It is the way of things that, in the week I was reading and writing about Audre Lorde’s first essay in Sister Outsider, I met her in another book too.
In “The History of Black People” from Magical Negro (2019), Morgan Parker writes: “If you cut open my heart, it would be midnight at the greatest party of all time: a miniature Shawn Carter and Audre Lorde, feasting on difference.”
It is also the way of things that, when I sat down to finish my thoughts on “Notes from a Trip to Russia,” shortly after posting the introduction to this project, the idea of writing about Audre Lorde’s travels in Russia was inextricably entwined with the invasion of Ukraine.
How quickly the act of reading—which is already another kind of reading, rereading—develops into the need to reread once more. with another piece of information which further adjusts your revisioning. That’s a lot of re-ing, isn’t it.
A discussion in Conversations with Audre Lorde, with Jackie Kay and Pratibha Parmar in 1988, a trans-Atlantic interview that considers Lorde’s experiences travelling for book fairs and other promotional activities stood out to me, too.
Parmar asks if Audre Lorde feels “that what we [Black feminists] are doing is enough” and whether more coordinated efforts are required. She observes that “we are all working very much in isolation from each other in our different countries, and the need for that international dialogue between us is really crucial.”
Lorde replies: “I think about the Black Australian women and their land rights struggles. I think with great excitement about the young Black women I met in Germany, Afro-German feminists. […] There is a wonderful richness of Black women that I find all around the world.”
Next week, I’ll have more to say about her first essay in Sister Outsider.
I am not familiar with Audre Lorde but I am the embodiment of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon so will doubtless come across her name frequently now.
I don’t want anyone to cut open my heart but I am torn between wanting to be revealed at a party but recognizing I would probably be home with a book. A few years ago, a young woman who reported in to me quit on her fifth day of work. Her manager said it was my fault for telling her she had ignored my instructions to print out some documents for a meeting. I said if she was going to ignore me, she wasn’t worth keeping, but out of curiosity, I asked why she was leaving and she told me quite honestly she wanted to work in an office where people went out drinking every night after work. It is definitely not that kind of office, even before the pandemic! She was no loss but the idea made me a little wistful. Not that I would want to go out every night but the idea is intriguing.
Constance
Perhaps, as avid readers, we are naturally drawn to imagine how other people spend their evenings and how that might contrast dramatically with our own leisure choices!
Nowadays the question of company culture is something that often comes up in the interview process, so this kind of disappointment (on both sides, she obviously also knew that the fit wasn’t right for her) is perhaps less frequent. I’ve found myself in the opposite situation, too, having taken a job only to realise that the staff was in the habit of socialising regularly (and in ways that didn’t suit me) and I was uncomfortable a lot of the time and I think my co-workers felt the same way (as though I was judging them for going out so often and for preferring the company of co-workers to family and other friends). It’s awkward when you feel out of step, with people who are sharing your workspace (even virtually!).
Oh, I love this book. I read it a few years ago and was blown away. It’s one I could (and probably should) definitely reread.
I’ve reread some of the essays countless times over the past few weeks (the short ones, I mean, the four-pagers) and I cannot believe how much more there is, with every rereading. So rich.
Yes love this rereading of Audre Lorde and examining the relevance of her work to current events! The international context is important and one I should do a better job of taking into consideration. I vibe with the idea of rereading and reenvsioning, like when I reread Caroline Knapp to this day I still feel like I learn new things thanks to my updated life experiences and wisdom. Hope you are well.
We relocated shortly after your message, and that made isolating impossible, so I have been unwell for quite some time, but I’m back to work now. #goodfortune Looking forward to getting caught up with your news (you were preparing for a move too, I recall!) and your reading, too. And, yes, it sometimes seems like we could just reread our favourite kindred spirits and always find something new there, given the changes in our own perspectives on the world, which changes our relationship to the text!
Is there anything better than noticing little patterns, references, or common mentions between books and the world around us? It’s what enriches our experiences, especially when reading!
It’s definitely satisfying. And sometimes works as an aid to understanding and memory along the way. No complaints!
I love these little reading connections and coincidences. Your post makes me that Lorde is someone whose work I should explore one day. Her observations sound spot on.
I think some of her short pieces might even be online (quite a few are only about four pages in length); I’ll have to take a closer look for that, once I get further into the rereading. She would make a fine candidate to follow up your Angelou reading though!
I love all your reading serendipities! Looking forward to your post on the Sister Outsider essay.
As soon as I got serious about rereading this, it was like everyone (on the page) had something to say about Audre Lorde!
Interesting – I just had a load of intersections in books I’ve been reading, and indeed the next one to review is the third novel in a row to feature the therapeutic relationship, plus one of Maya Angelou’s poems pops up in it and I need to get that slim volume of poems finished. Hooray for intertextuality!
I wonder if it’s true that, the more time one spends alone with books, the more often one appears to be in conversation with them. Heheh
I don’t know Lorde but I searched. My first thought was who would be similarly influential to this old white guy, and I would have to say Sartre. My second was to do with Lorde arguing that white feminists glossed over the racial prejudice experienced by Black women, which reminded me that in the early 1970s womens libbers argued that revolutionary socialists were ignoring sex discrimination.
(Also excellent article in NYT today by Roxanne Gay on that Slap)
So, now of course I want to read Sartre (not for the first time, I know he’s key for you). And I appreciate the point you’re making about how easily a group can articulate a sense of their needs being overlooked within a very specific context, whereas injustice is pervasive. Even if we’d rather pretend that change is a natural and organic process, it’s as often dependent on more powerful contingents releasing some of their own power, in an effort to redistribute an imbalance, than it is about the determined and relentless struggle from a traditionally overshadowed corner.
Thanks for recommending that: I hadn’t seen it. Gay’s commentary feels slippery to me; I feel as though I’ve read comments by her, about violence, which do not fit with her take on this scene with WS and CR. Charles Blow isn’t a name I recognise, but I thought he made some very interesting points.
Although I recognise her name, I know little enough about Gay that I was able to read her comments as standalone. The whole slap thing is taking up a lot of space – and now I’m doing it to you – but to sort of get back to Lorde, it seems Black women, not just Gay but the Australians like Chelsea Watego I see on twitter, are arguing that it is easy for white people to say there is no place for violence, and it’s time Black women were stood up for. With which I agree. Though my own thought is that once he saw his wife’s distress Smith had no option.
Heheh Yes, I suppose that’s true, we’re talking about it even when we’re not sure we need/want to be talking about it. I understand that argument and it has merit, but I really enjoyed that conversation you referenced, which suggests that you can’t predict who will hold which opinions: they’re as diverse as the opinion-holders.
Where I part ways with Gay is that she makes generalizations and then affords room for nuance when it suits her, but doesn’t afford others the same capacity to determine when a more nuanced response is appropriate from their pov; when she does it, she’s correct, when other people do it, they’re revealing their bias. I still read her, but not loyally.
It’s funny… Right before reading your first post about Lorde, I had been reading a book in which she was mentioned a few times. Right now I can’t remember what book it was, but I remember thinking it was a funny coincidence.
Well, since I find my comment here with Bill’s, I’ll take the opportunity to say that I enjoyed this comment thread! Sorry to butt in! Lol
I see (elsewhere) that I am in the same camp as my “blokey bloke” prime minister. How embarrassing!
Hah! It’s disturbing when one finds oneself in agreement with someone whose opinions are more usually adversarial in comparison to one’s own.
Maybe the best kind of conversations happen between books and/or art, and it’s always rewarding to eavesdrop on them…
Yes!
Very timely indeed. I have read the essay but might want to revisit it…
I knew you were planning to, but figured you’d be having similar thoughts at this point in time. So, next Tuesday then!