Reading the Hieroglyph: The Em Dash in Action Public

Abstract

This project is a literary account of the position of black women in with society. Occupying the space of a fundamental nothing that cannot be recovered, the figure of the black woman is of the hieroglyph, or the em dash (—). As such, black women exist in a space of indeterminacy that defines their existence. Using literary analysis methodologies, this text reads Richard Wright’s Native Son for an image of the violence that exposes the hieroglyph, and Toi Derricotte’s poem, “On the Turning Up of Unidentified Black Female Corpses,” to discover the nuances of the hieroglyph. This project is a radical re—formulation of our relation to language, our signifiers of existence. 

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Analytics of the Hieroglyph; or the —………………………………………..1

Chapter 1:  Exposure of the Hieroglyph………………………………………………………....12

Chapter 2: Wonders of the Hieroglyph…………………………………………………………..36

Conclusion: Moving Forward……………………………………………………………………53

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………...…...56

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Comparative Literature
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Philosophy Literature, Comparative African American Studies
Mot-clé	Afropessimism
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Calvin Warren, Emory University
Committee Members	Axelle Karera, Emory University Maria Carrión, Emory University

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