Siren Spirits

Ngozi Onwurah's "White Men Are Cracking Up" uses a murder mystery to explore the legacies of British colonialism and the exoticization of Black women. Using magic realism, "Memsahib Rita" by Pratibha Parmar looks at the physical and emotional violence of racism. Shanti is haunted by both the racist taunts of nationalist white youths and the memory of her white mother. Dani Williamson's "Get Me to the Crematorium on Time" is a moving portrait of undying love and grief. When her husband of twenty years dies, Bonetta is overcome by her loss and is taken to a mental hospital; but she knows she must escape to get to the crematorium to say farewell to the man with whom she has shared her life. In Frances-Anne Solomon's "Bideshi" a 50-year-old Bengali man lies in a coma in hospital, his soul stuck in a dark tunnel near death, until a resolution of his conflict with his daughter liberates his spirit.