Bellocq's Ophelia: Poems | Natasha Trethewey | A complete novel told in a series of verses

Bellocq's Ophelia: Poems | Natasha Trethewey | Rare is the book that is too short.

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Bellocq's Ophelia:...

	Bellocq's Ophelia: Poems Natasha Trethewey Graywolf Press, 2002 - 64 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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Selected as a "2003 Notable Book" by the American Library AssociationIn the early 1900s, E.J. Bellocq photographed prostitutes in the red-light district of New Orleans. His remarkable, candid photos inspired Natasha Trethewey to imagine the life of Ophelia, the subject of her stunning second collection of poems. With elegant precision, Ophelia tells of her life on display: her white father whose approval she earns by standing very still; the brothel Madame who tells her to act like a statue while the gentlemen callers choose; and finally the camera, which not only captures her body, but also offers a glimpse into her soul.

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A complete novel told in a series of verses

Bellocq's Ophelia by Natasha Trethewey is a complete novel told in a series of verses inspired by the early 1900 E. J. Bellocq photographs of prostitutes in the red-light district of new Orleans. Bellocq's Ophelia is the imaginative and original tale of a woman who's brothel Madame tells her to act like statue on display for the male patrons of the establishment. Bellocq - April 1911: There comes a quiet man now to my room--/Papa Bellocq, his camera on his back./He wants nothing, he says, but to take me/as I would arrange myself, fully clothed--/a brooch at my throat, my white hat angled/just so--or not, the smooth map of my flesh/awash in afternoon light. In my rom/everything's a prop for his composition--/brass spittoon in the corner, the silver/mirror, brush and comb of my toilette./I try to pose as I think he would like--shy/at first, then bolder. I'm not so foolish/that I don't know this photograph we make/will bear the stamp of his name, not mine.

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Rare is the book that is too short.

Natasha Trethewey, Bellocq's Ophelia (Graywolf Press, 2002)

A very slim volume, this, running under forty pages; it's more of a chapbook than a book, or would be had not Graywolf poured a professional amount of money into its publication. Whether the work deserved it or not is, of course, subject to argument (as it is with all books of poetry); but I get the feeling that even the most hardcore reader and collector of poetry is going to have a hard time shelling out the average price of a book of poetry-- already far greater, in terms of pennies per page, than it is for a novel or a piece of nonfiction-- for a book about half the size of an average single-author collection.

The poems themselves are interesting, and make for quite good reading overall. Trethewey, inspired by E. J. Bellocq's photographs of a Louisiana prostitute, imagines herself from the girl's perspective, first in a series of letters to an old friend at home, then in the girl's diary. If Trethewey's mission here was to show that Ophelia was an individual, a human being, rather than just a prostitute or just a photographic subject, she succeeded nicely; phelia's voice is a strong one, and will stay with the reader after the book is finished. I just wish there had been more of that voice. ***

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