WRPR 124: Writing and the Senses (HC) Spring 2014: Background Sources

'Beauty is a Verb' is a ground-breaking anthology of disability poetry, essays on disability, and writings on the poetics of both. Crip Poetry. Disability Poetry. Poems with Disabilities. This is where poetry and disability intersect, overlap, collide and make peace. "[BEAUTY IS A VERB] is going to be one of the defining collections of the 21st century... the discourse between ability, identity & poetry will never be the same." -Ron Silliman, author of'In The American Tree' "This powerful anthology succeeds at intimately showing... disability through the lenses of poetry. What emerges from the book as a whole is a stunningly diverse array of conceptions of self and other."< -'Publishers Weekly'

In Deaf life, the personal narrative holds sway because most Deaf individuals recall their formative years as solitary struggles to understand and to be understood. Few deaf people in the past related their stories in written form, relying instead on a different kind of oral tradition, that of American Sign Language. During the last several decades, however, a burgeoning bilingual deaf experience has ignited an explosion of Deaf writing that has pushed the potential of ASL-influenced English to extraordinary creative heights.Deaf American Prose: 1980-2010 presents a diverse cross-section of stories, essays, memoirs, and novel excerpts by a remarkable cadre of Deaf writers that mines this rich, bilingual environment.

"* Why has 'the discursive turn' been sidelined in the development of a social theory of disability, and what has been the result of this? * How might a social theory of disability which fully incorporates the multidimensional and multifunctional role of language be described? * What would such a theory contribute to a more inclusive understanding of 'discourse' and 'culture'? "- publisher's description. The book includes a substantial number of personal narratives from people living in Britain.

"The early part of the nineteenth century marked a dramatic shift in the perception of deaf people in the United States, beginning in 1817 with the establishment of the first permanent school for deaf students by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc. Theirs and other residential schools established during this period allowed deaf pupils to demonstrate that they could succeed in the classroom and beyond, disproving the then commonly held belief that deaf people were deficient and ineducable. A Mighty Change: An Anthology of Deaf American Writing, 1816-1864 documents this deaf cultural explosion in dramatic style, through the letters, essays, and poetry of deaf individuals who experienced this transformation firsthand."--BOOK JACKET.

No Restraints is the first compilation in the United States to document the contemporary struggle for disability rights from a grassroots cultural perspective.No Restraints defines culture broadly, including politics, theory, history, photo-documentation, poetry, spirituality, visual arts, cartoons, and science fiction—all created by people with disabilities. The result is a powerful primary source for an exploration of "difference," a record of provocation, and the quest for independence and integration.

"This collection of works by hearing-impaired writers offers extraordinary accounts of the perceptual worlds of people who are deaf or hear with difficulty. Several of the 23 contributors have previously published work elsewhere (David Wright, Jack Clemo, Trudy Drucker, Robert Panara), but first-time writers of considerable talent are also represented. The selections--short stories, fictional excerpts, essays, memoirs, poetry and one play-- interpret the experience of deafness against the background of wider subjects: birth and death, growing old, homelessness, the perils of the nuclear age, and nature."- Publishers Weekly

In 1976, Trent Batson and Eugene Bergman released their classic Angels and Outcasts: An Anthology of Deaf Characters in Literature. In it, they featured works from the 19th and 20th centuries by well-known authors such as Charles Dickens and Eudora Welty. They also presented less-well-known deaf authors, and they prefaced each excerpt with remarks on context, societal perceptions, and the dignity due to deaf people. Since then, much has transpired, turning around the literary criticism regarding portrayals of deaf people in print. Edna Edith Sayers reflects these changes in her new collection Outcasts and Angels: The New Anthology of Deaf Characters in Literature.        Sayers mines the same literary vein as the first volume with rich new results. In search of commonalities and comparisons, Sayers reveals that the defining elements of deaf literary characters are fluid and subtly different beyond the predominant dueling stereotypes of preternaturally spiritual beings and thuggish troglodytes.

In this anthology, some 30 contributors, representing a range of physical and mental disabilities, explore issues of identity and community and the realities of living with disability. They shed light on their personal andolitical struggles as disabled lesbians and offer an important contribution

The disability experience has, until very recently, been marginalized, stereotyped, and ignored in literature. Now, through the vehicles of nonfiction, poetry, fiction, and drama, Staring Back is the first anthology to open the landscape of the disabled experience for exploration and discussion.The presence of such well-known authors as Lucy Grealy, John Hockenberry, and Marilyn Hacker in this anthology gives immediate lie to the notion that disability is a limitation to insight and productivity. But just as importantly, Staring Back challenges us to look anew at the disabilities of FDR and Matisse; the lives of Helen Keller and Frida Kahlo; the work of Stephen Hawking. It urges us to redefine what is meant by "cure," to understand hidden disabilities, and even to find humor in ways that defy our expectations.

"Serious, tough-minded, non-sentimental poems on the experience of disability are collected here for the first time. This unique anthology shows with profound objectivity the human experiences shared by people with disabilities which cause them to be bound to and yet set apart from "normal" society."- publisher's description

This book collects personal essays by women with physical and emotional disabilities concerning their experiences in society. One reviewer wrote: "It is, in a profoundly political way, a collection of "coming out" stories. The writers are plainly aware of the pain, anger, and fear associated with telling the truth about their lives, to themselves and to others, in print. As we read we see connections across diversity, across disagreement." Barbara Hillyer NWSA Journal 4, 1 (1992): 107.

"With Wings, an anthology of American women's writings,
is a celebration of the literature of disabled women. It shouts out our talents, our concerns, with some wonderful pieces of work. In doing so, it claims both a place within the general culture and attempts to change that culture." excerpt from a book review by Jenny Morris in Feminist Review 33 (1989): 100.