ENCW 205: Art & Identity in New Orleans

While I know the blog posts aren’t supposed to mainly be about the quality of the works, I did want to say that I really enjoyed this book.  The whole concept was very interesting. Natasha Trethewey’s decision to take Bellocq’s photo and create a story from Ophelia’s POV is in approach I haven’t seen before. […]

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Bellocq’s Ophelia is a poetry collection about a biracial prostitute named Ophelia or Violet in a New Orleans brothel. The name Ophelia echoes the character in Shakespeare’s Hamlet named Ophelia, a young woman who goes mad and ends up killing herself. Natasha Trethewey’s collection is about self-identity and the search to find oneself while struggling through the worst the […]

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In this poem, Bellocq is once again in Ophelia’s room. He’s there to take another picture of her, nothing else. They are more familiar with each other at this point in the collection, with her referring to him as “Papá Bellocq”. She’s started seeing him as a father figure or mentor of sorts. Ophelia has […]

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I really enjoyed this book as a whole but in her letter to her friend from February 1911 really stuck out to me. This poem really resonated with me as Ophelia sort of explains herself to her friend. She explains how different clients utilize her time and how she has moments of reflection as remembrance as […]

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I think that this piece in particular does well at representing the overarching purpose of the book. By ending with the line “and I fade again into someone I’m not.” it’s presented very clearly that this character is desperate to be seen beyond what is written of her and shown. To humanize this character of Ophelia/Violet […]

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Father – February 1911 “There is but little I recall of him – how I feared his visits, though he would bring gifts: apples, candy, a toothbrush, and powder. In exchange, I must present fingernails and ears, and open my mouth to show the teeth. Then I’d recite my lessons, my voice low. I would […]

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The poem book Bellocq’s Ophelia, by Natasha Tretheway, is a creative writing piece about the prostitutes of New Orleans throughout the 20th century. Tretheway created this book by looking at 20th century photos of prostitutes in New Orleans and from these photos, Tretheway gave these women a story that went beyond their job occupation. This […]

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I usually don’t enjoy poems, but each poem from Natasha Trethewey’s collection I found particularly captivating. In this book, there are a variety of poems inspired by photographs of E.J. Bellocq. The book explores the life of a mixed-race prostitute named Ophelia in New Orleans during the early 1900’s. The poems focus on the themes […]

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In Natasha Trethewey’s “Bellocq’s Ophelia”, themes of representation and identity resonate prominently, shedding light on the complex lives of women like the Ophelia presented in this instance who lived in the margins of society during the early 20th century. Through verses encompassing vivid imagery and parallels to other characters in literature, Trethewey explores the intricate […]

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Natasha Tretheway’s poem “Photograph of a Bawd Drinking Raleigh Rye” mostly describes a prostitute in one of E.J. Bellocq’s photographs of the same name. It ranges from her clothes, to her hair, to her surroundings. Tretheway comments on her necklace, armpit hair, and even the roundness of her cheeks. As a prostitute, she is accustomed […]

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The following except from the book reminds me of Blanche from “A Streetcar Named Desire”: “I wear my best silk gown for the picture— white silk with seed pearls and ostrich feathers— my hair in a loose chignon. Behind me, Bellocq’s black scrim just covers the laundry— tea towels, bleached and frayed, drying on the […]

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