![]() ![]() With her charcoal and sketch pad always at the ready, she extracts and enhances the beauty that surrounds her. Joan, the first of four main female characters, introduces the reader to the world of Memphis from her view as a young artist. Each passage of the book is a testament to Stringfellow taking her time to make arguments that upend the traditional standards of beauty, so that her characters, and presumably her readers, may both see their own value. Beauty is not the only essence of Blackness worth capturing, but Stringfellow’s emphasis lies in how she imbues every moment of the novel with the highest value. Dark skin is repeatedly adored and desired by the women of the book, beginning with ten-year-old Joan who admires the darkness of her aunt and wishes she herself were darker. She highlights the importance of acknowledging Black beauty as it exists on its own, and how it prevails in the face of adversity. ![]() Stringfellow manages to avoid those trappings while also separating Blackness from trauma, two things also too often paired and fetishized in pop culture and media. The brutality of life strips beauty away so quickly and so permanently that storytellers often pair beauty with trauma as if they are two sides of the same coin. ![]() Stringfellow’s newest novel, Memphis, captures the beauty of Black culture and how beauty is perceived by her characters. ![]()
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