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In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose

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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.

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.

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.

I first read "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens," the influential essay collection by Alice Walker, as a college undergraduate more than 10 years ago. Re-reading the book was a wonderful experience that reminded me how important Walker has been to so many people. The book opens with Walker's definition of the term "womanist": "a black feminist or feminist of color." The essays in this book, which span the late 1960s, the 1970s, and the early 1980s, thus represent the development of Walker's "womanist" vision.

The pieces include book reviews, letters to various publications, autobiographical pieces, and other prose selections. Many of her essays and reviews represent Walker's views on a range of literary figures: Jean Toomer, Langston Hughes, Flannery O'Connor, Phillis Wheatley, Buchi Emecheta, and many more. Particularly interesting is her essay about Rebecca Jackson, a 19th century African-American woman who joined a Shaker community. Especially important are Walker's writings about Zora Neale Hurston, whom she reclaims as a black literary foremother.

Other highlights include articles about Martin Luther King and his widow Coretta Scott King, and an account of a trip to Castro's Cuba. She also includes an article about "Conditions: Five," the important collection of writings by black lesbian and straight women.

Alice Walker may be best known to general audiences for her novel "The Color Purple," but "In Search..." reminds me of her skill and passion as an essayist. This is a collection which is, I believe, historically important for the academic field of women's studies. But it is not just a scholarly artifact; it is also a book that holds power and relevance that go beyond its historical moment.

I am a junior in AP English, and for class we had to choose a non-fiction or auto/biographical book from a list our teacher had supplied. I chose this book because of an essay we had read by Ms. Walker in class. I loved it! It was very witty, yet I learned about the black culture and black artists. I actually enjoyed reading a book for class, and recommend this book for anyone who is interested in reading and learning!

In her essay concerning post-Reconstruction African-American women, Alice Walker seeks to put a human face on what Americans may otherwise only remember as an unfortunate scar on our glorious history. She asks, "Who were the Saints? These crazy, loony, pitiful women?" And in answering herself, she replies in repetition, "our mothers and grandmothers." These are the human faces to which she has attributed all that is contemporary Black America.

"Moving to music not yet written," Walker's image of the former female slave is one, not necessarily of a battered laborer, nor of a heifer being kept only because of her ability to breed valuable livestock, but rather as an artist ahead of her time. These women made beauty while amidst horrible conditions. These women were not merely ex-slaves, but they were "Poets, Novelists, Essayists, and Short-Story Writers" whose potential was never met, and dreams were never realized. For this reason, Walker attempts to embolden and even mobilize African-American women with the responsibility of realizing the potential of black creativity denied their ancestors.

Walker asks, "Do you have a genius of a great-great-grandmother who died under some ignorant and depraved white overseers lash?" What an amazing question to ask. How many geniuses and artists were slain by the horror of slavery? Americans spend a lot of time and energy thinking about the economic, political, and social restrictions slavery imposed on African Americans, but I have never even heard elusions to the loss of black creativity due to slavery. I too have given more thought to the socioeconomic inequality within black America than I've ever given to the stifling of their creative ability. Perhaps, we should give this idea more thought, for it was the efforts of these "poets" in everyday life that transported black women to where they are today, and have arguably elevated the intellect, creativity, and soul of an entire nation.

Thought provoking; this is an essential read for anyone interested in understanding the effects of slavery, especially those effects that go beyond our typical understanding of oppression.

What can you say about Alice Walker, she, Gloria Naylor, Toni Morrison, and Maya Angelou, and Zora Neale Hurston are as far as I am concerned the only female writers that have a clue about writing about the life and experiences of everyday people. Unlike a lot of today's writers they don't resort to brand name dropping, and smut to sell books they write from the heart and from the spirit. Walker's writings as all of her work shakes you to your soul. She is a brilliant writer, with a brilliant mind, and this book just once again illustrates that to the max. This book was required reading and let me tell you it was well worth the requirement. Alice is over the top which is why many of her books are not required reading in high school, I feel it should be and would love to have a child of mine read her writings. This book was great and Alice if you are reading this, I LOVE YOU, KEEP ON WRITING AND KEEPING IT REAL AND ALIVE FOR ALL THE WOMEN OF THE WORLD WHO STRUGGLE JUST TO SURVIVE.!!!!!

Alice Walkers' books (the nonfiction even more than the fiction)should be required reading in junior & senior high schools,if they were,there might be less wars,genocides,mass rapes,imperialism,corrupt policitians, & misogyny.
Then again,maybe not. But at least,there would be a larger percentage of truly intelligent & sensitive humans on the planet.
There's obviously something wrong with a "community" where most of the women would rather read Nikki Turner than Alice Walker. And why aren't there more women like Alice Walker in America instead of club-hopping,shallow,materialistic airheads?

This is a good book for anyone doing Post-Colonial literature. It gives a precise view of what the woman stands for, her aspirations, flexibility and resilience in the world of patriarchy. Alice walker gives her definition for the term 'Womanism' in crisp and confident tones and it is indeed a boost for women writers within the post-colonial world trying to find a place for themselves on the literary scene and in creating a new canon.

When I finished this book I knew I was going to miss the things it said to me. Alice Walker wrote brilliantly about her own struggles, her passion for other people to discover Zora Neale Hurston, the civil rights movement, and her work as a black feminist. So many subjects are touched in this book that jumps back and forth through 20+ years. Walker is inspritational to all woman. As a writer she shows one the strength to succeed not in business but loving yourself as well as working to achieve equal rights for everyone no matter the sex or the color. Her essays are moving written like a painting. Her words are beautiful and inspire. The few poems that she used in this collection are the best i have ever seen. She is honest about her experiences in hopes that we all might learn from her and take to a cause. We are the makers of our future. I would read this book again and it establishes to me that Alice Walker is a gifted writer who has become one of my favorites.