The Resurrection of Gayl Jones

 

The Resurrection of  Gayl Jones

 

She was a widely discussed poet and novelist a few decades ago,  esteemed by Toni Morrison and Michael Harper and other people who recognized the value of neo-enslaved narratives.  The publication of her essays on poetry and fiction in Liberating Voices: Oral Tradition in African American Literature (1991) established her cosmopolitan authority to provide insights about orality and innovative literary traditions.  In the early years of the 21st century, she was not forgotten, but much of her work was shrouded in silence. And that silence was compounded by her personal tragedy and her penchant for nurturing privacy by not saying much about herself.  After reading Calvin Baker's essay "No Novel About Any Black Woman Could Ever Be the Same After This" (The Atlantic, September 2020),  we have reason to believe the long silence will be broken when Beacon Press publishes her epic novel Palmares. Baker assures us that "Gayl Jones's new work is as relevant as ever.  With monumental sweep, it blends psychological acuity and linguistic invention in a way that only a handful of writers in the transatlantic tradition have matched" (98). Whether he is telling us the truth and nothing but the truth awaits our discovery.

 

Until we have the evidence (Palmares) in hand, we may prepare ourselves for what is to be discovered by reading or re-reading Jones's novels Corregidora, Eva's Man, The Healing, and Mosquito.  In the moment of pandemic and allied crises, reading Gayl Jones is an appropriate gesture.

 

Jerry W. Ward, Jr.                            August 21, 2020

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