Suzan-Lori Parks and "The Venus Hottentot"

Suzan-Lori Parks is a playwright who has been unfairly responded to negatively by critics, partially due to the controversial topics that she addresses in her works. Instead of reading her play, Venus, as a nonfiction work, I read Parks as a writer who wants to show her take on uncomfortable circumstances, never claiming that she is an expert.

In case you are unfamiliar with the Saartjie Baartman story you can catch up here. In short, Baartman was born in the 1700’s in Africa and taken to London because of her elongated vulva and large buttocks in order to be paraded around like a circus freak. Baartman spent her life on display due to her “oddities,” and remained on display after her death in a Paris museum, finally being transported back to Africa in 2002 to rest in peace.



According to an explanation in this New York Times article, “the story of Sartje Baartman, the inspiration for "Venus," is rich in dramatic potential and social reverberations.” Critics claim that Parks “doesn't present Baartman as just an uncomprehending victim. This woman is clearly an accomplice in her own humiliation.” Audience members and critics were angry with Parks for painting a picture of Baartman that differed from the view of her as an innocent victim, with no choice in her destiny. Parks chose to present Baartman as a confused girl, showing the conflicting thoughts of whether or not this was “fun” for her, something that the audience believed the real Baartman would never get confused. This is subject matter with intense political charge.

This presents an argument of whether Parks, and authors like Parks, have the authority to write about things that “they don’t really know about.” There is a debate in literature that deals with whether or not an author has the credibility to write about something, whether it be an event or a culture of people, that they were not there for or are not a part of. I believe that the work that an author is creating is their own creation, their own take on something, and therefore is a work of art. This gives the piece room to breathe, to become a thing of its own, even if this is not completely historically accurate.