Stripping back a narrative reveals the core, the thesis of the work laid bare. Beyond the layers of narrative and perspective, a reader is forced to see the hands that created the work. The acts of authorial intent and internal views of the creator. Wendy Walker’s Sexual Stealing uses this form of verbal autopsy to interrogate the power of archival control, how the bodies of the marginalised are used as their voices are silenced. Historical record and minimalist poetry intertwine with the works of Anne Radcliffe, layered perspectives emerging from the space between narratives.

Sexual Stealing emerges from snippets of historical record as a natural exploration of a sparse documentation. We see glimpses of the interpersonal connection emerging from the restraint and social control exerted upon colonial society. Acts of tenderness and violence seeping through the facade, as Walker’s bare, gentle prose unravels the narrative frameworks of historical documents and literary fiction. Her words appear as writing in the margins, the emotional truth behind carefully presented depictions of power. Subtle and omnipresent, the contrast works brilliantly to underscore the thesis of this collection.

I not now tranquility
will allow resentful
to have Ah unfinished fears
“ill allow impropriety
fatal to I influence

Through her use of such a wide array of historical documents and literary references, Walker casts your attention to the voices of those enslaved, their absence from these records. Their actions are presented without reason or comment, observed secondhand by those who see no reason to confer with them. We see their bodies taking action, but not the reason or selfhood within. The status of these narrators as wealthy landowners from different countries further alienates them from the daily reality of slaves and plantation workers who have built nd made their wealth and lifestyles. The intimacy of Walker’s poetic style acts as an illuminating focus to this alienation and the absence of the enslaved people’s own voices from their narrative.

They were blue verbena, wild raspberry, and pois puants, with their roots, which he piled into a wooden container in front of Assam, …….. —Interrogation of the negress Assam, Extract of the minutes from the registry of the tribunal of le Cap, 27 September 1757

more little grief
came to this window
estate
in magic balm
of consolation
in another parting

The distinct style of Walker’s poetry stands out as forthright and simple, unsettling the airs of the era. Where punctuation and formality act as markers of authority and control, her poetic voice speaks of intimacy and experience. The thoughts dancing behind the presentation. We see this clearly in her description of the Jamaican landscape, her focus on tactile details, and the attention of each speaker draws us into their perception. In painting, the work sfumato is used to describe a deliberate blurriness included in images to mimic depth, as our eyes focus on the foreground or background. Through her minimalist style, Walker employs a similar technique, focusing on specific details in the landscape; we see not only the beauty of these spaces, but the importance they have to the speaker. Early mornings and dense forests speak of daily life as much as they do the land itself.

Perched
appeared again
the overhanging plants
of eye-fringed
the blueish air
of instant higher forests

Beyond the intimacy of personhood, Walker uses these same techniques to discuss the violence enacted upon those experiencing colonisation and enslavement on these plantations. As the narrative unfolds, we see the use of violence to control abolitionist movements and independent groups of freed slaves.

Here, the sparse language and focus on detail walk the line between honesty and respect. Avoiding the common issue of exploiting the violence of the era for narrative purposes. Her focus on the colonial military structures and their power reflects the role of plantation owners and soldiers as perpetrators of a system built to enact violence. Omitting the results of this violence on the victims grants them privacy, and acknowledges authorial voyeurism as an act of exploitation in and of itself.

Fatal to I influence
Abruptly despair of
I possessed and impatiently died
Of my moment life

A chorus of voices emerge from the spaces in the narrative. It is impossible to know the full extent of another person’s experiences and by compiling a text from fragments and excerpts Walker draws attention to the silence of those being described. The gothic emerges through violations of the taboo, here we see it in the normalcy of exploitation and violence. Wendy Walker returns to the roots of the Gothic genre and pulls something new from its depths, a thoughtful work that is both illusive and illuminating.