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Your Silence Will Not Protect You: Essays and Poems
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From The Guardian. Oct. 4, 2017. R.O. Kwon
"Lorde seems prophetic, perhaps alive right now, writing in and about the US of 2017 in which a misogynist with white supremacist followers is president. But she was born in 1934, published her first book of poetry in 1968, and died in 1992. Black, lesbian and feminist; the child of immigrant parents; poet and essayist, writer and ...more
"Lorde seems prophetic, perhaps alive right now, writing in and about the US of 2017 in which a misogynist with white supremacist followers is president. But she was born in 1934, published her first book of poetry in 1968, and died in 1992. Black, lesbian and feminist; the child of immigrant parents; poet and essayist, writer and ...more
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Instead of talking about the things I liked and disliked about Lorde’s essays and poetry, I thought it would be much more valuable and useful to share five things that Lorde has taught me.
I - Your Silence Will Not Protect You!
Lorde’s approach to activism and transforming one’s silence into language and action deeply impressed me. Speaking out and speaking up are common themes when it comes to feminism and activism, however, Lorde’s take on the matter is unique, since she doesn’t base her argumen ...more
I - Your Silence Will Not Protect You!
Lorde’s approach to activism and transforming one’s silence into language and action deeply impressed me. Speaking out and speaking up are common themes when it comes to feminism and activism, however, Lorde’s take on the matter is unique, since she doesn’t base her argumen ...more
I know I will return to this over and over. My copy is littered with colourful tabs. I could quote pretty much the whole book. This is powerful, essential reading.
It makes me so angry and heartbroken that Lorde's writing (all of it - poetry and prose) is still so relevant and necessary in 2018. By this measure, it feels like we really haven't progressed much at all since the 70s and 80s when she published these pieces.
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"I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very d ...more
It makes me so angry and heartbroken that Lorde's writing (all of it - poetry and prose) is still so relevant and necessary in 2018. By this measure, it feels like we really haven't progressed much at all since the 70s and 80s when she published these pieces.
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"I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very d ...more
i can’t wait to read extensive feminist essays and texts to my future children when they are babies and have no choice but to listen to me
This felt incredibly healing, inspiring and powerful. A book to which I will go back several times. A borrowed home.
Mar 11, 2019
Artemis
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
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mysticism-of-life,
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You need this in your life. Right now.
One of the most well-written, thought-provoking, passionate, solid and vital voices I have read in a long time. It is heavy reading, but trust me when I say that you will not want to miss a single word.
Every page of Audre Lorde's essays and poems is quotable. Everything collected in 'Your Silence Will Not Protect You' speaks so many truths today, and they were written in the '70s and '80s. Lorde says go straight to hell with your angry black woman stereotyp ...more
One of the most well-written, thought-provoking, passionate, solid and vital voices I have read in a long time. It is heavy reading, but trust me when I say that you will not want to miss a single word.
Every page of Audre Lorde's essays and poems is quotable. Everything collected in 'Your Silence Will Not Protect You' speaks so many truths today, and they were written in the '70s and '80s. Lorde says go straight to hell with your angry black woman stereotyp ...more
"Revolution is not a one time event. It is becoming always vigilant for the smallest oppertunity to make a genuine change in established, outgrown responses [...] it is learning to address each other's differences with respect"
Everyone should read this book. It seethes with power, anger, love, the fight against oppression. Lorde emphasizes the fight towards a better future of togetherness that does not ignore the brutalities of the past or the brutalities against black women by white men who cal ...more
Everyone should read this book. It seethes with power, anger, love, the fight against oppression. Lorde emphasizes the fight towards a better future of togetherness that does not ignore the brutalities of the past or the brutalities against black women by white men who cal ...more
There’s no one like Audre Lorde, living or dead. I read so much in the six years of my PhD program but there’s no doubt in my mind that her essays have had the most transformative & lasting influence on my life—my writing, my teaching, my sense of self, my relationships with others. I return to her again and again. Yesterday I finished an Alice Walker collection and in one of the essays Walker asks the reader to ask themselves, “What is my practice? What is steering this boat that is my fragile
...more
the poetry helped me to swim through the waves of tears smashing against my bed and my naked body
This essential book collects many of Lorde’s powerful and passionate essays and poems together for the first time.
As I was reading this I would often go back and re read essays after finishing them to try and soak everything in. Whilst these essays and poems were written in the 70’s and 80’s, they could have easily been written in the 2000’s, that’s how tragically little has changed in the state of racial injustice.
Lorde was one of the first to speak about intersectional feminism and some of m ...more
As I was reading this I would often go back and re read essays after finishing them to try and soak everything in. Whilst these essays and poems were written in the 70’s and 80’s, they could have easily been written in the 2000’s, that’s how tragically little has changed in the state of racial injustice.
Lorde was one of the first to speak about intersectional feminism and some of m ...more
Well-written and unapologetic. It was an interesting and rewarding experience to add these insights to the ideas put forward by other authors I have been reading lately—Ta-Nehisi Coates, Rebecca Solnit, Gloria Steinem—and see how certain parts echo and contradict. Sometimes the collection circles a bit, with certain essays presenting the same ideas in more or less the same words, though this is nevertheless meaningful. The most relevant elements for me were those about fear and power. We can all
...more
I didn't realise what a huge gap in my intersectional feminist reading I had left by not reading this book sooner. A truly foundational text, that does not shy away from the harsh realities of the system under which specifically Black women (and more specifically Black lesbian women) live, but also drives towards a better future unapologetically. Lyrical, accessible, powerful, brilliant. Essential reading, and beautifully put together by Silver Press.
Everyone should know about Audre Lorde!
Her exploration of passion, anger, love, racism and sexism has sparked a strength inside of me and, most importantly, an insight into the strength, courage, pain, beauty, struggle, reality of being black and female in the western world.
She gracefully analyses the depths and damage of social conditioning in each of us. Demanding, clearly and thoughtfully, a change (personal and political) that is still so relevant today!
What a privilege it has been to read ...more
Her exploration of passion, anger, love, racism and sexism has sparked a strength inside of me and, most importantly, an insight into the strength, courage, pain, beauty, struggle, reality of being black and female in the western world.
She gracefully analyses the depths and damage of social conditioning in each of us. Demanding, clearly and thoughtfully, a change (personal and political) that is still so relevant today!
What a privilege it has been to read ...more
i sat, curled up in my chair, hugging this book after i finished it because Audre Lorde’s words should be protected as such
10/10 full of super informative bangers
Audre’s writing transcends time and space, her winged words finding their way straight into your heart, elevating you until your spirit soars. Hers is wisdom to live by, to fight by, and to share, as far and wide as you possibly can. A most valued sisterhood.
"The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the product which we live, and upon the changes which we hope to bring about through those lives. It is within this light that we form those ideas by which we pur ...more
"The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the product which we live, and upon the changes which we hope to bring about through those lives. It is within this light that we form those ideas by which we pur ...more
A collection of essays and speeches by the great Audre Lorde. Although mostly written in the 60s and 70s, so many of her assertions ring true today. Her influence is felt still in movements such as Black Lives Matter and Say Her Name. She is so insightful about things such as racism, homophobia, anger, struggle, difference, and I love that this volume included some of her poetry too, which is incredibly powerful.
“Survival is not an academic skill. It is learning how to stand alone, unpopular and ...more
“Survival is not an academic skill. It is learning how to stand alone, unpopular and ...more
Seminal essays here, the themes of which continue to pose hard questions and challenges for intersectional politics and progressive activism generally. They were also pivotal in shaping academic dialogues around organising and acknowledgement of difference (think Spivak’s concept of strategic essentialism) that still resonate today. Put simply, these are forceful, memorable essays, powerfully written.
The poetry I could take or leave, frankly; though I appreciated Lorde’s own interpretation of w ...more
The poetry I could take or leave, frankly; though I appreciated Lorde’s own interpretation of w ...more
Audre Lorde is a bonafide academic, and this entire volume of work deserves to be studied. The title alone is steeped in the kind of directed and focussed anger that Lorde so desperately wants us to harness and utilise in bringing about systemic change. This particular collection begins with essays asking us to redefine the terms erotic, and reevaluate the role poetry plays in our education. This is Lorde putting into practise perhaps her most famous axiom “the master’s tools will never dismantl
...more
Omg!! What an absolute masterpiece of a collection!
And such a gift to have read as my introduction to Audre Lorde’s writing...
I had to pause and breathe out after certain sentences because of how well written and how on point they were.
I love when writers make me say out loud to myself “godamnit that’s so fucking good! I love their words !” And I probably said that on each essay I read in this book.
Even just at the preface and intro I was thinking that thanks to Reni Eddo-Lodge and Sara Ahmed’ ...more
And such a gift to have read as my introduction to Audre Lorde’s writing...
I had to pause and breathe out after certain sentences because of how well written and how on point they were.
I love when writers make me say out loud to myself “godamnit that’s so fucking good! I love their words !” And I probably said that on each essay I read in this book.
Even just at the preface and intro I was thinking that thanks to Reni Eddo-Lodge and Sara Ahmed’ ...more
I feel compelled to explain how this collection of poetry and essays made me feel. The way Audre writes about the depiction of racism, sexism and prejudice in the mid-late 20th century is beautiful, harrowing and impossibly sad. The imagery she uses at points is particularly gruesome and made me feel sick to my stomach. Not an easy read, but definitely an important one. I'll be thinking about this book for a long time.
Audre Lorde is basically everything I'm not, yet there are few writers whose nonfiction I can relate to like hers. I love what she has to say about why it's important to use your voice, stand up for yourself, and her concepts of creativity - and what it can do - are fascinating. Unfortunately, the poems included at the end of this collection didn't really do it for me, hence the four star rating.
I FINALLY got round to finishing this and I'm so glad I did.
Powerful and essential reading. Essays to revisit time and time again, now more than ever.
Embarrassingly, my first foray into Lorde's work and it definitely won't be my last. She skewers progressive white movements (particularly white feminism) in ways that are unapologetic and necessary and navigates concepts of intersectionality with nuance and pragmatism. Her themes on anger, activism and inclusivity are so crucial during these polarised times, where 'identity' politics is too-often misappropriated to divide and silence. I am still working on my poetry-reading skills, so the essay
...more
Jun 23, 2020
Martijn
added it
A collection of essays and poems that are decades old yet are incredibly relevant today to the point that some — such as her story of the only Black woman at a women event — could have been written word for word today. Important voice that we shouldn't stop listening to.
One of the most urgent, powerful and necessary collections of prose and poetry I've ever read.
While it's tragedy that Lorde's writings about the violence and racism experienced by people of colour, and particularly women of colour are still relevant in 2017 it only speaks truth to the prose included within about how racism and violence work to reinforce whiteness, particularly male whiteness as the status quo.
I can only hope that in the increased visibility of protests against police violence, i ...more
While it's tragedy that Lorde's writings about the violence and racism experienced by people of colour, and particularly women of colour are still relevant in 2017 it only speaks truth to the prose included within about how racism and violence work to reinforce whiteness, particularly male whiteness as the status quo.
I can only hope that in the increased visibility of protests against police violence, i ...more
Erm, some essays fantastic, others I didnt feel so much
Worth reading. A powerful, eye opening book.
I’m embarrassed to admit I’d never heard of Audre Lorde until I read her name in print twice in the space of a couple of days. Even more surprising was learning this is the first time Lorde has been published in the UK (although her work has otherwise been available from abroad).
The title of this collection of essays and poems sets the tone; concise, clear and packing a punch as vital now as it was when originally written.
In ‘A Conversation with Adrienne Rich’ Lorde explains her initial difficu ...more
The title of this collection of essays and poems sets the tone; concise, clear and packing a punch as vital now as it was when originally written.
In ‘A Conversation with Adrienne Rich’ Lorde explains her initial difficu ...more
I spent a long time working my way through this collection of Audre Lorde’s essays and poems, and I still feel like I’m in no position to ‘review’ her work, which grapples with topics far beyond my sphere of experience and knowledge. Lorde writes with passion, anger, beauty and imagination about Black (often lesbian, often working-class) women and the particular oppressions they face – she doesn’t use the term ‘intersectionality’, but it’s at the heart of her writing. Her essays chronicle the st
...more
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Audre Lorde is a revolutionary Black feminist. Lorde's poetry was published very regularly during the 1960s — in Langston Hughes' 1962 New Negro Poets, USA; in several foreign anthologies; and in black literary magazines. During this time, she was politically active in civil rights, anti-war, and feminist movements. Her first volume of poetry, The First Cities (1968), was published by the Poet's P
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“There is a distinction I am beginning to make in my living between pain and suffering. Pain is an event, an experience that must be recognized, named and then used in some way in order for the experience to change, to be transformed into something else, strength or knowledge or action.
Suffering, on the other hand, is the nightmare reliving of unscrutinized and unmetabolized pain. When I live through pain without recognizing it self-consciously, I rob myself of the power that can come from using that pain, the power to fuel some movement beyond it. I condemn myself to reliving that pain over and over and over whenever something close triggers it. And that is suffering, a seemingly inescapable cycle.”
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Suffering, on the other hand, is the nightmare reliving of unscrutinized and unmetabolized pain. When I live through pain without recognizing it self-consciously, I rob myself of the power that can come from using that pain, the power to fuel some movement beyond it. I condemn myself to reliving that pain over and over and over whenever something close triggers it. And that is suffering, a seemingly inescapable cycle.”
“As women, we have come to distrust that power which rises from our deepest and nonrational knowledge. We have been warned against it all our lives by the male world, which values this depth of feeling enough to keep women around in order to exercise it in the service of men, but which fears this same depth too much to examine the possibility of it within themselves. So women are maintained at a distant/inferior position to be psychically milked, much the same way ants maintain colonies of aphids to provide a life-giving substance for their masters”
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