Literacy Narratives

.. . narratives of Paule Marshall and Vincent Cremona involve

:~:'fr.!faphor--il figure o f speech that makes an implicit comparison between two
4 & similar things. Metaphor is complex, inventive, subtle, and powerful. It can
'tfiiTiifonn people, places, objects, and ideas into whatever the writer imagines
" t ! 1 em to be. Successful metaphors make it possible for us as readers to "see"
. things in new ways. What is your response, for example, to the metaphor that
"the heart is a lonely hunter"? InPaule Marshall's narrative, her po et s inform
':.'~.:.'." us that "the sea ain' got no back door," while Vincent Cremona transforms a
,? '( familiar metaphor from the wor.kplace into one that describes his writing style.
As you read their narratives, think o f a metaphor that you might use to
describe your writing.
from Poets in the Kitchen
PAULE MARSHALL
Paule Marshall (b. 1929 in Brooldyn, New York) learned storytelling f r o m
her m at her , a native of Barbados, whose West Indian . f r iends used to gather in
MarshaIl's home after a hard day o f "scrubbing f l o o r " She graduated from
Brooldyn College in 1953 and received a Guggenheim fellowship in1960. She
was a l ibr ar ian in New York City public libraries before werking for Our
,,'" .,;, World, a popular 19505 African-American magazine. In 1959, Marshall's
"."... (,>first 1 IO ' O el BrownGirl, Brownstones was published. The novel is setin what
'<~'<, Marshall calls "Bajan [Bar badian] Brooldyn" and acco r ding to one reader,
<: ': ' ~resses "in a lyrical, powerJullanguage a culturally distinct and expansive
,:,\~: world." Marshan's other novels include Soul Clap Hands and Sing (1961),
,: / t;;;: : ; The Olesen Place, The TlJ IIcless People (1969), Praisesong for the
,;: ;,"YW,rl,...U7 (1983), and Daughters (1991), Her most rerent novel, The Fisher
she receioed the Dos Passos Priu f o r Literature, was published
.In1992 she becam e a MacArthur FeUow. She has been a lecturer on
l l l iit :1 f l r t iit ' at ur e and a teacher of cr eat ive writing at num er o us univer sit ies, and
a professor of English at New York University.
o f Bar bado s, the most easterly of the West Indies; begins
oj an English ship in 1605 and with British settlers lit the
PAULE MARSHALL
uninhabited island in 1627. Slavery was abolished in 1834. TheisT.a;,ii,
percent o f whose population of 256,000 is of African descent; declarediitii;'
independence from Britain in 1966 but remains within the Commonwealth)))!
SoME YEARS AGO, when I was teaching a graduate s~:~"X ~~X .:~ii
Columbia University; a well-known male novelist visited my; ~S: t<f",: : : "; ,; ,,
speak onhis development as awriter. Indiscussing his formatiye.f~s; <U'
he didn't realize it but he seriously endangered his lifeby. remarking ',:: ,\\: ;:
that women writers areluckier thanthose of his sexbecause they usu- : ': ; ',: /L
ally spend so much time as children around their mothers, and, th'eit : ': : ': : : W
mothers' friends In the kitchen. .. : .''''''_'~_'' '.", ',: ,.': .; : ? i
What did he say that for? The women students immediately 'fdi~,: : ;: ,
got about being in awe of rum and began readying their attack for :
the question and answer period later on. Even I bristled, There agam
was that awful image of women locked away from the world inthe ': ';
kitchen with only each other to talk to, and their daughters.locked in
with them. . " . ;': ";:
But my guest wasn't really being sexist or trying to beprovocative or
evenspoiling forafight. What hemeant-whenhe got around toexamire.
ing himself more fully-was that, given theway children are (or-were)
raised inour society,with littlegirls kept closer tohome and their moth- '\).:
ers, the women writer stands a better chance of being exposed; while ~ ,, "
growing up, to the kind of talk that goes on among women, more often 0.": "
thannot inthekitchen; andthat this experiencegives her anedgeover liel(, ' -:
male counterpart by instillinginhexan appreciation for ordinary speech.
Itwas clear that myguest lecturer attached great importance to,this,
which is understandable. Common speech and the plain, workaday:
words that make itup are, after all, the stock intrade of some of the: best
fiction writers. They are the principal means by which a character jn, ~
nove) or story reveals himself and gives voice sometimes to profound .
feelings and complex ideas about himself and the world. Perhaps the' , "': "; '\\""'"''
proper measure of a writer's talent is his skill in rendering everYday: : ': !,:i;,;\H,,!:~~iii
speech-when it is appropriate tohis story-as well as his ability ~ tap~.: : .: ;: -: ': : ';';;"'"
to exploit, thebeauty, poetry andwisdom it often contains, .: .': '.\~: ';': ';: '\"': ,": ,: ': }: : "
"If you say what's onyour mind in thelanguage that comes-to, yotl: ".:;: ;,",:
from your parents and your street and friends you'll probably: sa'}!.': :
something beautiful" GracePaleyl tells this, shesays, to her stud~a~ : ,'.
thebeginning of every writing course. ....i: : . ,; :~ :' \ :' . :' :' :\ ~ ; :; ii- " :: '
It's all amatter of exposure and a training of the ear for the: wotil.d,~,
writer inthoseearly years of his or her apprenticeship: -And,'a: ccotd#tg;W~;~
lContemporary American fictionwrite!: .