Bibliograph

Black paper, writing in a dark time, Teju Cole

Type

Label

Black paper, writing in a dark time, Teju Cole

Language

eng

Illustrations

platesillustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

essays

Main title

Black paper

Oclc number

1240772711

Responsibility statement

Teju Cole

Series statement

The Randy L. and Melvin R. Berlin family lectures

Sub title

writing in a dark time

Summary

"In 'Black paper,' Teju Cole meditates on what it means to keep our humanity--and witness the humanity of others--in a time of darkness. 'Darkness,' Cole writes, 'is not empty.' Through art, politics, travel, and memoir, he returns us to the wisdom latent in shadows, and sets the darkness echoing. The opening essay sets the mood for the book, as Cole travels to southern Italy and Sicily to view a series of Caravaggio paintings. He ponders the suffering that Caravaggio ('a murderer, a slaveholder, a terror, and a pest') both dealt out and experienced, and the disquieting echoes of that suffering in the abandoned boats of migrants arriving on nearby shores. This collection also gathers several of Cole's recent columns on photography for the 'New York times magazine' and offers a suite of elegies to lost friends who show him--and us--ways of mourning in times of death."--, Provided by publisher

Table Of Contents

Preface -- After Caravaggio -- Elegies. Room 406 ; Mama's shroud ; Four elegies ; Two elegies ; A letter to John Berger ; A quartet for Edward Said -- Shadows. Gossamer world : on Santu Mofokeng ; An incantation for Marie Cosindas ; Pictures in the aftermath ; Shattered glass ; What does it mean to look at this? ; A crime scene at the border ; Shadow cabinet : on Kerry James Marshall ; Nighted color : on Lorna Simpson ; The blackness of the panther ; Restoring the darkness -- Coming to our senses. Experience ; Epiphany ; Ethics -- In a dark time. A time for refusal ; Resist, refuse ; Through the door ; Passages north ; On carrying and being carried -- Epilogue: Black paper

Classification