EBOOK Channeling Mark Twain
Opis
A Novel
Fresh out of graduate school, Holly Mattox is a young, newly married, and spirited poet who moves to New York City from Minnesota in the early 1970s. Hoping to share her passion for words and social justice, Holly is also determined to contribute to the politically charged atmosphere around her. Her mission: to successfully teach a poetry workshop at the Womens House of Detention on Rikers Island, only minutes from Manhattan.Having listened to her mother recite verse by heart all her life, Holly has always been drawn to poetry. Yet until she stands before a class made up of prisoners and detaineesall troubled women charged with a variety of crimeseven Holly does not know the full power that language can possess. Words are the only weapon left to many of these outspoken women: the hooker known as Baby Aint (as in Baby Aint Nobody Better!); Gene/Jean, who is mid-sex change; drug mule Never Delgado; and Akilah Malik, a leader of the Black Freedom Front.One woman in particular will change Hollys life forever: Polly Lyle Clement, an inmate awaiting transfer to a mental hospital upstate, one day announces that she is a descendant of Mark Twain and is capable of channeling his voice. And so begins Hollys descent into the dark recesses of the criminal justice system, where in an attempt to understand and help her students she will lose her perspective on the nature of justiceand risk ruining everything stable in her life. As Holly begins an affairwith a fellow poetwho claims to know her better than she knows herselfshe finds herself adrift between two ends of the social and political spectrum, between two men and two identities. National Book Award finalist Carol Muske-Dukes has created an explosive, mesmerizing novel exploring the worlds of poetry, sex, and politics in the unforgettable New York City of the seventies. Written with her trademark captivating language and emotional intuition, Channeling Mark Twain is Muske-Dukess most powerful work to date.From the Hardcover edition.
Fresh out of graduate school, Holly Mattox is a young, newly married, and spirited poet who moves to New York City from Minnesota in the early 1970s. Hoping to share her passion for words and social justice, Holly is also determined to contribute to the politically charged atmosphere around her. Her mission: to successfully teach a poetry workshop at the Womens House of Detention on Rikers Island, only minutes from Manhattan.Having listened to her mother recite verse by heart all her life, Holly has always been drawn to poetry. Yet until she stands before a class made up of prisoners and detaineesall troubled women charged with a variety of crimeseven Holly does not know the full power that language can possess. Words are the only weapon left to many of these outspoken women: the hooker known as Baby Aint (as in Baby Aint Nobody Better!); Gene/Jean, who is mid-sex change; drug mule Never Delgado; and Akilah Malik, a leader of the Black Freedom Front.One woman in particular will change Hollys life forever: Polly Lyle Clement, an inmate awaiting transfer to a mental hospital upstate, one day announces that she is a descendant of Mark Twain and is capable of channeling his voice. And so begins Hollys descent into the dark recesses of the criminal justice system, where in an attempt to understand and help her students she will lose her perspective on the nature of justiceand risk ruining everything stable in her life. As Holly begins an affairwith a fellow poetwho claims to know her better than she knows herselfshe finds herself adrift between two ends of the social and political spectrum, between two men and two identities. National Book Award finalist Carol Muske-Dukes has created an explosive, mesmerizing novel exploring the worlds of poetry, sex, and politics in the unforgettable New York City of the seventies. Written with her trademark captivating language and emotional intuition, Channeling Mark Twain is Muske-Dukess most powerful work to date.From the Hardcover edition.