A Tune A Day For Violin Book 1

The critically acclaimed author of In the Wake, "Christina Sharpe is a brilliant thinker who attends unflinchingly to the brutality of our current arrangements . . . & yet always finds a way to beauty & possibility" (Saidiya Hartman). A singular achievement, Ordinary Notes explores profound questions about loss & the shapes of Black life that emerge in the wake. In a series of 248 notes that gather meaning as we read them, Christina Sharpe skillfully weaves artifacts from the past—public ones alongside others that are poignantly personal—with present realities & possible futures, intricately constructing an immersive portrait of everyday Black existence. The themes & tones that echo through these pages, sometimes about language, beauty, memory; sometimes about history, art, photography, & literature—always attend, with exquisite care, to the ordinary-extraordinary dimensions of Black life. At the heart of Ordinary Notes is the indelible presence of the author’s mother, Ida Wright Sharpe. “I learned to see in my mother’s house,” writes Sharpe. “I learned how not to see in my mother’s house . . . My mother gifted me a love of beauty, a love of words.” Using these gifts & other ways of seeing, Sharpe steadily summons a chorus of voices & experiences to the page. She practices an aesthetic of "beauty as a method,” collects entries from a community of thinkers toward a “Dictionary of Untranslatable Blackness,” & rigorously examines sites of memory & memorial. And in the process, she forges a brilliant new literary form, as multivalent as the ways of Black being it traces. WINNER OF THE 2023 HILARY WESTON WRITERS' TRUST PRIZE FOR NONFICTION • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD A dazzlingly inventive, deeply moving, intellectually bracing exploration of pain and beauty, private memory and public monument, art and complexity in contemporary Black life. “I wanted to write about silences and terror and acts that hover over generations, over centuries. I began by writing about my mother and grandmother.” —from “Note 18” in Ordinary Notes A singular achievement, Ordinary Notes explores with immense care profound questions about loss, and the shapes of Black life that emerge in the wake. In a series of 248 brief and urgent notes that gather meaning as we read them, Christina Sharpe skillfully weaves artifacts from the past—public ones alongside others that are poignantly personal—with present-day realities and possible futures, intricately constructing an immersive portrait of everyday Black existence. Through the striking images and words in these pages, themes and tones echo: sometimes about life, art, language, beauty, memory; sometimes about history, photography, and literature—but always attending, with exquisite care, to the ordinary-extraordinary dimensions of Black life. At the heart of Ordinary Notes is the indelible presence of the author’s mother, Ida Wright Sharpe. “I learned to see in my mother’s house,” writes Sharpe. “I learned how not to see in my mother’s house . . . My mother gifted me a love of beauty, a love of words.” Using these and other gifts and ways of seeing, Sharpe steadily summons a chorus of voices and experiences to become present on the page. She articulates and follows an aesthetic of "beauty as a method,” collects entries from a community of thinkers towards a “Dictionary of Untranslatable Blackness,” and rigorously examines sites of memory and memorial. And in the process, she forges a new literary form, as multivalent as the ways of Black being it traces. A singular achievement, Ordinary Notes explores profound questions about loss and the shapes of Black life that emerge in the wake. In a series of 248 notes that gather meaning as we read them, Christina Sharpe skillfully weaves artifacts from the past--public ones alongside others that are poignantly personal--with present realities and possible futures, intricately constructing an immersive portrait of everyday Black existence. The themes and tones that echo through these pages, sometimes about language, beauty, memory; sometimes about history, art, photography, and literature--always attend, with exquisite care, to the ordinary-extraordinary dimensions of Black life. At the heart of Ordinary Notes is the indelible presence of the author's mother, Ida Wright Sharpe. "I learned to see in my mother's house," writes Sharpe. "I learned how not to see in my mother's house . . . My mother gifted me a love of beauty, a love of words." Using these gifts and other ways of seeing, Sharpe steadily summons a chorus of voices and experiences to the page. She practices an aesthetic of "beauty as a method," collects entries from a community of thinkers toward a "Dictionary of Untranslatable Blackness," and rigorously examines sites of memory and memorial. And in the process, she forges a brilliant new literary form, as multivalent as the ways of Black being it traces. "A dazzlingly inventive and powerful exploration of Black life, in stunning words and visuals, by the renowned author of In the Wake. “These Black notes may land in silence or a tone, a sound, a pitch, a record, or an observation made with care; these notes might just reach you across distance, time, and space and with them you may be ‘held/and held.’” Christina Sharpe's Ordinary Notes offers a unique and indelible vision of Black life, art, language, beauty, and memory. Its more than three hundred notes collect into startling, rigorously constructed, beautiful layers, ranging across history, photography, and literature to attend to everyday Black existence. Sharpe’s consideration of Black life’s ordinary-extraordinary dimensions shape-shifts through her mother’s aesthetic of "beauty as a method," gathers entries toward a Dictionary of Untranslatable Blackness, and probes sites of memory and memorials. A singular achievement, Ordinary Notes explores with immense care profound questions about loss and the shapes of Black life that emerge from the ruins, forging a new literary form as multivalent as the ways of Black being it traces."-- Provided by publisher These Black notes may land in silence or a tone, a sound, a pitch, a record, or an observation made with care; these notes might just reach you across distance, time, and space and with them you may be "held/and held." Christina Sharpe's Ordinary Notes is a dazzlingly inventive and powerful exploration of Black life, art, language, beauty, and memory. Its more than three hundred notes collect into startling, rigorously constructed, beautiful layers, ranging across history, photography, and literature to attend to everyday Black existence. Sharpe’s consideration of Black life’s ordinary-extraordinary dimensions shape-shifts through her mother’s aesthetic of beauty as a method, gathers entries toward a dictionary of untranslatable Blackness, and probes sites of memory and memorials. A singular achievement, Ordinary Notes explores profound questions about loss and the shapes of Black life that emerge from the ruins, forging a new literary form as multivalent as the ways of Black being it traces. The result is a multiverse of immense care, feeling, and study. __These Black notes may land in silence or a tone, a sound, a pitch, a record, or an observation made with care; these notes might just reach you across distance, time, and space and with them you may be "held/and held."____Ordinary____Notes____Ordinary Notes__ Told through a series of 248 notes, this volume explores profound questions about loss and the shapes of Black life that emerge in the wake of it, touching upon such themes as language, beauty, memory, history and literature