In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose [Hardcover]

Alice Walker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 1983

As a woman, writer, mother, and feminist, Walker explores the theories and practices of feminism, incorporating what she calls the “womanist” tradition of African american women.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Along with the early novels (cited above), Harcourt is reprinting collections of Walker's poetry and essays. Like the fiction, these focus on her pet issues, ranging from civil rights and feminism to the antinuclear movement. (Library Journal )

From the Back Cover

In her first collection of nonfiction, Alice Walker speaks out as a black woman, writer, mother, and feminist, in thirty-six pieces ranging from the personal to the political. Here are essays about Walker's own work and that of other writers, accounts of the civil rights movement of the 1960s and the antinuclear movement of the 1980s, and a vivid, courageous memoir of a scarring childhood injury. Throughout the volume, Walker explores the theories and practices of feminists and feminism, incorporating what she calls the "womanist" tradition of black women.

"This is one of the healthiest collections of essays I have come across in a long time. . . . What [Walker] says about the black woman she says from the depths of oppression. What is said from the depths of oppression illuminates all other oppressions."-New Statesman


Alice Walker is the author of seven novels, three collections of short stories, three collections of essays, seven volumes of poetry, and several children's books. Her novel The Color Purple won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and her work has been translated into more than two dozen languages. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, Walker lives in northern California.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 420 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1st edition (October 10, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151445257
• ISBN-13: 978-0151445257
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,729,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alice Walker is one of the most prolific writers of our time, known for her literary fiction, including the Pultizer Prize-winning The Color Purple, her many volumes of poetry, and her powerful nonfiction collections. Walker's most recent book is The Chicken Chronicles, a memoir. Her advocacy for the dispossessed has spanned the globe. She lives in Northern California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I've often re-read this book as nourishment for my spirit, November 4, 1999

By 

Simone (South Korea) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose (Paperback)

On difficult days, which are more numerous than the peaceful ones here in South Korea, I re-read In Search Of Our Mothers' Gardens. I am always re-inspired, re-juvenated, re-centered and re-minded when I again encounter the soothing and healing words of the woman I have decided to claim aloud as my sister: Alice Walker. I take great pleasure in reading Be Nobody's Darling. This poem has affirmed me on those especially dismal days when I examine my differentness and wonder if it's worth the pain to have an outlook that is different from that of the mainstream. For more rigorous cleansing I enjoy her essay What Can I Give My Daughters Who Are Brave. This essay has been like a soothing balm for my battered spirit after a day of battling the various "ism's" (racism, sexism, homophobia etc. the list goes on) that are a part of everyday living on our modern planet. Alice Walker continues to give me so much.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great nonfiction collection, March 16, 2001

By 

Edward Aycock (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose (Paperback)

I have loved Alice Walker since I was 14. Granted, it has not always been an easy love. She speaks truths that I do not always find easy to hear. She makes statements that I have a difficult time agreeing with. At the same time, I find her writings wonderful, warm and insightful. She has a way of taking an everyday situation and making it resonate. Of special note in this book is Walker's (to me) classic essay on Flannery O'Connor. What could very easily have been a "what this author means to me" type of story, Walkers manages to tie it up with her own past, her relationships, the legacy of the South and Catholicism. It's one of my favorite essays of all time, and I am so glad to finally have my own copy to hold onto and read over and over again. This book is a good start for those who may have only read the Color Purple, but would liek to know more about Walker. Highly recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding critical essay writing!, March 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose (Paperback)

This collection of essays by Alice Walker is arguably even superior to her best novels (fine though they are). "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens" is a collection of essays - personal, political, poetic, and autobiographical - ranging through the decades, mainly the 60's thought the early 80's. Ms. Walker's style of writing is exactly what the pretentious, pseudo-technical theorists of the flaccid poststructuralist and "semiotic" schools of criticism are missing: she is lucid, precise, engaging, and intelligent without being bogged down in jargon or labrynthine obscurities. Refreshingly, Ms. Walker is politically engaged and decisive without having an "axe to grind" - her maturity and experience in a world beyond the ivory tower prepare her to speak honestly and courageously - without the single minded ("me me me!") resentment and hostility that can characterize some other writings on such volatile topics can emphasize. While acutely aware (first-hand) of the profound injustices implicit in race, gender, and class relations in our country, her voice is one that looks for clarity, inspiration, and ultimately something USEFUL to be learned - the only way any actual progressive change or social/political revolution can be posible. She places personal experiences in the larger, tangled, context of our country's racial and economic tragedies. Above all, her writing style is EXCELLENT and her combination of intelectual/academic learning with deepst sympathy and wisdom sets a superb example for those interested in writing in the essay form. Her ability to organize thoughts present them coherently and concisely - yet with humor and wit - is something all student could learn from. No matter what you my think of her novels and fiction, these essays are some of the best in the form and content that I;ve ever read. Her specific, recurring focus on art, being and artist, and the creative process are particularly moving - even painfully so. My suggestion: forget the flimsy, jargon-infested volumes of "feminist/gender theory" (Lacan, Derrida, Foucault, and all that rot) and read "In Search of Our Mother's Gardens" - as a prfoessional artist and activist myself, I find more of actual USE and VALUE in Alica Walker's essays than in most hip, chic semioticians.