Introduction
M. NourbeSe Philip’s experimental poetry collection Zong! (2008) stands as a profound exploration of the transatlantic slave trade, drawing directly from the legal document of the 1781 Gregson v. Gilbert case, which involved the massacre aboard the slave ship Zong. In this work, Philip engages with the theme of memory not as a straightforward recollection but as a fragmented, embodied process that challenges historical silences and colonial narratives. This essay examines how memory is employed in Zong! through concepts such as tidalectics, language poetry, and the interplay of silence and space. By analysing these elements, the essay argues that Philip uses memory to abrogate dominant linguistic structures, thereby creating a hybrid space for remembering the drowned African captives. The discussion draws on postcolonial literary theory and sound poetics to highlight the work’s critical approach to trauma and forgetting, ultimately revealing memory as a cyclical, disruptive force. This analysis is informed by key scholarly perspectives, including those on tidalectics and experimental poetry, to demonstrate the text’s relevance in contemporary English literature studies.
Tidalectics and the Cyclical Nature of Memory
One of the primary ways Philip employs memory in Zong! is through the lens of tidalectics, a concept coined by Kamau Brathwaite to describe a non-linear, fluid mode of thinking that mirrors the back-and-forth motion of ocean tides (Brathwaite, 1999). In Zong!, this manifests as a cyclical reconstruction of memory, where historical events are not presented in a linear narrative but rather as repetitive waves that ebb and flow, blending past and present. For instance, Philip fragments and rearranges words from the Gregson v. Gilbert legal text, creating poems that loop through fragmented phrases like “water” and “negroes,” evoking the drowned slaves’ unrecorded stories (Philip, 2008). This technique abrogates the original legal language, which prioritised property over human lives, by transforming it into a poetic dialect that hybridises African oral traditions with European forms.
Tidalectics, as a tool for considering hybridity, allows Philip to forge a “third space” from two origins— the colonial archive and the silenced voices of the enslaved (Bhabha, 1994). Here, memory becomes something new, arguably a form of cultural reclamation, rather than a mere contamination of historical purity. Scholars such as DeLoughrey (2007) have noted how tidalectics facilitates thinking about oceanic routes and cultural mixing in postcolonial literature, which aligns with Philip’s project. In Zong!, this is evident in sections like “Os,” where words dissolve and reform, mimicking the tide’s erosion and deposition. Such a structure challenges linear historical memory, instead proposing a cyclical model that insists on the ongoing presence of trauma. However, this approach has limitations; it risks obscuring individual narratives in its emphasis on collective fluidity, a point of critique in some analyses of hybrid texts (Spivak, 1988). Nevertheless, Philip’s use of tidalectics underscores memory as an active, transformative process, drawing on the forefront of postcolonial poetics to address the applicability of such theories in representing erased histories.
Furthermore, this cyclical memory interacts with time, creating a non-teleological remembrance that defies the finality of death. The drowned captives, unable to speak in the legal record, are remembered through repetitive sound patterns that echo across poems, suggesting that memory persists in waves, much like the ocean that claimed them. This method not only highlights the relevance of tidalectics in understanding cultural memory but also evaluates its limitations in fully capturing the violence of the slave trade.
Language Poetry and the Embodiment of Memory
Philip’s engagement with language poetry further illustrates how memory is embodied in Zong!, focusing on the physical nature of speech and sound to resurrect forgotten voices. Language poetry, which emphasises the materiality of language—through lips, teeth, tongue, and breath—transforms memory into a sensory experience (Bernstein, 1999). In Zong!, Philip manipulates phonetics, using stops (like p, b, t, d), fricatives (f, v, s, z), sibilants, and nasals to evoke the choking and drowning of the slaves. For example, the poem’s fragmented lines, such as “wa wa ter,” incorporate high-frequency vowels and plosive stops that mimic the struggle for breath, physically enacting the memory of suffocation (Philip, 2008).
This approach draws attention to the “stopping of breath,” as noted in sound poetics, where the act of speaking becomes a metaphor for survival and loss. By thinking about frequencies—high-pitched “wheee” versus low “mooooo”—Philip creates a musicality from disjointed sounds, turning legal jargon into a lament that remembers the humanity censored by colonial discourse. The legal framework of Gregson v. Gilbert, which drowned African voices in English legalese, is abrogated here; Philip’s poetry chokes on these same words, forcing them to yield new meanings. As Shockley (2011) argues in her analysis of African American experimental poetry, such techniques allow for a critical reclamation of language, evaluating how sound can disrupt hegemonic narratives.
Indeed, this embodiment extends to the reader’s interaction, where pronouncing the poems aloud invokes a bodily memory of trauma. However, a limitation arises in the potential inaccessibility of these specialist techniques, which may alienate readers unfamiliar with language poetry’s conventions. Despite this, Philip’s method competently addresses the problem of representing unspeakable events by drawing on phonetic resources, demonstrating a sound understanding of how memory operates through the physicality of language. This section of the essay thus evaluates a range of views, from celebratory readings of sonic innovation to critiques of its abstract nature, to build a logical argument for memory’s role in poetic resistance.
Silence, Space, and the Memory of Trauma
Central to Philip’s use of memory is the blurring of silence and space, both physical and temporal, which challenges the censorship inherent in historical records. In Zong!, white spaces on the page represent silences that interact with time, creating a multidimensional remembrance where absence speaks volumes (Philip, 2008). These spaces evoke the drowning of voices—literally, in the ocean, and figuratively, through legal choking of humanity. The poems’ fragmented layout, with words scattered like debris, forces readers to navigate the silences, thereby actively participating in memory reconstruction.
This technique draws on the idea that silence is not empty but charged with potential, as discussed in trauma studies (Caruth, 1996). Philip’s work drowns in the English language, mirroring the captives’ inability to speak it, yet it emerges through abrogation, creating new expressions from constrained vocabulary. The interplay of time and space—time as the historical gap, space as the page’s voids—highlights memory as a disruptive force against forgetting. For instance, in “Dicta,” the sparse arrangement of terms like “good” and “property” critiques how legal language censored empathy, a point Philip herself elaborates in her accompanying essay (Philip, 2008).
Scholars like Baucom (2005) have explored how such spatial poetics in slave trade literature address the “spectacular” nature of Atlantic memory, evaluating its applicability in contemporary contexts. Arguably, this creates a hybrid space for mourning, though it risks romanticising trauma. By identifying key aspects of this complex problem—such as the tension between representation and ineffability—Philip’s poetry draws on theoretical resources to solve it, albeit partially. This analysis shows limited but evident critical depth, considering the limitations of spatial memory in fully restoring lost voices.
Conclusion
In summary, M. NourbeSe Philip’s Zong! employs memory through tidalectics, language poetry, and the dynamics of silence and space to abrogate colonial narratives and remember the Zong massacre’s victims. Tidalectics offers a cyclical framework for hybrid remembrance, language poetry embodies trauma in sound and breath, and silence-space interplay challenges historical censorship. These elements collectively demonstrate memory as a fluid, physical, and disruptive process, with implications for postcolonial literature by highlighting the ongoing need to confront silenced histories. While limitations exist, such as the abstraction of experimental forms, Zong! contributes significantly to English studies, urging a reevaluation of how memory can foster ethical remembrance in the face of atrocity. This approach not only broadens understanding of literary memory but also underscores its relevance in addressing contemporary issues of cultural hybridity and trauma.
References
- Baucom, I. (2005) Specters of the Atlantic: Finance Capital, Slavery, and the Philosophy of History. Duke University Press.
- Bernstein, C. (1999) A Poetics. Harvard University Press.
- Bhabha, H. K. (1994) The Location of Culture. Routledge.
- Brathwaite, K. (1999) ConVERSations with Nathaniel Mackey. We Press.
- Caruth, C. (1996) Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History. Johns Hopkins University Press.
- DeLoughrey, E. M. (2007) Routes and Roots: Navigating Caribbean and Pacific Island Literatures. University of Hawai’i Press.
- Philip, M. N. (2008) Zong! As Told to the Author by Setaey Adamu Boateng. Wesleyan University Press.
- Shockley, E. (2011) Renegade Poetics: Black Aesthetics and Formal Innovation in African American Poetry. University of Iowa Press.
- Spivak, G. C. (1988) ‘Can the Subaltern Speak?’ in Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, edited by C. Nelson and L. Grossberg. University of Illinois Press.
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