A War of Eyes: And Other Stories

Wanda Coleman's "A War of Eyes and Other Stories" plunges the reader into some really sordid and/or tragic tales from urban African-American life. There is a lot of sex, profanity, and violence (with an emphasis on black-on-black violence). She also deals with such topics as gambling, illegal drugs, racial tension, and sexual dysfunction. The stories range from short 1- or 2-page character studies to the longest story, which is about 20 pages long. Throughout the book Coleman masterfully captures the rhythms of black vernacular English.Some of the most vivid selections in the book are as follows: "Ladies," about an encounter between two black women, a professional counselor and a woman mired in poverty; "The Scream," a subtly horrific tale; "The Friday Night Shift at the Taco House Blues (Wah-Wah)," which is basically a slice from the life of an urban fast-food restaurant; and "Word Monkey," a richly ironic story about a black writer of the pimp-and-junky genre. But the most stunning story is the longest one, "Big Dreams," an intense study of a woman pursuing a dream.With her raw, unapologetic style and subject matter, Coleman reminds me somewhat of Charles Bukowski, but her work is very much rooted in African-American female experience. But another author I would compare her to is Poe: many of Coleman's stories are truly horror stories. But her horror is not supernatural; rather, it is firmly rooted in urban reality, with its violence and socioeconomic pressure. Coleman is a writer from the edge whose work has real power.

When someone's work is usually referred to as visceral, the person doing the name-calling is usually referring to something ravagingly daring and unapologetic in the wor or the author's voice. In no other case is this more clear than in the work of Coleman. She strangles a common story's possible endings and finds the one most compelling one for her voice until it screams, and does so in fewer pages than most lauded authors. Her poems do this all the time, but her stories are gut-punches of the highest, most unforgiving literary tradition. The most astounding thing about her abilities is that she does so while not making the work trashy or for mere effect. Not for the meek of mind.

This book came out a while ago. I read it and I thought, here's a writer as pure as James Purdy, as hip and relevant as Mary Gaitskill or Gary Indiana. Why haven't I heard of her? I thought she just did poetry. Many authors write books of short stories that are great, yet never have I read an author that has covered as much ground as Coleman in War of Eyes. I read it and I thought, how did she not lose her mind? What I love the most about her short stories is how they have many beats. So many things happen in one story you wonder how she gets from A to Z so flawlessly and so beautifully without any self consciousness. I hesitate to compare her to other black writers like Toni Morrison and Jamaica Kinkaid because she trancends their P.C. conceits so ferociously that she should only be compared to the greatest writers of all time, regardless of race. Wanda Coleman is FIERCE.