36 Margo Jefferson Quotes for You to Enjoy

Margo Jefferson

American Critic

Born: Oct 17, 1947

Black Me People Think White You

Related authors: George Steiner Henry Louis Gates James Wolcott Kimberly Guilfoyle Margaret Fuller Pauline Kael Roger Ebert bell hooks

I resist lists. It must be all those 'Most Important' and 'Best of the Year' ones I compiled in my years as a beat critic. I often felt guilty about what I left out. Margo Jefferson

Best Important Year Those Guilty Critic Out Must About Beat Most Felt Years Left Often Lists Resist

As the years pass, I find that writers who were once central to me aren't anymore. I revered Yeats's poetry in college. I respect it now and am still ravished by certain lines, but I don't go back to him again and again. I do go back to Emily Dickinson again and again. Margo Jefferson

Me Respect College Back Once Find Emily Emily Dickinson Poetry Writers Him Pass Am Still Revered Go Were Years Lines Yeats Anymore Central Again Certain Who Now

At the very least, noir offers an alternate reality - moments of real passion, a bleak code of honor, and a need for freedom amid corruption. At its best, noir offers a map of subversion. Margo Jefferson

Best Freedom Corruption Reality Passion Honor Bleak Noir Alternate Least Real Very Real Passion Offers Subversion Moments Map Code Need

Noir was a brainchild of the United States. And most of the creators of classic noir - novelists and screenwriters, directors and cameramen - were men. Women were their mysterious, sometimes villainous, always seductive objects of desire. Margo Jefferson

Women Sometimes Men States Seductive Classic Objects Directors Mysterious Noir Most Always Were Novelists Creators United United States Desire

Who, adult or child, is Michael Jackson truly close to? What and who is he trying to flee? What's the nature of the psychic damage he has so clearly sustained? I suspect his racial identity is more a byproduct of that damage than the primal cause. Margo Jefferson

Nature Cause Psychic More Adult He Primal Clearly Identity His Truly Michael Close Michael Jackson Than Child Trying Jackson Suspect Sustained Flee Racial Who Damage

Sometimes it feels as if the artist hasn't done the real work of engaging with the material. Film noir can't just play off looks and attitudes. A thriller needs a dose of genuine suspense. It does not have to be literal, but it does have to feel genuine. Otherwise the artist is just leeching off the form. Margo Jefferson

Work Needs Sometimes Otherwise Thriller Feel Feels Noir Attitudes Looks Genuine Does Material Real Off Artist Done Suspense Just Literal Form Real Work Dose Engaging Film Play Film Noir

I'm always aware of various audiences, as a part of my training as a journalist and as part of my training as a citizen of Negroland. Margo Jefferson

Training Citizen Journalist Various Part Always Audiences Aware

For me, depression is very much tied to my feeling that so much is being asked of me. I have to 'perform' rather than necessarily be myself. I have to perform a perfect Margo Jefferson, at an impossibly high level. Margo Jefferson

Depression Myself Me Feeling High High Level Rather Perfect Perform Tied Very Than Being Asked Much Jefferson Level Necessarily

I do not regret the years I spent reading the traditional canon of white male writers in school. I do regret reading so little else there: Austen, George Eliot and occasionally Woolf, likewise Wright, Ellison, Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks. Margo Jefferson

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