Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (Crossing Press Feminist Series) [Paperback]

Geraldine Audre Lorde (Author)

Book Description

Series: Crossing Press Feminist Series | Publication Date: June 1, 1984

essays & speeches

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Perhaps ... I am the face of one of your fears. Because I am a woman, because I am Black, because I am a lesbian, because I am myself -- a Black woman warrior poet doing my work -- come to ask you, are you doing yours?" This is how Audre Lorde introduces herself in a paper entitled "The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action." Audre Lorde takes personal responsibility for this essential, perpetual transformation. In Sister Outsider she enters into dialogue with listeners and readers, lending us her voice and challenging us to speak and act for ourselves. She insists that we pay attention, that we confront the limitations we set upon ourselves and each other; her words have weight and resonance because she listens as rigorously as she speaks. She asks and risks more of herself than might seem possible; the political is personal on many levels of her life. She writes about facing the threat of cancer, about being part of an interracial lesbian couple raising a son, about sex, poetry, rage, and restraint. She is a fiercely intelligent writer, addressing racism, sexism, and heterosexism from the heart of her individual experience as an African-American, lesbian poet/warrior. Audre Lorde demonstrates how each of us must speak for and from our most intimate knowledge, yet simultaneously extend the boundaries around ourselves to include the "outsider," to include more than we have been, more than we thought we could imagine. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Kirsten Backstrom

From the Publisher

* The classic collection of 15 essays and speeches by the prominent black lesbian feminist writer Audre Lorde, reissued with a new foreword by Cheryl Clarke. * Required reading in many cultural theory, literary criticism, gay/lesbian studies, and women's studies programs at universities. * Includes landmark essays such as "Uses of the Erotic" and "Poetry Is Not a Luxury" and a seminal dialogue between Lorde and poet Adrienne Rich. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: Crossing Press; 1 edition (June 1, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0895941414
• ISBN-13: 978-0895941411
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #93,707 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Poet, novelist, activist, and mother of two, AUDRE LORDE grew up Harlem in the 1930s. She earned a master's degree in library science from Columbia University and received a National Endowment for the Arts grant. She is the author of 12 books. She died in 1992.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible essays, May 19, 2002

By 

Scott Woods (Columbus, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (Crossing Press Feminist Series) (Paperback)

No poems this time around, folks: prose that gets under your skin and into your head. The late, great Audre Lorde, known primarily for her poetry over the years, wrote what is one of the most compelling books on sociology, sexuality, racism and the nature of human character and existence in the last 20 years. Her charges are damning, but dashed with more than a spoonful of hope when appropriate, and it is impossible to walk away from this book unchanged.

No New Age-isms, no agendas...just common-sense reactions to everyday experiences told in a way that not only everyone can understand, but in a way everyone SHOULD understand.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the great intellectual testaments of the 20th century, December 27, 2000

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (Crossing Press Feminist Series) (Paperback)

Although Audre Lorde distinguished herself as a poet, her prose writings are an indispensable part of her overall literary achievement. "Sister Outsider" is an excellent collection of her prose from the late 1970s and early 1980s. This book brings together essays, speeches, journal entries, and an illuminating dialogue between Lorde and sister poet Adrienne Rich. While each piece stands alone as a complete and thought-provoking gem, the book as a whole constitutes one of the most extraordinary intellectual testaments of the 20th century.

Lorde writes from her perspective as a Black woman, a lesbian, a feminist, a poet, a mother, a teacher, and a cultural activist. Her voice is forthright and unsparing in moral outrage, yet filled with hope and poetic beauty. One of the core themes unifying this collection is her incisive analysis of the interlocking, overlapping axes of difference, privilege, abuse, and resistance. As she deconstructs such phenomena as homophobia, racism, and sexism, Lorde is both intellectually ambitious and down-to-earth; in her arguments with academic figures, she never forgets the real impact of discrimination and violence upon those who live outside the relatively privileged worlds of academia.

Each piece in "Sister Outsider" makes a unique contribution to the overall impact of the book. "Notes from a Trip to Russia" is a fascinating historical document from the Cold War era. "Poetry Is Not a Luxury" serves as an important part of Lorde's artistic manifesto. "An Open Letter to Mary Daly" offers an illuminating glimpse into some of the tensions within the feminist movement of the 1970s. And "Grenada Revisited" is a powerful counterpoint to the Reaganite view of a military action in the Caribbean. The other eleven pieces are equally thought-provoking.

In the essay "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House," Lorde expands upon the title statement by adding, "They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change." Lorde's powerful writings may just give us readers some real tools that we can use to bring about "real change"--both within ourselves and in our society.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BUY THIS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!, August 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (Crossing Press Feminist Series) (Paperback)

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