Warrior Poet: A Biography of Audre Lorde

Rating:
Summary: Lessons from a lesbian warrior
Review: "Warrior Poet is a fascinating biography; so fascinating, that I literally could not put it down. Any lesbian who wants to be inspired by greatness should read this book, and it is exciting to find out who these "icons" of lesbian feminism really are as human beings.

Audre Lorde is a highly contradictory figure, and her life and poetry read like the brilliant self-made woman that she was. It is an excellent glimpse into the mists of time, and you can now get an historical perspective on so much that happened in the women's movement through the eyes of Lorde.

She is also a troubling figure; a lesbian feminist, who turned a long-time lover into a "wife," and an author who repeatedly went behind the backs of her publishers and agents when she wanted to. It was disturbing to read how little feminists of that era really knew about standard publishing practices, and her economic hardship was partially due to her inability to let good agents negotiate sound financial deals with publishers. "Zami: A New Spelling of My Name" earned her an advance of only $100.00, for example. It became a best seller. She deceived people often in her business dealings, and seemed to take advantage of agents who were really trying to do their best by her. This dishonesty in business really bothered me.

Lorde calls women to liberate themselves from all categories, and she was the first out black lesbian feminist to really challenge the white middle class women's movement. She made being an outsider a dynamic and viable concept, and there is so much we can learn from her example today.

Her greatest challenges to find a true "home" and her African-American activism sprang from her separation from African-American women, and the internalized racism that she struggled with all of her life. The power of her writing and passion came from contradiction, and Alexis de Veaux handles this so well.

The sections of the book dealing with Lorde's struggles with cancer, and the types of alternative medical treatments she sought in Germany and Switzerland make for fascinating reading. Her early exposure to hazardous chemicals at a factory job set the stage for her battles with cancer later. There is so much richness in this book, that it is difficult to capture how truly exciting it was for me to read it.

I was moved by the honesty and contradiction, and I was saddened that we lost such an amazing thinker at the age of 58 not so long ago. She traveled all over the world in the cause of women, and her encounters with African female deities are eerie. One diety had but one breast, and her first lover also survived breast cancer. It almost seemed as if cancer was stalking her from the very beginning. She forged a unique lesbian feminist spiritual life, and created a lovely concept of the black muse; the feminist muse.

Questions I had for years about her open disagreement with Mary Daly were dealt with well in the book. It was a shame that Mary and Audre didn't have the time to really get to know each other. Lorde received a private letter from Mary Daly, but then claimed publicaly that Daly had never answered her original letter. This is very odd, and you don't know who to believe. De Veaux does a good job summarizing Daly's philosophy, but incorrectly labels Daly a theologian, which Mary Daly herself hates. Daly considers herself a philosopher, and theologians are tied to sacred texts -- damaging patriarchal texts. That was a minor flaw in a largely perfect book. Every lesbian alive should go out and buy this book, and discuss it!

We are in the midst of deadly assimilation as a lesbian community, and we need to remember what radical woman centered non-racist, anti-patriarchal thinking is all about. I shiver at the thought of lesbians having babies in the suburbs, completely unaware of the radical movement that was so vibrant recently. This book was a blessed antidote to reformism and the boring drone of gay/lesbian mainstreaming. Lorde famously said that you can't dismantle the master's house using the master's tools, and I hope that a new radical youth takes up where she left off. Otherwise, we will be stuck with silly images of lesbians that populate the media now. Our radical past can fuel a radical present, where lesbian passion is not dimmed for the sake of mainstream acceptance. We can live in the mainstream, but we always have to be aware of how it can dull our passionate dreams for a freedom such as women have never seen before.

In times when conservative forces are attempting to destroy the power of women worldwide, we need to remember who the great ones are, and how they liberated themselves. One of the most touching parts of the book was reading about Lorde's last year, where she at last found the black women's community she dreamed of; where in the end she finally found the home she had searched for her entire life. I was so happy for her, so very deeply happy for this compensation.

Rating:
Summary: Unafraid to Fight
Review: Alexis DeVeaux presents a comprehensive account of self-described feminist, lesbian, and poet warrior, Audre Lorde. The author pulls together a myriad of published documents, unpublished journal entries by Audre Lorde herself, and a host of interviews with personal friends and family members to create a well documented look at the poet's life. The book is divided into two major sections called "lives." The first life begins prior to Audre's birth, and highlights some aspects of her parent's early life, their eventual marriage and move from the Caribbean to the United States. This family background helps readers understand Audre's nearly lifelong quest to come to terms with her relationship with her often emotionally detached parents. This portion of the book also details information about Audre's childhood, educational background, and young adult life. We learn about Audre's marriage to a white, gay, man and their eventual divorce and follow her process of "coming out" regarding her own lesbianism. Her long-term relationship with a white woman, Frances Clayton, and the challenges associated with raising a bi-racial son and daughter in a lesbian household during an era of rampant, overt racism and sexism was also discussed. DeVeaux also takes time to highlight some of Audre Lorde's flaws, thus providing a somewhat more balanced view of the author. Her professional career as a poet develops slowly, and the evolution of her writing career parallels the evolution of her political views and personal growth.

The second section of the book, "The Second Life," continues to explore her career development, chronicles her battles with cancer in more detail, and ends with her death. Audre Lorde supported freedom and equality for all, regardless of race, gender, class, or sexual orientation. However, because of her strong views and personal lifestyle, she often found herself on the fringes. Many white feminists were uncomfortable with her views on race, while those involved in the black power movement tended to be uncomfortable with her feminist ideology and her lesbianism. Yet she used her own struggles, particularly her battle with cancer, as a means to educate, motivate, and inspire.

I enjoyed WARRIOR POET and was impressed by Alexis DeVeaux's attention to detail and the time she spent helping readers understand the social and political climate of the times. There were times when I felt she went a little too far "setting the stage" and wanted to read more about Audre and less about other poets, or politics. Audre seemed to use her identity to take on very public battles for women's rights, gay rights, and so forth. But I found myself wanting to know more about how her children handled their mother's public persona. I also wondered how her very conservative, Catholic mother and her other siblings responded to Audre's lifestyle, and this issue was surprisingly never addressed. In spite of its sometimes academic feel, this is a must read for anyone that wants to learn more about an important literary figure.

Reviewed by Stacey Seay
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers