On this day in 1934, Audre Lorde emerged into the world; she emerged in my life when I was about twenty-two. A high-school friend of mine and I were sitting in a common area on the university campus, waiting for the clock to tick towards a class that we shared, where she told me about the class she’d just had.
Whatever had been scheduled was shelved when the professor announced that Audre Lorde had died on November 17th; instead, the woman, with a professor who joined for that day and some of the other students, spoke about how much Audre Lorde had meant to them.
Neither of us had heard of her. “She cried,” my friend stage-whispered, leaning towards me. As though it would have been even more of a transgression to speak of the woman’s grief aloud.
My friend gave me a ride home after our shared class, so I didn’t buy the book that day but, soon afterwards, I bought Sister Outsider at the campus bookstore: a slim volume from the Crossing Press for $15.95 in electric blue with Audre Lorde’s photograph on the cover.
Already a committed fiction reader, it’s notable to me that Lorde’s volume of “Essays and Speeches” is one of the few books of non-fiction that I returned to in those years. (We’re not far off my discovery of Dale Spender…that would happen just a little later.)
Since then, I’ve seen many editions of Sister Outsider, all of which seem to have excellent supporting material. My copy is all-Audre-Lorde-all-the-time. Editor Nancy K. Bereano’s 1983 introduction to my copy barely scratches the surface and relies heavily on quoting Lorde’s own words.
“We are all amplified by Audre Lorde’s work,” she writes, before closing with Lorde’s writing:
“I am who I am, doing what I came to do, acting upon you like a drug or a chisel to remind you of your me-ness, as I discover you in myself.”
There is no other book on my shelves, to which I have turned more often, while the culture wars of recent years rooted and, then, raged.
I planned to reread it last year but, instead, I picked through it and revisited the pieces that I knew resonated with me on previous readings. The words that I craved most. Now I’m ready to take it on more studiously, from start to stop. Please join, if you care to. I’m thinking perhaps an essay each week, but most of my other ideas about 2022’s reading are moving more slowly than expected, so….
Yesss love you highlighting Audre Lorde! Her writing and her Black feminist ideology are so powerful. She’s definitely been influential in my growth and development as well and I also find myself returning to her words often. I hope that even if your reading is going more slowly than you anticipated this year that you are still enjoying it and applying compassion to yourself in the midst. (:
I’ve been trying to think of single authors who might, for me, have had the kind of profound impact that you found in Caroline Knapp’s work. I’m still contemplating, but Audre Lorde is definitely on the list and, the more that I reread these essays with that in mind, the more connections I see between what she expresses and my worldview; she shaped many layers of understanding for me, when I was still sorting out some basic ideas about how to be in the world and how to strive for change, inwardly and outwardly. That’s a kind statement, thank you. I will try. You too.
yes love this reading and rereading and finding power in author’s works! and aw I feel so understood that you recognize my love for Caroline Knapp (:
I’ve never heard of this writer, but it sounds like I would enjoy her work too so I’m excited about this new bookish project of yours!!!!
She’s a must for your Feminist Book Shelf: I know you have one! Heheh
I see I’m not alone in never having read Audre Lorde, though I have been dimly aware of her work. One of those writers to add to my must explore list.
She would make a fantastic follow-up to Maya Angelou! Ahem. *innocent look*
I read Sister Outsider (<a href="my review here
“>my link text) in January 2019 and absolutely loved it, the breadth of it, her observations and ability to say what so many felt, but also her unique perspective while travelling, that ability to look beyond not just what was happening around her, but in other parts of the world.
I have looked back at some of those essays often since then too, this year I am planning to read her collection of essays and poemsYour Silence Will Not Protect You.
The simplicity of her writing leaves me stunned sometimes. I wonder how long she worked and reworked these pieces, or whether she wrote them in her mind over and over, before committing them to paper? I’d like to read her biography soon too, to maybe find out a little more about her process. That collection…I’d assumed it was basically the same essays but with some poems added….but no?
This makes me feel even worse than I already do about the Audre Lorde that’s been on my TBR for well over 20 years – not only that but on the bedside TBR all that time! I told myself in January that this would be the year. You have inspired me to (try) to stick to that plan.
Oh, perfect! I know what you mean…some books just seem to get permanently (or, seemingly so) lodged on the edge of my reading plans. I’m forever circling nearer to them, but never “arriving”.
I’ve not read Audre Lorde, but, funnily enough, her name came up at book club on Wednesday evening and we put forward Zami as one we might do in our subgroup for reading classics by women. And then this was linked to in today’s Shelf Awareness newsletter! https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/655145/audre-lorde-facts
Ahhh, I suppose she’d make a popular choice for “Black History Month” themed events. That’s a handy article: thanks for linking it here! And it was also a good reminder of This Bridge Called My Back, another formative read for me (but more in those Dale Spender years, a bit later). All the images, and the video, made the article a treat.
I’ve been aware of Audre Lorde for such a long time but I’m very sorry to say I’ve still not read her. I’ll be really interested to read your responses to her essays and learning more about her.
So many books…we can’t fill all the gaps in our reading plans!
I’m ashamed to say I had never heard of Audre Lorde, so this is a real education!
Thank you for commenting to share your discovery! I hope you are able to locate some of her work and that it moves you as well.
Well, my copy is to hand and thought I’m rubbish at committing, an essay a week ought to be manageable…
Ohhh, and the first one is directly up your street! *chuckles*
LOL, it certainly is!!!
I discovered Lorde in college too, but I got to read her in a couple of classes, mostly her poetry, but of course a few of her essays too. Because I’ve read more of her poetry than prose, that is what I return to most. What a beautiful, amazing person she was.
Her style is so accessible: there were several years there, where it seemed as though her work might be forgotten (as with Butler) but fortunately younger readers seem to be “discovering” her too, now.
BIP, whenever I come to your blog, whenever I read anything you write, I find myself slowly slipping into the quicksand of buying more books, fattening up my TBR, and heaving a long sigh at the thought of remembering that there is so much to read. It makes me hopeful and hurls me into despair at the same time. I love that feeling.
Quicksand and heaving: that sounds painful. Heheh Really, I’ve gotta count on the hopeful part outweighing all of that! This is a slim little volume, it would slide on top of a full shelf of books. There, isn’t that helpful.