Recommendation: Read it, I shan’t attempt to summarise
Where to read: Armchair on a rainy afternoon
Read with: A nice cup of tea
In brief: The worst part of this collection is that it still feels contemporary. Published in 1984, its continued relevance is pretty fucking appalling.
Our Shared Shelf delivering the goods yet again – this is an excellent read. It’s also essentially a collection of essays, speeches and letters exploring different themes rather than a single narrative and is all the richer for it.
She’s a poet but Lorde’s cultural impact has been far wider than just her poetry. This is a fairly good illustration of why. It’s also chock full of quotable quotes (probably that’s the poet coming out). Particularly poignant are her reflections on the challenges of raising a son and the difficulties of displaying and using anger as a woman of colour.
As an interesting side note, there are substantial similarities between some of Lorde’s reflections on womanhood and those in Women Who Run with the Wolves. It’s all a bit mystical but there we go.
Couple of relevant articles here:
Reading Audre Lorde’s “Sister Outsider” After Charlottesville
Bookshelves & Bourbon 