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A review by lelia_t
A Surprised Queenhood in the New Black Sun: The Life & Legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks by Angela Jackson
3.0
This book feels more like hero worship than biography. There’s no denying Gwendolyn Brooks is a hero and Angela Jackson shows us how warm, courageous and generous Brooks was with her gifts. And how staunch she was in speaking up for the Black community. I also enjoyed Jackson’s descriptions of Brooks’ encounter with a frenzied and domineering Susan Sontag, and the way Brooks taught poetry classes and guided young poets - “Try telling the reader a little less. He’ll, she’ll love you more.”
Brooks’ advice may be perfect for poets, but it’s not ideal for biographers and that was my major frustration with this book. There are gaping holes. What were the disruptions in Brooks’ marriage? How did she manage to juggle being a Pulitzer Prize winning poet and a wife and mother? Jackson writes “Gwendolyn was a working mother who had it all… This is not to say that she did not struggle between motherhood and writing.” I think we’ve upended the myth that anyone “has it all” and since Brooks’ marriage was rocky and she and her son were estranged for years, it seems unlikely that Brooks' life was as perfect as “having it all” implies. Jackson gives us a paragraph on the topic that must have consumed decades of Brooks’ life.
I had the sense that Jackson didn’t want to intrude too much or damage what she aptly calls the “elegant normalcy” of Brooks’ demeanor. But as Jackson tells us, Brooks once wrote, “Think how many fascinating documents there would be now, if all the great poets had written of what happened to them personally - and the thoughts that occurred to them, no matter how ugly…fantastic… seemingly ridiculous.” Jackson doesn’t share with us Brooks’ less lofty, more human thoughts.
Brooks does seem to have had a dignified and well-mannered facade that protected her from intrusion, and Angela Jackson respects that persona, but we miss some of the the beauty and awesomeness of the life Brooks lived. As Jackson tells us, Brooks was a healer. Her work - poetry, outreach, teaching - healed both herself and the Black community. That’s something to celebrate and honor, but it would not be diminishing to see that she also struggled. It makes her human and shows that struggle and triumph go hand in hand.
Brooks’ advice may be perfect for poets, but it’s not ideal for biographers and that was my major frustration with this book. There are gaping holes. What were the disruptions in Brooks’ marriage? How did she manage to juggle being a Pulitzer Prize winning poet and a wife and mother? Jackson writes “Gwendolyn was a working mother who had it all… This is not to say that she did not struggle between motherhood and writing.” I think we’ve upended the myth that anyone “has it all” and since Brooks’ marriage was rocky and she and her son were estranged for years, it seems unlikely that Brooks' life was as perfect as “having it all” implies. Jackson gives us a paragraph on the topic that must have consumed decades of Brooks’ life.
I had the sense that Jackson didn’t want to intrude too much or damage what she aptly calls the “elegant normalcy” of Brooks’ demeanor. But as Jackson tells us, Brooks once wrote, “Think how many fascinating documents there would be now, if all the great poets had written of what happened to them personally - and the thoughts that occurred to them, no matter how ugly…fantastic… seemingly ridiculous.” Jackson doesn’t share with us Brooks’ less lofty, more human thoughts.
Brooks does seem to have had a dignified and well-mannered facade that protected her from intrusion, and Angela Jackson respects that persona, but we miss some of the the beauty and awesomeness of the life Brooks lived. As Jackson tells us, Brooks was a healer. Her work - poetry, outreach, teaching - healed both herself and the Black community. That’s something to celebrate and honor, but it would not be diminishing to see that she also struggled. It makes her human and shows that struggle and triumph go hand in hand.