Affiliates
| Works by
Essex Hemphill
(Writer)
[1957 - 1995, of AIDS-related complications] |
| Profile created December 27, 2006 |
Conditions: Poems (1986) Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men
(1991) with
Joseph Beam (published posthumously) --
Winner of the 1991 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men's Nonfiction
Anthologies
Believing that the "gay community . . . operates from a
one-eyed, one gender, one color without hyphens. or perception of
community ," Beam and Hemphill have compiled a volume of writings that
address the emerging black gay sensibility in all of its glory, pain and
promise. The strength of the book's politics, however, is undermined by
offerings of dubious literary merit. Generally, the short fiction is only
adequately written, depicting young closeted men afraid to come out to
their abusive parents and peers. One exception is John Keene Jr.'s "Adelphus
King," a sweet tale about a man who falls head over heels for his cousin's
boyfriend, a charismatic jazz musician. The poems in the collection speak
routinely about sex and love; the most touching deal with the loss of
loved ones to AIDS. By far, the most satisfying writing is Ron Simmons's
incisive "Some thoughts on challenges facing black gay intellectuals,"
which exposes the homophobic views of many black writers and calls for the
development of "an affirming and liberating philosophical understanding of
homosexuality that will self-actualize black gay genius." Hemphill is a
poet; Beam, who edited In the Life , died in 1988. -- Publisher's
Weekly and
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Ceremonies: Prose and Poetry
(1992)
New edition of the landmark collection of verse and commentary by one of
the most provocative African American gay authors since James Baldwin.
Winner of the 1993 American Library Association's Gay, Lesbian, and
Bisexual Book Award, Ceremonies tackles cultural controversy with
remarkable force and clarity. Whether he is addressing love between men,
AIDS in the African American community, racism among white gay artists,
coming home or coming out, Hemphill's insights give voice to a generation
of men silenced by fears of reprisal and rejection. Born in Chicago in
1957, Essex Hemphill was raised in Washington, D.C. before settling in
Philadelphia as a poet, writer, and activist. His earliest work appeared
in Earth Life (1985) and Conditions (1986), however, it was Joseph Beam's
groundbreaking anthology of gay African American writing, In the Life
(1986), that launched Hemphill into the literary world.
Following Beam's AIDS-related death in 1988, Hemphill
assumed editorial responsibilities of the planned sequel, Brother to
Brother, which later won a Lambda Literary Award in 1991. Hemphill's own
collection of writings--many of them addressing controversial topics such
as the sexual objectification of black gay men, homosexuality in the
African American community, and intergenerational sex-- appeared the next
year under the title Ceremonies, winner of the 1993 American Library
Association's Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Book Award.
Hemphill reached perhaps his widest audience through film.
Beginning in 1985 with the Marlon Riggs documentary Tongues Untied,
Hemphill and his work appeared in a series of movies, including Looking
for Langston (1989) and Black Is/Black Ain't (1995). Commenting on
Hemphill's impact on the cultural movement among African American gay men
of the 1980s, Riggs remarked, "No voice speaks with more eloquent,
thought-provoking clarity about contemporary Black gay life than that of
Essex Hemphill."
Yet his work also speaks to women across lines of sexual
orientation. In his introduction to the Cleis Press edition of Ceremonies,
critic Charles I. Nero writes, "I am reminded just how much Hemphill was
indebted to politicized black women when I hear in his work echoes of
Ntozake Shange, Barbara Smith, Audre Lorde, and bell hooks." Indeed, these
feminist influences resonate in poems such as "To Some Supposed Brothers",
in which Hemphill writes, "We so-called men, we so-called brothers wonder
why it's so hard to love our women when we're about loving them the way
America loves us."
Hemphill's work additionally appears in Gay & Lesbian
Poetry in Our Time, The Road Before Us, and Erotique Noire/Black Erotica,
as well as having been published in The Advocate, Essence, Callaloo, and
The James White Review among others. He died of complications related to
HIV/AIDS in 1995.
| |
| Related Topics Click any of the following links for more information on similar topics of interest in relation to this page.
Essex Hemphill
Is Listed As A Favorite Of
(Alphabetical Order
By First Name)
Tommi Avicolli
Mecca |
