Hilton Als, a writer for The New Yorker, has written a book that is a peculiar combination of biography, cultural analysis, and autobiography. This is a fancy way of saying that that the book is unclassifyable; not necessairly a bad thing.
The Women begins by defining "Negress", a personality type - usually, but not always, a black female - described as "a romantic wedded to despair". The rest of the book analyzes serveral Negresses: Als' mother, the mother of Malcolm X, Dorothy Dean (a staple figure in the NYC gay scene of the 1950s and 60s), Owen Dodson (a poet and dramatist), and, along the way, Als himself. All of these figures have had to deal with the problems of being a black American, and most have experienced the double oppression of being homosexual and/or female.
Als paints his subjects in gritty, realistic colors, never shying away from unpleasant or grotesque truths. No firm conclusions are reached in these all-too-brief 145 pages, but each page is filled with insights that will stick with you long after you close the book. At times full of the obscure prose that The New Yorker has perfected, The Women is not for everyone. However, having said that, if you are looking for supurb cultural criticism with a personal touch, pick up this book.
This review originally appeared in The Weekly Alibi.
© Todd Meigs
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