Danticat’s Dangerous Creation

Does anyone dare to create a body of work that touches the mind as well as the soul? Are there authors brave enough to expose the complexity of their society, in essence can they “create dangerously?” In a recent Uncanny X-Force, Wolverine and Fantomex banter on the originator of the quote “wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it.” Perhaps Ben Franklin is an unusual source for uniformed-clad mutants to argue over, still it says something about both men and more importantly the writer Rick Remender.

By having one of the coolest characters of the written word, never mind the marvel universe be able to suggest Hemingway’s writing sensibility is related to Franklin’s can we say that Remender is creating dangerously? What about Phobus (son of Aries) in Secret Warriors when he battles his way through a barrage of secret service men to write a letter to the president? What are the writers commenting on, our government, and how their actions have monumental consequences that can affect even gods and demigods?

Although these are fictional accounts, they grab the attention of the reader. They dare to respond to Albert Camus’ directive to “create dangerously.” That is what Edwidge Danticat does in her latest work of the same name.

Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work is a compilation of non-fiction works, some from other publications that discuss the immigrant artist and their relationship to their home and adopted countries. Read separately they may resonate with the reader, however, as a collective the reader will run the gamut of emotions from being thoughtful to anger to tears.

Out of the twelve chapters in this book readers will get the chance to experience the point-of-view of an unobtrusive writer who even when she writes from her own immigrant experience gets out of the way and allows the reader to take her place. When she writes about her first encounter with the Haitian writer Marie Vieux-Chavet’s work in the public library in New York, one can easily place themselves in that first experience where a book or a record picked up, perhaps by chance changed your life.

Along the way you also learn about the plight of Haitians that were caught up in the Duvalier regimes, men and women who by circumstance or determination were inspirations for what Danticat calls “the power of the hushed chorus of other readers.”

One of the more heart wrenching chapters is “I Speak Out” where Danticat chronicles the story of Alerte Belance and how she became the visual for the need to not be silenced. The emotional build reaches a crescendo when you see the words said by her son as to how Belance looked after her beating by machete – you couldn’t have a soul if you did not shed a few tears over this boys simple statement.

That’s the way Danticat writes – by manipulating your emotions and making you reflect why it affects you the way it does.

So is creating dangerously still relevant? Better yet, do you have the guts to read these creations?