Surfaces and Masks

A book-length poem by an African-American author that uses the city of Venice as its backdrop, considering issues of racial and national identity. By the author of My Amputations.

In Surfaces and Masks, Clarence Major becomes heir to the great tradition of the “American-goes-to-Europe” novels of James and Twain. Major is a pointillist, impressionist, and breakneck historian, creating a tapestry that utilizes and satirizes his chosen subject, Venice. With the same unstoppable intelligence that inspired his award-winning novel, My Amputations, he creates a thoroughly modern picture of this glittering, grandiose swamp. A multifaceted portrait in a funhouse mirror, Surfaces and Masks becomes a reevaluation of what it means to be an American and a Black writer in this century, while surrounded by the decay of the past.

Here is a journal of a journey to Venice, enthusiastically conveyed by a sensitive young writer who blends a contemporary American idiom with a plethora of evocative Italian names that conjure up Venetian history, art, and literature. The author races from one impression to another, enjoying the sights, the bars, the encounters but only occasionally pausing for any profound considerations. Consequently, achieved poetry exists only in a few poems, as when green ducks "are caught/ in midair/ by my wonderment,/ and remain bright/ as dandelions," or "flowers lose their aromatic ability/ to whisper names." As for style, the "free-wheeling abandon" that other critics have noted applies here. This is a work to read once with nostalgia and enjoyment, but once only. Daisy Aldan, Steiner Inst., Thomas Coll., Me.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.