The Woman That I Am: The Literature and Culture of Contemporary Women of Color [Paperback]

D. Soyini Madison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 1997

Selected to represent a diversity of voices, styles, and genres, The Woman That I Am gathers 126 works of contemporary fiction, poetry, drama, autobiography, and culture criticism by American women of color—African American, Asian American, Latina American, and Native American. This collection includes writings by new voices, as well as by Alice Walker, Gwendolyn Brooks, Maxine Hong Kingston, Louise Erdrich, Paule Marshall, Amy Tan, Toni Morrison, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Leslie Marmon Silko, Maya Angelou, Rita Dove, June Jordan, Lucille Clifton, Ntozake Shange, Nikki Giovanni, and others.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

There is no question that the vein of writings by contemporary women of color is very rich. It is in fact too rich to be confined to a single anthology, no matter how ambitious. For teachers, this volume offers a wide and flexible range of works and writers (Louise Erdrich, bell hooks, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, Nikki Giovanni, Paule Marshall, Leslie Marmon Silko, Audre Lorde, Bharati Mukherjee and Alice Walker, to name a very few). The entries are accompanied by extensive notes and three tables of contents which divide the book by genre (poetry, short story, drama and "Cultural Narratives and Critical Perspectives"), by theme (growing up, sex and love, women's traditions and conflict) and by ethnicity (Native American, African American, Latina American and Asian American). As Soyini, who teaches speech communication at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, points out, "for better or worse the selections included here work against establishing a unified subject or viewpoint." For the general reader with clear interests, though, a scattershot collection which includes Etel Adnan's angry poem, "The Beirut-Hell Express," an excerpt from Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club and Patricia Hill Collins's coolly academic "Defining Black Feminist Thought" is like eating quail--there's a lot of poking around for what you want, and at the end you're still hungry.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

In her introduction to this massive volume of stories, poems, drama, and critical perspectives, editor Madison (speech communication, Univ. of North Carolina) proclaims this work to be a "testament to the collective power of women of color. It is a tribute to 'woman talk'--to the human need to be heard, listened to, and understood." Indeed, these women--Latina and Native, African, and Asian American--do deserve to be heard. They speak of growing into womanhood, of love and sexuality, of race, class, and social justice. One surprising voice is that of singer/actress Abbey Lincoln, who contributes a poem entitled "I Am the Weaver." The collection also includes the works of other well-known voices like Gwendolyn Brooks, Louise Erdrich, Cherrie Moraga, and Amy Tan, as well as those readers may not be familiar with--Beth Brant, Eileen Cherry, Denise Chavez, and Etel Adnan. Highly recommended for literary collections.
- Ann Burns, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 720 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (February 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312152965
• ISBN-13: 978-0312152963
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,011,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This collection does not disappoint!, February 13, 2001

By 

"chocolatewan2338" (Marietta, Georgia United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Woman That I Am: The Literature and Culture of Contemporary Women of Color (Paperback)

I first came upon this book in a senior seminar in college. At the time I apppreciated it for the varying voices of women. I was able to see women like and unlike myself and be warmed by the fire of this sisterhood. I had no idea that when I wrote my Master's thesis how important this text would be. Unfortunately there are few anthologies like this one that covers so many bases so effectively. Madison has collected well known and lesser known talents into an invaluable research tool. It should be required reading for anyone interested in stepping into the world of writing by women of color.

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Collection of Stories, July 10, 2010

By 

TreeTeacher (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Woman That I Am: The Literature and Culture of Contemporary Women of Color (Paperback)

Beautiful Collection of Stories. Use it as a support in my multicultural issues class. It was very effective.

4.0 out of 5 stars Above Average, June 21, 2006

By 

Objective Book Review "Fair and Balanced" (Fairfield County, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Woman That I Am: The Literature and Culture of Contemporary Women of Color (Paperback)

This book is an interesting collection of well-known and lesser-known authors of short stories, plays, poetry and essays. All works of writing portray the lives of colored women. It is a varied group of writers who really, have little in common. However, the book is lacking a cohesive momentum that it was probably trying to achieve. Interesting addition to a book collection.