If I Could Write This in Fire

by Michelle Cliff

Born in a Jamaica still under British rule, the acclaimed and influential writer Michelle Cliff embraced her many identities, shaped by her experiences with the forces of colonialism and oppression: a light-skinned Creole, a lesbian, an immigrant in both England and the United States. In her celebrated novels and short stories, she has probed the intersection of prejudice and oppression with a rare and striking lyricism. In her first book-length collection of nonfiction, Cliff displays the same poetic intensity, interweaving reflections on her life in Jamaica, England, and the United States with a powerful and sustained critique of racism, homophobia, and social injustice. If I Could Write This in Fire begins by tracing her transatlantic journey from Jamaica to England, coalescing around a graceful, elliptical account of her childhood friendship with Zoe, who is dark-skinned and from an impoverished, rural background; the divergent life courses that each is forced to take; and the class and color tensions that shape their lives as adults. The personal is interspersed with fragments of Jamaica s history and the plight of people of color living both under imperial rule and in contemporary Britain. In other essays and poems, Cliff writes about the discovery of her distinctive, diasporic literary voice, recalls her wild colonial girlhood and sexual awakening, and recounts traveling through an American landscape of racism, colonialism, and genocide a history of violence embodied in seemingly innocuous souvenirs and tourist sites. A profound meditation on place and displacement, If I Could Write This in Fire explores the complexities of identity as they meet with race, gender, sexuality, nationality, and the legacies of the Middle Passage and European imperialism.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Essays, LGBT, Race, Lesbian, Queer

104 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Michelle Cliff (born 2 November 1946) is a Jamaican-American author whose notable works include No Telephone to Heaven, Abeng and Free Enterprise.

Cliff also has written short stories, prose poems and works of literary criticism. Her works explore the various, complex identity problems that stem from post-colonialism, as well as the difficulty of establishing an authentic, individual identity despite race and gender constructs. Cliff is a lesbian who grew up in Jamaica.

Cliff was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1946 and moved with her family to New York City three years later. She was educated at Wagner College and the Warburg Institute at the University of London. She has held academic positions at several colleges including Trinity College and Emory University.

Cliff was a contributor to the Black feminist anthology Home Girls.

As of 1999, Cliff was living in Santa Cruz, California, with her partner, poet Adrienne Rich. The two were partners from 1976; Rich died in 2012.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Anwen Hayward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny to me that the current top-rated review of this book is by a man called Gary who thinks that Jamaica is only colonised because it believes it is. Good one, Gary! Excellent understanding of how colonisation works.

Anyway, this book was great. Cliff's invocation of a Jamaican childhood, and her careful untangling of privilege as a white-passing, light skinned mixed race woman, was excellent. She writes thoughtfully of her experiences as someone whose cultural and ethnic heritage is a mix of privilege and oppression, how these conflicting fragments form a cohesive whole, and how claiming the parts of her that she was taught to view with shame could be an act of rebellion and power. Not all essays were quite as phenomenal as the title essay, but there was something to love in each of them. Really enjoyed this one.

[Alicia (taylor’s version) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking

[Gary Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

This loosely autobiographical piece spent most of its time explaining how the English, Americans, Germans and Caucasian people in general have lots of explaining to do. It meandered through time and distance and jumped back and forth through different episodes of Michelle Cliff’s life. And she spends much of the time telling us how she doesn’t fit in Jamaica, England and the United States, but somehow we get the feeling she thinks that it’s our fault.

I also found it interesting about the title of the book. Before reading it I wanted to find out a little more about the author so I Googled it. If I Could Write This in Fire is also the title of an anthology of Caribbean writing previously compiled and published by a professor at NYU. And there was even a previous anthology If I Could Write This in Fire I Would Write This in Fire which Cliff was involved in herself. I have to wonder why the recycling of this book’s title?

Back to Cliff’s narrative, supposedly privileged by being a light skinned mulatto in dark Jamaican society, she blames the colonial British past for this and asserts that Jamaica’s colonial heritage is somehow alive in the shadow now of the United States. I haven’t been to Jamaica, but I have been to about sixty other countries and I can say that Jamaica is an independent country. If they suffer from colonization, then that is in their mindset more than their reality. It ends when they end it.

I think the Michelle Cliff would tell me that I missed something – probably something very important to her. She might even scold me openly or at least in her mind. But I do remember being told by a teacher when I was young to remember: I can’t change who I am but I can change how I am.

I suppose that almost all of the vignettes of Michelle’s life can be summed up by her attitude which is screamingly prevalent when she tells of how she can rarely ever bring white people close to her as friends because no matter how equally they treat people from other races, eventually they will fail and show themselves to be racists in hiding. This statement is about as racist as they come. But at least Michelle Cliff doesn’t candy coat it.

[Matthew Molinaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

cliff just challenges the idea of autobiography and what it means to write politically, a masterpiece!

on a separate note, if I ever were a teacher, I would teach if I could write this in fire in comparison to cesaire's discourse on colonialism

[l · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title essay is very powerful.

[Jherane Patmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very powerful and reflective essays, especially the title essay.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must clarify that I have only read the title essay. It was a great reflection and so captivating in its mixture of reflections and personal experiences. The essay deals with many issues but the one that resonates the most is the theme of colourism. How black people themselves will tend to be hateful towards darker-skin black people. At the end of the day it all goes back to colonisation and it's devastating reading how the consequences prevail centuries after and will probably last many more.

[Lorena Living Life · Rating 5 out of 5]

So real that it hurts. After reading a lot about postcolonial literature I have come to hate my own whiteness and this essay really encapsulates that colonialist and imperialist essence that makes me wonder how can black people be fighting only for equality and not revenge.

[Nell Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for class... I liked it but wasn't my fav!

[Pomegranatemoomin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title essay is amazing.

[emi]

re-reading this.

[Abbi Dion]

everyone should read this.

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of non-fiction short stories were ripe with critics l race inquiries. Just the right touch of thinking that I needed. Can't wait to read "Abeng" and "Free Enterprise."