Venus Hottentot: Callaloo Poetry

by Elizabeth Alexander

Elizabeth Alexander's highly praised first collection is available once again I didn't want to write a poem that said "blacknessis," because we know better than anyonethat we are not one or ten or ten thousand thingsNot one poem-from "Today's News" Originally published in 1990 to widespread acclaim, The Venus Hottentot introduces Elizabeth Alexander's vital poetic voice, distinguished even in this remarkable first book by its examination of history, gender, and race with an uncommon clarity and music. These poems range from personal memory to cultural history to human John Coltrane, Frida Kahlo, Nelson Mandela, and "The Venus Hottentot," a nineteenth-century African woman who was made into a carnival sideshow exhibit. In language as vibrant within traditional forms as it is within improvisational lyrics, the poems in The Venus Hottentot demonstrate why Alexander is among our most dazzling and important contemporary poets and cultural critics. "Alexander creates intellectual magic in poem after poem."--The New York Times Book Review

Genres: Poetry, African American, American

80 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Elizabeth Alexander is a Quantrell Award-winning American poet, essayist, playwright, university professor, and scholar of African-American literature and culture. She teaches English language/literature, African-American literature, and gender studies at Yale University. Alexander was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard during the 2007-08 academic year.

Alexander's poems, short stories, and critical writings have been widely published in such journals and periodicals as The Paris Review, American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, The Village Voice, The Women's Review of Books, and The Washington Post. Her play Diva Studies, which was performed at Yale's School of Drama, garnered her a National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellowship as well as an Illinois Arts Council award.

On December 17th, 2008 it was announced that she will compose a poem which she shall recite at the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama in January 2009.

Reviews

[Sarah Cavar · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book ruined for me by its throwaway use of “transvestites” as part of the scenery in a poem.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Out of this collection, the title poem really serves as the benchmark. "The Venus Hottentot" is divine. I would quote it in its entirety for lines like:

In the newspaper lithograph
my buttocks are shown swollen
and luminous as a planet.

Monsieur Cuvier investigates
between my legs, poking, prodding,
sure of his hypothesis.
I half expect him to pull silk
scarves from inside me, paper poppies,
then a rabbit! He complains
at my scent and does not think
I comprehend, but I speak

English. I speak Dutch. I speak
a little French as well, and
languages Monsieur Cuvier
will never know have names.

There is a palpable beat that I felt in my chest, a musicality (especially with the jazz references) in poems like "John Col," "Van Der Zee," and "Kevin of the NE Crew" (which I've read over and over). From "Kevin of the NE Crew:"

Turn your head, boy. Look at me, boy.
Dark day, sweet smell, smoke smell blue.
Split-lip black boy brain smell sweet boy,
Look my way, boy. Look at you.

And "Ode" is a fine example of her narrative skills. An all around really fine collection.

[Greg Bem · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dynamite first collection by Alexander. Holds up even in 2020 (perhaps more now than ever). Loved the Miami and Philadelphia poems especially.

[Katarzyna Bartoszynska · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Alexander's first book, and you can kind of tell — there are some absolute stunners, but also a handful of poems that are pleasant but unremarkable. It's more formally and stylistically heterogenous than a lot of poetry collections seem to be, which is interesting. I'm curious if that changes with her later collections. As it happens, I bought it at the same time as I bought Crave Radiance, a collected volume that includes many of the poems from this book — but not some of my favorites!

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alexander’s debut collection was written when she was still under the influence of Derek Walcott and hadn’t yet found her own voice. Consequently, these poems read like “Black spaces sucking in a breath, like jazz” (p. 30), then blurting improvisational solos like John Col’s when blow did the blowing.


Favorite Poems:
“Van DerZee”
“Painting”

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely little collection - I think I enjoyed these more after reading her memoir. Quite a few that I want to revisit in here:

The Venus Hottentot
Zodiac
Who I Think You Are
House Party Sonnet: '66
Omni - Albert Murray
Letter: Blues
Boston Year
A Poem for Nelson Mandela

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful and brief collection of poems. The titular poem is probably the best of the bunch, but don’t stop reading. There are quite a few beautiful pieces that stopped me in my tracks and had me googling people, places and things with which I was not familiar.

It’s an education in 60 pages.

[Thegirlintheafternoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title poem is the stunner here, but several others are also great - the strongest ones throughout the collection are when the poet-speaker takes on a historical persona. 3.5/5 stars.

[Simone Levy · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is supposed to get better each time you read it, but i don't know when i'll read it again. so it's going to have to stay at 3 stars.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth Alexander, The Venus Hottentot (University Press of Virginia, 1990)

I started a number of poetry volumes over the weekend, including a much-anticipated one from one of my favorite poets, and none of them captured me the way The Venus Hottentot did. Elizabeth Alexander has a wonderful voice, and she knows how to craft it into strong, yet delicate, poems:

“I half expect him to pull silk
scarves from inside me, paper poppies,
then a rabbit! He complains
at my scent and does not think
I comprehend, but I speak

English. I speak Dutch. I speak
a little French as well, and
languages Monseiur Cuvier
will never know have names.”
(“The Venus Hottentot”)

Wonderful stuff indeed.

The entire collection is not as strong as this opening salvo; Alexander does devolve into polemic now and again, but usually manages to snap out of it within a few lines. This one goes on the “highly recommended” shelf. *** ½

[theri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this after hearing her read at a museum. I really loved the imagery and the simple language. it breathed life into some things that I had become so familiar with. For those that are unfamiliar with the idea of the Venus Hottentot, Alexander is a great poetic start. She nuances and plays with the image from a variety of perspectives. It's a great book.

Be aware of the jazz references. If you can't decipher them, it is okay but knowing them does enhance your experience of the poems.

[Erica Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by a professor I had at Haverford. ..one of the best teachers I've ever had...brilliant, funny, talented, inspired and inspiring...beautiful poems...her first book, I believe.

Considered her as mentor.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think "The Venus Hottentot” is the best poem in the collection. Many of the other sections work to reclaim historical figures, but not as well. I also really like her childhood poems.

[Poupina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dazzling look into history, gender, and race, these poems range from personal memory to cultural history to human personae.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some poems hit the mark, others not so much.

[Sandy D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

History, feminism, racism - both in 19th c. and in modern times. Just excellent.

[Tara Betts]

This is the version that I have of THE VENUS HOTTENTOT. Now, it's on Graywolf Press.