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Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
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At the November 2008 meeting of the NYC LGBT Center book discussion group, we had small group discuss “Sister Outsider,” essays by Audre Lorde.
What a great night (Obama’s election!) to read this book and talk about how things have changed. The topics in “Sister Outsider” raised many memories and much discussion of past injustices, and how Lorde worked personally and publicly to create some of the world we see today. We talked about the role of mixed race couples (both straight and lesbian), the importance of speaking out, and what a powerful presenter Lorde must have been. However, despite the authority and wealth of ideas, we thought that this book of speeches and essays insufficiently told the story of Lorde’s life and struggles, and that we probably would have been better served by reading her biomythography (that’s her term) “Zami: A New Spelling of her Name.”
Having some factual information (found in her biography “Warrior Poet” by Alexis De Veaux) made her challenges and story much more understandable. For example, she was raised in an impoverished home by emigrants from Granada, she was a communist, was married to a white gay man with whom she had two children, had many open affairs even after she was in a long-term relationship with a white lesbian, was legally blind, and died of cancer after a long fight. More than an essayist, Lorde considered her self a poet, and we finished the night by reading some of her poetry out loud.
What a great night to read “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house!”
Rating: 4 / 5
If you are looking for some consiousness raising, inspiring, and honest words – then this is the book that will bring that to you.I highly recommend it.
Rating: 5 / 5
Audre Lorde was one of the most amazing, beautiful women of this century. She is truly inspirational and mind-blowing. Sister Outsider is a book of essays, all of them really well-written, insightfull, and thought provoking. The essay that the “Your silence will not protect you” quote is from is in this book and it is beautiful. Please get this book, read it and tell others about it. “When I dare to be powerful and to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether or not I am afraid” -Audre Lorde
Rating: 5 / 5
_Sister Outsider_ is a masterpiece. It contains some of the most insightful and thought provoking femist essays of our time. Lorde addresses a plethora of issues that face her as a woman, a lesbian, an African American, and a lesbian. This text is invaluable not only to people who fall within these categories but to anyone who operates on any level within a diverse society.
Rating: 5 / 5
Since Amazon has removed Zami: A New Spelling of My Name from the sales rankings, I’m surprised to see this one has slipped through the censor’s “adult content” filter.
Rating: 5 / 5