Jess A. Goldberg, "Abolition Time: Grammars of Law, Poetics of Justice" (U Minnesota Press, 2024)
New Books in Critical Theory
Deep Dive
How did Jess A. Goldberg come to the topic of abolition in their book 'Abolition Time'?
Goldberg's interest in abolition grew from their work in social justice, critical race theory, and their experiences teaching in prisons and working with grassroots prison abolitionist campaigns. Their intellectual obsession with the Zong Massacre, a historical event where enslaved people were thrown overboard for insurance money, further grounded their focus on abolition through literary studies.
What does Jess A. Goldberg mean by 'abolition'?
Abolition, for Goldberg, is the complete undoing of all hierarchical systems that enable carcerality and penal retributive justice. It involves both the destruction of systems like prisons and capitalism, and the building of alternative, life-sustaining structures. Both destruction and building must happen simultaneously to ensure no one is left to suffer in the process.
How does Jess A. Goldberg define 'grammars of law' and 'poetics of justice'?
Grammars of law refer to the ordering forces of language and law that impose a linear, event-bound conception of justice. Poetics of justice, on the other hand, are aesthetic moments in literature that disrupt this order, encouraging disorderly thinking that opens up new conceptions of justice.
How does Claudia Rankine's 'Citizen' exemplify the poetics of justice through accumulation?
In 'Citizen,' Rankine uses the pronoun 'you' to constantly reposition the reader in different racialized subject positions, creating a polyvocal accumulation of perspectives. This accumulation leads to a rupture in the reader's understanding, forcing them to question the conditions of possibility for racism and justice.
How does M. Nderbece Philip's 'Zong' demonstrate the concept of perforation in 'Abolition Time'?
In 'Zong,' Philip uses poetry to tear apart the legal archive of the Zong Massacre, undoing its logics of property and murder. However, the poetry remains implicated in the legal archive it seeks to undo, showing that poetics of justice often inhabit the grammars of law they aim to dismantle.
Why does Jess A. Goldberg include an interlude about Eric Garner in 'Abolition Time'?
The interlude about Eric Garner serves to remind readers of the limitations of literary studies in achieving real justice. It emphasizes that abolition is a material struggle over life and death, not just a discursive battle. The interlude also reflects Goldberg's personal shift from reformist thinking to abolitionism after witnessing Garner's murder.
What is the poetics of witnessing in 'Abolition Time'?
The poetics of witnessing explores how literary texts model witnessing as a failure to bring immediate justice, but as a portal to ethical action. It emphasizes the importance of risk in moving from recognition of injustice to doing justice work, as seen in texts like Fred D'Aguiar's 'Feeding the Ghosts' and Toni Morrison's 'A Mercy'.
How does Toni Morrison's 'A Mercy' question the ethics of reading in 'Abolition Time'?
In 'A Mercy,' Morrison challenges readers to question their ability to read and interpret the text. The novel uses irregular language and narrative structures to unsettle the reader's sense of mastery, emphasizing that ethics is about perpetual questioning rather than arriving at definitive answers.
How does Angelina Weld Grimké's play 'Rachel' engage with the concept of unmothering gender in 'Abolition Time'?
In 'Rachel,' the titular character refuses to be a biological mother due to the violence faced by Black children, but insists on being a non-biological mother figure. This unmothering of gender challenges traditional notions of Black womanhood while sustaining a form of futurity and care for Black children.
How does teaching influence Jess A. Goldberg's approach to literary criticism in 'Abolition Time'?
Teaching allows Goldberg to engage with students in real-time discussions about texts, challenging uniform interpretations and exploring unruly possibilities within the texts. This classroom experience helps Goldberg refine their literary criticism, emphasizing the importance of close reading and formalist analysis in thinking towards justice.
- Black Atlantic literature disrupts the grammar of law and order
- These texts propose nonlinear theories of time
- They imagine a queer relationality characterized by care
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