Oroonoko and The Fair Jilt

Kehinde Wiley, Morpheus, 2008, available from: http://www.creativityfuse.com/2011/01/the-striking-portraits-of-kehinde-wiley/morpheus-2008-oil-on-canvas-by-kehinde-wiley/

By Aphra Behn, ed. with an intro. by Paul Salzman, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994, pp. 3-74

Being bored by an author can be an uncomfortable experience.  Its far better to have read Aphra Behn than to be actively engaged in reading her.  Oroonoko is interesting as a historical document for a number of reasons, and I can see why this work makes its way onto many college syllabi.  Behn was a Restoration playwright, and Virginia Woolf named her as the first woman to make her living by her pen.  Oroonoko is the story of an African prince who falls in love with the beautiful Imoinda, and, after a many plot twists, they are sold into slavery and taken to Surinam, an English colony.  Oroonoko is renamed Caesar and Imoinda becomes Clemene.  Oroonoko has many qualities that are putatively attributed to his white overlords: he is intelligent, brave, noble, and a natural leader.  Oroonoko leads a slave revolt and when this is put down, he kills the willing Imoinda rather than have her endure the indignity of further enslavement.  In the last scene of the novella, Oroonoko smokes a pipe while is is beaten, tortured, and killed.

The Fair Jilt is about Miranda, an energetic  femme-fatale, who falls in love with a priest and when he spurns her, falsely accuses him of rape.  While the priest languishes in prison, Miranda convinces first her footman and then her husband to try and kill her sister, Alcidiana.  Yawn.  In both tales, the outlandish plots and lack of psychological insight make for a tedious read.  

I'm not sure how it fits with this blog post, but I felt a jolt of absolute exhilaration when I unearthed the pictures of Kehinde Wiley to illustrate this book.  I was feeling so depressed about not liking Behn, and then Wiley popped up in my browser.  He takes postures and visual motifs from the history of European painting and combines this with contemporary portraits of African-American men.  Yes!  This is what the world would look like if Titian, Hans Holbein, or Ingres came from the San Gabriel Valley in LA.  His work is very romantic, and Wiley's Morpheus makes a very fine Oroonoko.  Wiley's portraits are an externalization of my inner vision or a part of my imaginative life.  No wonder I started to freak out!  

One of my goals with this reading journal is to unwind my responses to art.  I want to explore the distinct pleasures found in books and understand how that's different from looking at art or attending the ballet.  Books prompt a contemplative pleasure in which the images on the page thread back and forth with images in my mind.  Books change my mood, introduce me to new emotions, and deepen the feelings that I already experience.  On the other hand, pictures like Wiley's offer an immediate recognition that leaves behind such joy.  Visual works prompt a visceral reaction (a small explosion of happiness) that sets off a game of matching: I connect the art before me with the paintings, sculptures, and installations that I've studied before.