''Madwoman'' is the fourth collection of poetry by Jamaican American poet

Shara McCallum Shara McCallum is an American poet. She was awarded a 2011 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Poetry.Alice James Books Alice James Books is an American non-profit poetry press located in Farmington, Maine and affiliated with the University of Maine at Farmington. History and mission "Alice James Books was founded as a co-operative press in Cambridge, MA in 19 ...

, in ''Madwoman'' McCallum expands her work to the personal by exploring the difficulties of womanhood, madness, and motherhood. ''Madwoman''s 55 poems use both English and elements of Patwa, the Jamaican creole language she heard people speak (but never saw written) while she was growing up in Jamaica. ''Madwoman'' won the poetry category of the 2018

OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, inaugurated in 2011 by the NGC Bocas Lit Fest, is an annual literary award for books by Caribbean writers published in the previous year. The speaker in the poems is the "madwoman", a character McCallum stated is based on a voice that she heard in her head, a voice yelling to be freed. The presence of this voice worried McCallum because of her family's history of mental illness (her father suffered from

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...

), but she felt driven to complete her work and free the proverbial madwoman. The madwoman is, in the poem "Madwoman as Rasta Medusa", a merger between a Rasta woman and the

Medusa In Greek mythology, Medusa (; Ancient Greek: Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress"), also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Those ...

of Greek mythology. ''Madwoman'' was written in two distinct periods: before and after giving birth. Once the manuscript was written, McCallum spread the work on the floor and ordered them anew, reading the poems out loud and deciding by ear which poems belong.

Themes

Mythology, womanhood, Rastafarian life, and memory are significant themes throughout the text. In the poem "Madwoman as Rasta Medusa," McCallum fuses her own struggles with racial identity with mythology, while also commenting on the many histories of female rape victims being vilified. The conceptualization of memory likewise is a common theme used by McCallum throughout her work. She explores memory in various ways: the personal, memories relation with emotions, its relation with identity, and collective memory. DnD Medusa

Use of Patwa

McCallum writes in both normalized English and Jamaican Patwa. She has used Patwa in her previous works and often uses the style when writing dramatic monologues. McCallum, who was born in Kingston and grew up in Jamaica (but moved to the US at age nine), only heard the language spoken in her youth; she never read it. After being exposed to other Caribbean writers' use of Creole, McCallum decided to incorporate Patwa into her own style.

Reception

''Madwoman'' has been met with high praise and several awards. An individual poem from the collection "Memory" was selected by poet and critic

Terrance Hayes Terrance Hayes (born November 18, 1971) is an American poet and educator who has published seven poetry collections. His 2010 collection, ''Lighthead'', won the National Book Award for Poetry in 2010. In September 2014, he was one of 21 recipients ...

for publication in ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...

''. Hayes wrote that McCallum's work "makes you ponder the relationship between memory and madness" and commented on McCallum's treatment of memory: she "casts memory as both wild and vulnerable, sentient and elusive". A reviewer in ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' notes that McCallum's ''Madwoman'' is dynamic and unpredictable; the collection investigates identity and the lack of control a woman, especially a biracial woman, has over it. The reviewer cites from the poem "Red" and comments, "identity san heirloom, a force that imprints on a lineage of women". In the poem "Race", the reviewer said that "the constant anxiety of straddling two worlds leaves the subject isolated and dehumanized". Emily Sterns describes McCallum's use of poetic tools, such as breaks and rhythm, to challenge the reader in the interpretation and understanding of feminism and race. Likewise, McCallum is praised for using her Jamaican traditions to understand her own past and use this form of identity to free the "Madwoman". Her work shows her deep connection towards her Jamaican roots using the style to make sense of the world around her. In a review of ''Madwoman'' and interview with McCallum for the

Small Axe Project The Small Axe Project is an integrated publication undertaking devoted to Caribbean intellectual and artistic work, exercised over three platforms—''Small Axe''; ''sx salon'', and ''sx visualities''—each with a different structure, medium, and p ...

Opal Palmer Adisa Opal Palmer Adisa (born 6 November 1954) is a Jamaica-born award-winning poet, novelist, performance artist and educator. Anthologized in more than 400 publications, she has been a regular performer of her work internationally. Professor Emeritu ...

says McCallum has a "familiar and fresh" voice and the poems have "breathy rage and sure-footedness", blending "autobiographical and fictional data".

Awards

*2018

References

External links

*{{Cite web, url=https://kenyoncollegian.com/arts/2019/02/shara-mccallum-shares-poetry-uplifting-the-madwoman/, title=Shara McCallum shares poetry uplifting the "Madwoman", last=Chakrabarti, first=Monmita, date=February 7, 2019, website=The Kenyon Collegian, url-status=live, archive-url=, archive-date=, access-date=January 23, 2020 2017 poetry books Alice James Books books American poetry collections Jamaican poetry