Wild Women Don't Wear No Blues [Paperback]

Marita Golden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1994

Bringing together fourteen African-American women, Marita Golden has compiled saucy and spicy essays that serve as an exploration into the contemporary black female psyche. Ranging in style from Audre Lorde's classic polemic on eroticism to Miriam DeCosta Willis's deeply moving essay on her husband's last years, "every single one of these essays is terrific." -- The Washington Post

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A collection of powerful essays by African American women writers.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Fascinating essays (most original) by 15 African-American women of the civil-rights generation on their experiences of love, lust, and a powerful desire for freedom. In the mode of Terry McMillan's female characters speaking candidly to one another, these writers (edited here by novelist Golden: And Do Remember Me, 1992, etc.) share intimate details of- -and frank reflections on--their lives. In the opening piece, ``Tough Boyz and Trouble,'' Washington Post reporter Patricia Gaines interviews teenage girls waiting outside the D.C. city jail to visit their boyfriends; Gaines remembers how, before the days of guns and crack, she, too, briefly found tough boys erotically ``addicting''--until, one summer, her respectable parents had to bail her out of jail. In ``Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power,'' the late poet Audre Lorde urges black women to recognize ``the kernel of the erotic'' within themselves and to expand it regardless of myths and images imposed upon them. In a striking pair of essays on interracial love, Essence magazine editor Audrey Edwards remembers fear, mutual misunderstanding, shared affection, and quite a bit of ``raw, unrelenting sexual pleasure'' in her affairs and relationships with different kinds of white men, and novelist Bebe Moore Campbell reexamines her pain and fury over black men who date and mate with white women. In ``Letting Go With Love,'' teacher Miriam DeCosta-Willis writes about the loss of long-term love and sex with her black husband, while in ``Black Men Do Feel about Love,'' psychotherapist Audrey B. Chapman analyzes the failure of communication between black men and black women as a failure to understand black men's isolation and fear of dependency. Other contributors include Tina McElroy Ansa, Marcia Ann Gillespie, Jewelle Gomez, Sonia Sanchez, and Ntozake Shange. Women on the cutting edge of sexuality, sexual ethics, and the exhilarating art of the personal essay. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (July 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385424019
• ISBN-13: 978-0385424011
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,305,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I think I came into the world called to write. I have been a passionate reader and writer since I was a child. Books and language have provided me with a way to live in the world with an enlarged sense of my possibilities. Writing has thrust my personal questions and inner dialogues into the public space. In the process I have inspired others and learned from them through my work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended, March 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Wild Women Don't Wear No Blues (Paperback)

This book was simply amazing!!! To hear the voices of some of the most incredible and inspired writers in the nation was a delicious treat that evoked all sorts of emotions and thoughts. The range and delightful stories makes you think that you have somehow had an opportunity to eavesdrop at a "hen party" where the participants allow their truths to come forth. Thanks to the contributors. This is an important piece of literature which will inspire, educate, entertain and delight.

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartfelt, Enlightening and Informative, May 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Wild Women Don't Wear No Blues (Paperback)

Every woman who has ever been in love must read this book. It is very touching as you read each women's experience and attitude toward relationships with black men. There is something for everyone to relate to. A truly enlightening as well as informative book that captures the culture of "being black" and intertwines it with the many aspects of relationships that black women experience.