with his grandmother Lan's stories of Vietnam. The cultural differences between him and his family are portrayed in their language, since it is steeped in its culture and cannot be understood without a grasp of the broader social structure. This is also a stance prevalent in Barbosa's poetry.
My favorite poem is “ Welcome Back “, she identifies problems, and I think its genial the way he treats every matter of problems. Drug addiction, eating disorder, body shame/issues, inertia issues, racism, alcohol addiction, crise of identity. The repetition of “ Welcome back, Ms. B : Love of My Life “ and “ How’s your (…) problem? Your (…) problem “ contributes to enhance our attention, and if we listen to the Etheridge Knight reading his “ Welcome Back “ version it helps a lot to charm us.
ReplyDelete2. Considero que o poema "Let" de Shauna Barbosa é bastante chamativo devido à referências que apresenta (Cesária Évora, Amilcar Cabral), bem como devido à linguagem que usa e o tema que aborda.
ReplyDeleteA característica mais evidente é a anáfora "let" que inicia grande parte dos versos, sendo que ao longo do poema lemos "let him" várias vezes e no último verso lemos "let me", referindo-se à ligação do eu poético com o pai.
O poema aborda o tema da identidade cabo verdiana, mencionando elementos culturais e naturais marcaram ou que se ligam a esse país (o "there"): figuras importantes, música, escravatura/emigração, natureza.
Esta dualidade espacial e identitária é um dos aspetos mais importantes nos poemas que lemos de Shauna, um in between cultural comum às literaturas diaspóricas.
Language, memory, and identity are all topics that are explored in "The Genetics of Leaving" in Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. In "The Genetics of Leaving," the speaker struggles with the prospect of losing their original language, along with the memories and sense of cultural identity that are connected to it. In a comparable manner, Little Dog, the narrator in On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, finds it difficult to describe his recollections and experiences as a Vietnamese-American immigrant in a mostly white American culture.
ReplyDeleteBoth pieces highlight how language and memory can both be empowering and limiting, and how they affect our sense of who we are and where we fit in. Additionally, both pieces employ vivid sensory language to convey the emotional impact of these experiences and create a feeling of intimacy and closeness with the reader.