A burst of light : and other essays

by Audre Lorde

Paper Book, 2017

Status

Checked out

Tags

Publication

Mineola, New York : Ixia Press, 2017.

Description

""The self-described black feminist lesbian mother poet used a mixture of prose, theory, poetry, and experience to interrogate oppressions and uplift marginalized communities. She was one of the first black feminists to target heteronormativity, and to encourage black feminists to expand their understanding of erotic pleasure. She amplified anti-oppression, even as breast cancer ravaged her ailing body." -- Evette Dionne, Bustle Magazine Winner of the 1988 Before Columbus Foundation National Book Award, this path-breaking collection of essays is a clarion call to build communities that nurture our spirit. Lorde announces the need for a radical politics of intersectionality while struggling to maintain her own faith as she wages a battle against liver cancer. From reflections on her struggle with the disease to thoughts on lesbian sexuality and African-American identity in a straight white man's world, Lorde's voice remains enduringly relevant in today's political landscape. Those who practice and encourage social justice activism frequently quote her exhortation, "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare." In addition to the journal entries of "A Burst of Light: Living with Cancer," this edition includes an interview, "Sadomasochism: Not About Condemnation," and three essays, "I Am Your Sister: Black Women Organizing Across Sexualities," "Apartheid U.S.A.," and "Turning the Beat Around: Lesbian Parenting 1986," as well as a new Foreword by Sonia Sanchez. "When I don't know what to do, I turn to the Lorde." -- Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Bitch Media"-- "Moving, incisive, and enduringly relevant writings by the African-American poet and feminist include her thoughts on the radical implications of self-love, living with cancer as well as essays on racism, lesbian culture, and political activism"--… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member MeditationesMartini
These aren't really "essays" per se but rather diary entries from Lorde's last years, when she was dying of cancer. They aren't even essayistic; rather than make arguments or explore ideas they convey the textures of Lorde's daily life in the valley of the shadow, and assert again and again what
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matters to her--the relationships, the interconnections, the communities we build and move in; and how not only to keep repeating and reinforcing those connections but also from within them, and within your body and history and constructed social roles, still fighting for what's right. And, both in pursuing connection and in making her voice heard, doing so with an urgency, of course. In that sense her textures are quite different from mine at present, but once I get over envying her those connections (oh, poor baby! I also don't have cancer. Behooves me to not be a whiner here) it also reminds me that those are the things that give life meaning, at least, they're where my soul resonates too, and to pursue them, to keep on doing so. Good reminders here.
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Awards

Language

Original publication date

1988

Physical description

ix, 133 p.; 23 cm

ISBN

9780486818993

Local notes

essay

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