Ntozake Shange Criticism
Ntozake Shange, born Paulette Williams in 1948, was a groundbreaking American playwright, poet, and novelist whose innovative style challenged literary and theatrical norms. Her work is distinguished by its bold examination of African-American women's lives, exploring themes of race, gender, and resilience. Shange's pioneering choreopoem, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, blends poetic monologue with music and dance, capturing the paradoxes of urban life for black women and is lauded for its theatrical vibrancy and call for empowerment, as noted by Carolyn Mitchell and Carol P. Christ. This seminal work, which both Toni Cade Bambara and Martin Gottfried have critically engaged with, celebrates black women's survival through solidarity and humor, while also acknowledging the potential for thematic repetition.
Beyond choreopoems, Shange's novels, such as Sassafrass, Cypress and Indigo and Betsey Brown, illustrate her signature pastiche style and delve into the diverse experiences of African-American women. Her novel Liliane is particularly praised for its collage structure by critics including Valerie Sayers and Deirdre Neilen, exploring complex themes of identity and personal growth.
Shange's work frequently examines the roles of African-American men, sometimes positioning them as obstacles in women's paths, yet ultimately her narratives celebrate female empowerment and solidarity. Her dramatic productions, such as Spell #7, are noted for their non-traditional structures and focus on racial identity, with Carole Woddis highlighting their bold approach.
While some of her adaptations, like Mother Courage and Her Children, have faced criticism for not capturing the complexity of Brecht’s original, as discussed by John Simon and Frank Rich, Shange's influence on literature and theater, especially in articulating the nuanced experiences of black women, remains significant. An interview with Brenda Lyons further illuminates the complexities and controversies surrounding her thematic focus. Richard Eder's critique of her play A Photograph; A Study of Cruelty for its structure also highlights the diverse critical reception of her work.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Shange, Ntozake (Vol. 25)
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'For Colored Girls'—And White Girls Too
(summary)
In the following essay, Toni Cade Bambara praises Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf for its celebration of black women's survival, emphasizing their capacity to overcome pain and betrayal with humor, solidarity, and resilience, while maintaining a complex portrayal of relationships with men.
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'Rainbow' over Broadway
(summary)
In the following essay, Martin Gottfried praises Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf" for its powerful stage presence and authentic representation of black experiences, despite noting some thematic repetition, ultimately deeming it a work of great theatrical and cultural significance.
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Sovereign Spirit
(summary)
In the following essay, Richard Eder critiques Ntozake Shange's "A Photograph; A Study of Cruelty," arguing that while Shange's poetic style and strong characterizations are evident, the work suffers from a forced and ineffective dramatic structure that fails to support its themes of identity and societal critique.
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Somewhere over the Rainbow
(summary)
In the following essay, Harriet Gilbert evaluates Ntozake Shange's poetry collection nappy edges, highlighting its thematic continuity with for colored girls and praising Shange's linguistic mastery, while critiquing the self-consciousness that sometimes detracts from the work's power and joy.
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'Spell #7: A Geechee Quick Magic Trance Manual'
(summary)
In the following essay, Christopher Sharp critiques Ntozake Shange's musical "Spell #7: A Geechee Quick Magic Trance Manual," highlighting its need for editing, the emphasis on poetic verses over character development, and the resulting confusion in the first act that eventually resolves into impactful soliloquies by the second act.
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Shange Casts a Powerful 'Spell'
(summary)
In the following essay, Don Nelsen argues that Ntozake Shange's "Spell #7" harnesses the power of black identity and its complexities through its vibrant and immediate poetic language, which transforms the work into an impactful theatrical experience intertwining dialogue, dance, and song.
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Miss Shange's Rousing Homilies
(summary)
In the following essay, Richard Eder contends that Ntozake Shange's dramatic poems in "Spell No. 7" evoke a vibrant, almost visceral audience engagement, blending theatricality and poetry to celebrate Black identity, akin to the emotionally charged poetry recitals familiar in the Soviet Union, while artfully balancing humor and poignant social commentary.
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Fainting Spell
(summary)
In the following essay, John Simon criticizes Ntozake Shange's works, arguing that her success as a playwright and poet is largely due to her identity as a black woman, rather than her talent, and highlighting her thematic focus on monologues and egocentricity in works like For Colored Girls and Spell #7.
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Three Poets
(summary)
In the following essay, Michael S. Harper critiques Ntozake Shange's "Nappy Edges" for its excessive length and lack of dramatic depth, while acknowledging Shange's literate style and ability to artfully convey the mistreatment of women through cultural references, despite weaknesses in her longer poetic forms.
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Reviews: 'For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf'
(summary)
In the following essay, John Russell Taylor critiques Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf for its occasional lack of thematic cohesion between race and gender, but acknowledges Shange's potential when she allows genuine experience to inform her poetic expression.
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Stage: 'Mother Courage'
(summary)
In the following essay, Mel Gussow discusses Ntozake Shange’s adaptation of Brecht's "Mother Courage and Her Children," highlighting her effective cultural and political transplantation of the play to the American frontier during Reconstruction, while noting limitations in addressing racial dynamics on the plains.
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Avaunt-Garde and 'Taint Your Wagon
(summary)
In the following essay, John Simon criticizes Ntozake Shange's adaptation of Mother Courage and Her Children, arguing that it distorts both American history and Brecht’s original play by creating a confusing pastiche of conflicts with unclear motivations and misrepresenting Mother Courage as a sentimental figure.
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'Mother Courage' Transplanted
(summary)
In the following essay, Frank Rich critiques Ntozake Shange's adaptation of "Mother Courage," arguing that her attempt to transpose Brecht's play into a post-Civil War American context results in a distortion of both Brecht's intent and historical realities, transforming a complex narrative into a simplified moral melodrama.
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'I Found God in Myself … & I Loved Her Fiercely': Ntozake Shange
(summary)
In the following essay, Carol P. Christ explores Ntozake Shange's choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, highlighting Shange's innovative use of language and narrative to convey the complex experiences of Black women, their struggles, resilience, and the quest for self-definition and empowerment.
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'Colored Girls': Textbook for the Eighties
(summary)
In the following essay, Sandra Hollin Flowers argues that Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf is a nuanced exploration of black womanhood and black male-female relationships, challenging reductive interpretations and highlighting its artistic significance in addressing complex social and political issues within the black community.
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'For Colored Girls'—And White Girls Too
(summary)
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Shange, Ntozake (Vol. 126)
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'A Laying on of Hands': Transcending the City in Ntozake's Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf
(summary)
In the following essay, Mitchell discusses Shange's choreopoem in terms of how it portrays an African American woman's perspective of the city. Ntozake Shange's choreopoem presents the paradox of the modern American city as a place where black women experience the trauma of urban life, yet find the strength to transcend the pain.
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Spell No. 7
(summary)
Woddis critiques a production of Ntozake Shange's play Spell No. 7 performed by the Women's Playhouse Trust, highlighting its confrontational approach to racism and black identity through a non-traditional structure and the use of monologues.
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Growing Up Black
(summary)
In the following book review, White praises both Jamaica Kincaid's novel Annie John and Shange's novel Betsey Brown for their representations of young African American women.
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Interview with Ntozake Shange
(summary)
In the following interview, Shange and Lyons discuss the controversies surrounding Shange's work, her approach to gender and race in her writing, and the evolution of her literary style, highlighting Shange's commitment to creating diverse narratives that reflect the complexities of identity and societal expectations.
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Distraught at Laughter: Monologue in Shange's Theatre Pieces
(summary)
In the following essay, Geis discusses Shange's use of language as an expression of African American women's experience in her performance pieces.
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Dancing Out of Form, Dancing into Self: Genre and Metaphor in Marshall, Shange, and Walker
(summary)
In the following essay, Waxman discusses the novels of Paule Marshall, Alice Walker, and Ntozake Shange in terms of the ways in which they incorporate dance forms and metaphors into their representations of African American women.
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I Live in Music
(summary)
In the following review of "I Live in Music," the reviewer emphasizes the musical elements of the poems and makes note of the "mixed-media art" by Bearden which complements the poems. This galvanic fusion of poetry and mixed-media art leads readers on a dreamy stroll through a jazz-and-blues-drenched universe, providing a synaesthetic text that imagines music through all the senses, while Bearden's collages offer a lyrical counterpart to Shange's verse.
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Liliane: Resurrection of the Daughter
(summary)
In the following review of Shange's novel Liliane, Elkind praises the way in which Shange, through her central character, "fleshes out … the complexities that Black women face in America, the divergent demands of feminism and the traditional roles of women in the Black community."
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A Life in Collage
(summary)
In the following review of Liliane, Sayers praises the collage structure of the narrative which combines conversations between Liliane and her psychotherapist with a first-person narrative by Liliane, her friends, and her lovers.
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Liliane
(summary)
In the following review of Liliane, Neilen praises the structure of the novel, which interweaves the main character's therapy sessions with the perspectives of her friends and lovers. She emphasizes that Liliane, although subject to racism and sexism, "emerges triumphant, able to forgive and forge a future that encompasses both art and love."
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'A Laying on of Hands': Transcending the City in Ntozake's Shange's for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf
(summary)
- Shange, Ntozake (Vol. 8)
- Further Reading