"It's About Multiplicity": A Conversation with Morgan Parker. (30th July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Andrews, Hanna
• Is Part Of: MELUS. Volume 43:Number 3(2018)
• Page Start: 148
• Page End: 162
• Publication Date: 2018-07-30
• Subjects: United States -- Literatures -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; United States; Criticism, interpretation, etc; Literatures; Periodicals; 810
• DOI: 10.1093/melus/mly026
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0163-755X

Abstract

Abstract: In this interview with multi-genre writer Morgan Parker, author of the poetry collections Other People's Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night (2015) and There are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé (2017), Hanna Andrews and Parker discuss her writing influences and background, her poem-making process, and her work's focus on black womanhood, double/triple consciousness, and contemporary culture. This conversational and candid interview, which took place during Parker's book tour for her second collection, offers an inside look at the way the figure of Beyoncé became an ever-shifting presence throughout Parker's poems, and how this presence allowed Parker to interrogate ideas of beauty, examine historical and current representations of black women, and excavate dimensions of the self.