Bookmark: "Invisibility Blues" by Michele Wallace

Title: Invisibility Blues: From Pop to Theory
Author: Michele Wallace
ISBN: 0-86091-519-0 (Verso, 1990)

I originally intended to read Michele Wallace's more famous work, "Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman", but I was surprised to find none of my library branches held a copy. So I took what was available, and it's pretty darn good.

I'd always thought of Wallace as an academic, but "From Pop to Theory" showcases her output as a cultural critic. The book is broken into four main themes:

• Black Feminism/ Autobiography
• Pop
• Culture/ History
• Theory

The net is thrown wide, and the variety is one of its strengths, as it showcases her versatility in both thought and writing ability. She writes on popular culture (Stephen Spielberg's handling of Alice Walker's "The Color Purple", and "Michael Jackson, Black Modernisms and 'The Ecstasy of Communication'"); and of her childhood in Harlem ("Memories of a 60s Girlhood: The Harlem I Love"). She also writes of her volunteer work ("A Women's Prison and The Movement"), and her participation in and experiences with progressive clubs and organizations.

Throughout this compilation of essays, Wallace writes on a very personal level, and talks intimately about her family - her grandmother, her mother, her sister, and her father - and how they shaped her as a person, an academic and a black feminist. I found this more interesting than reading work by an academic who doesn't share any personal information, preferring to present their writerly/academic selves as simply "brains in a vat".

Wallace also does straightforward politics. She examines Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition and how it was portrayed by the mainstream media, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the ACLU. You want literature? Try "Who Owns Zora Neale Hurston?" It's almost as if Wallace was saying, "Look, I can write about anything you throw my way." And she can.

I intend on filling out a form at my library requesting that they purchase a copy of Wallace's other works.

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Category: Bookmarks