REVIEW: "The Black Interior: Essays" by Elizabeth Alexander

What is a concept of black aesthetics?

   For Elizabeth Alexander, this is a pressing question in the identification of a Negro in America. In this anthology, the author sought the aesthetical concept of African Americans.

1. Toward the Black Interior

    The book borrowed its title from the first essay of the anthology. In this essay, an analysis of the interior designs of African Americans in their homes was made. In this interior design, the social identity of a person is revealed - including gender, race, class and sexuality. With this identification, people outside of the interior self can misrepresent the nature of such interior. For example, the struggle of black Americans in their presentation in the arts is a product of the gaze of the white people thinking them as savages.

    With the misrepresentation of the black people in the media and arts, the resort is to present themselves in space. Space, after all, is a presentation of one's being. A good example is the living room of the black Americans. For the Black Americans, the living room is both a social yet private presentation of themselves which is an honest assessment for themselves and not what the people see them to be.

2.The Black Poet as a Canon Maker

   Poetry has been an instrument of presenting a genre of people. With this description of poetry, poetry becomes as power in people's mind and hearts. This is the story of Langston Hughes in his publication of the poetry of Black Americans. However, with the publication and the problems that went along the way, the work of American Negroes were dismissed as farcical or immature works. On the other hand, the development of Negro poetry from protest literature to the traditional formation of poetry is a magnificent feat that the American Negroes can join the ranks of poets from the beginning.

3. Meditations on "Mecca"

  This is the story of Gwendolyn Brooks and the responsibility of the black poet. Against the attack of racism in America, the Black poet is now a force for his/her brethren. This is the part where Gwendolyn Brooks enter with the work "In the Mecca". This work offers the role of the artist and art during turbulent times. Exploring the work of Gwendolyn Brooks, the importance of uniting the communities of African Americans should be underscored. After all, the role of the artist is to free the subject and this applies to black people whose aspirations and dreams should be realized.

4. I am; I'm a black man; / I am

   With the publication of poetry concerning Black Americans, the identity and identities in the African American communities began emerging. It was a continuous boom not just in the identity of a black man but a black woman and black queer. The movement reached a golden period during the sixties with the idea of “Black Power”. 5. World According to Jet Jet is Black American magazine focusing on the good and the bad moments in the life of Black people. Jet became an organ of race pride for many African Americans. It is the magazine that recorded the abuses occurring in black communities so that appropriate help can get to the victims. Jet became a uniting work among black communities.

6. Turn of the Century “Aframerican Intellectual”

     In this essay, the importance of Anna Julia Cooper in the African American society was established. Anna Julia Cooper was a well known black feminist in the American society. She established herself as an African American female intellectual in 19th century. She expounded on the need not on the binary relationship between a man and a woman or relationship between the white and black but on the need of a voice to be heard in the society.

7. A Black man says “sorbet”

   In this essay, the position of the black man in different advertisements was explored. The chance of giving the black person a voice and freedom in the society was slowly advocated by companies. Besides the advertisements, the rise of movies exposing black people was explored.

Conclusion:

    There are still chapters that covered the life of the Black American in different media. But one idea that dominates the whole work is Cartesian rendition of "I think; therefore I am". For the Black person, : "I write, therefore, I am". This only shows the importance of literature in the expression of being an African American today. This is the arching concept of an African American aesthetics. Over all, the book was excellent in the exploration of the different literary and visual pieces showing the life of black person in a society he/she is adapting with.

REVIEW: "Art, Alienation, and the Humanities: A Critical Engagement with Herbert Marcuse" by Charles Reitz

What is Art?

          Art was first used to understand the meaning of being. Through the arts, we recognize and realize our being. However, this is not just the sole function of art. Art is a means for and against alienation. For Charles Reitz, this is just the beginning of the iceberg.

          In his book, Art, Alienation, and the Humanities: A Critical Engagement with Herbert Marcuse, the idea of the arts, especially literature, the role of the arts as an answer to alienation was highlighted. Using the idea of Herbert Marcuse, alienation is neither just a seizure of profit of the capitalists from the laborers nor the fetishization of a loss in society but a return to being by be-ing.

           In the contemporary period, the relevance of the arts relies on the return to being. The arts became a cause for an advocacy that is for or against being. Interestingly, Charles Reitz explores the idea of the arts as against alienation and as alienation.

               In treating the arts as against alienation, Charles Reitz used a very controversial term in the canon of Herbert Marcuse. This idea is the Lebensphilosophie or The Great Refusal. For Herbert Marcuse, art is a disclosure of truth present in the society and calling the “absent” in the society. It is a protest against unnecessary repression by living without anxiety (p. 183). A good example of this is the creation of feminist literature and paintings in forwarding the place of the woman in the society. Another example is the booming presence of LGBTQ+ in literature, paintings and movies.

          In treating the arts as alienation, the identity of the arts in relation to the higher society cannot be removed. After all, the origin of art is alienating in nature with the artist distancing himself/herself from the society. The artist provides a new image of reality through his or her work. Going back to the example of feminist literature and paintings, the position of feminism is also alienating for them since they begin to turn some beliefs and practices in favor for their being to reach a holistic behavior in humanity.

          Since art is treated as alienation and against alienation, we come to a conflicting nature of the arts. This is why the book claims that the movement of the arts to amplify being is simply a promise. The act of revolution itself depends on another platform but not on the arts. The arts act as a promise of liberation that has been putting being into the grasp of structures in the society. The Arts become a hope in the society. Capping this idea from the work of Herbert Marcuse, he wrote that, “art cannot redeem its promise, and reality offers no promises, only chances”.

          Over all, the book maintained its clear stand on the nature of the arts as freeing and repressing. The relation of the arts to the Truth is still a problem to ponder on. Why is art essential for humans? Can we live without the arts? More than these questions, the book’s exposition of the history of the arts is commendable. I recommend this book though it was published way back 2000 since the history of the philosophy of the arts from the ancient period to the contemporary period is a gem that everyone should read.