remembered rapture: the writer at work (Hardcover)

~ bell hooks (Author) "I remember childhood as a time in anguish, as a dark time-not darkness in any sense that is stark, bleak, or empty but as a..." (more)
Key Phrases: black girlhood, black woman writer, privileged class backgrounds, Tea Cake, Ann Petry, Emily Dickinson (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

African American women writers, being both black and female, face challenges that the rest of us might never have even considered. While this essay collection is ultimately a celebration of the writing life and of the writers author bell hooks (who signs her name with lower-case letters) cites as inspirational, it also illuminates the issues she and other black women writers have to contend with in their careers. Hooks has been criticized for, among other things, being incredibly prolific (she has been called "the Joyce Carol Oates of black feminist writing") and for her scope: "Black writers," says hooks, "always have difficulty gaining recognition for a body of work if anything we do is eclectic." Though hooks does take her critics to task, she is more concerned with confronting a system that seems determined to work against black women--and other minority--writers. She is critical of publishers for throwing the largest advances and promotional efforts at white male authors. She complains that "when writers from marginalized groups do work that is truly marvelous," the literary establishment is likely to see that work as a "rare exception." And she even rails against black women writers themselves, saying that "Nothing diminishes our efforts to gain a greater hearing for nonfiction by black women more than the severe dismissals of this work by black women."

Autobiography is one form of writing that hooks feels is particularly difficult for black women writers, most of whom come from families that never previously "had to think about whether a relative would write something about their lives." In fact, she says, autobiographical writing is troublesome for writers who do not "come from class backgrounds where there are rituals of public confession like psychoanalysis." As a child, says hooks, "talking openly outside the family about any aspect of family life was considered a form of treason." Now, though her family is proud of her and pleased that she has not forsaken her origins, she says, "writing about my life has created an emotional distance between me and my parents. An intimacy we once shared is gone." --Jane Steinberg

From Publishers Weekly

The 22 essays in cultural and literary critic hooks's 17th book were written over a period of 20 years and loosely trace her decision to become a writer and her metamorphosis into an academic. Together, they constitute a mixture of intellectual autobiography and manifesto on the proper living of a writer's life. Although in some essays hooks ruminates on her childhood in a working-class Southern black family, many others read like transcripts of lectures for college courses in American literature (hooks has taught at Yale, Oberlin, and the City College of New York), complete with suggested readings. She frequently analyzes her own work alongside the writing of Toni Morrison, Emily Dickinson, Lorraine Hansberry and Jamaica Kincaid. (According to hooks, Kincaid is taken more seriously by "mainstream" critics because she is not African American and because "writing by black writers who are not African-Americans tends to be seen as always more literary and therefore more valuable.") Some of the essays deal with the "politics" of publishing, the duplicity and rancorousness of academe and envy within the ranks of black writers. As always, hooks emphasizes the importance of personal and political identity to writing. Her prose is clear and she presents her arguments with a confident passion. If her politics are predictable, hooks infuses the best of these essays with a personal tone that sheds warm light on this one particular writer's writing life.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; 1st edition (January 11, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805059091
• ISBN-13: 978-0805059090
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,811,958 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #14 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( H ) > hooks, bell
  #61 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > African American > Hooks, Bell

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vintage bell hooks, March 13, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Syracuse, New York) - See all my reviews

I saw the interview of bell hooks on C-Span. Went and purchased the book the next day. It serves as a primer for women who are writers or want to be writers. She candidly discusses the inside of the publishing industry. Also, she makes it clear that writing is something that a person should love for the craft not just for the money. Do not put this book down before you finish it. Near the end she pays a warm tribute to the black women writers who have influenced her work. As expected, it is well written and should become a part of our reference libraries.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good book more critally conscious writers., December 23, 1998

By	Bakari Chavanu (Elk Grove, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Again, hooks demonstrates her range as writer and social critic. She writes about what it means to be a writer who is Black, feminist, and spirtually connected. This work will answer many of the questions readers of her other works may have about her inspirations as a writer, why she chose to write her memoirs, what challenges she has faced as a writer, and how we, her readers, can connect with our own lives through writing (She says:"Writing becomes a way to embrace the mysterious, to walk with spirits, and an entry to the realm of the sacred." And on her early writings: "My write was an act of resistance not simply in relation to outer structures of domination like race, sex, and class; I was writing t resist all the socialization I had received in religios, southern, working-class, patriarchal home that tried to teach me silence as the most desirable trait of womanliness"). It's not offen that we get to hear a progressive writer talk about the act of writing. This area is usually preserved for mainstream writers. So it's good to see hooks revealing parts of her self in this work. I think will see a lot more from hooks. I hope she delves more into her experiences in the academy, showing us her interacitons with her students and co-workers. While her life is important, we also need her critical eye on the people around her.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Joyous, January 19, 2003

By	rainqueen - See all my reviews

Essential for "the aspiring indigenous black female writer." Honest encouragement and insider info from a young woman writer who has blossomed into one of the most important writers and intellectuals of our times. Plus, it's good fun for those with a passion for writing or reading.

Her observations are wise. Her grasp of history is absolute. Her ideas stimulate intelligent and loving thought, conversation, and action. Read this book.