eBook

Aphrodite's Daughters

Honey, Maureen

2016

Overview

The Harlem Renaissance was a watershed moment for racial uplift, poetic innovation, sexual liberation, and female empowerment.Aphrodite's Daughtersintroduces us to three amazing women who were at the forefront of all these developments, poetic iconoclasts who pioneered new and candidly erotic forms of female self-expression. Maureen Honey paints a vivid portrait of three African American women-Angelina Weld Grimké, Gwendolyn B. Bennett, and Mae V. Cowdery-who came from very different backgrounds but converged in late 1920s Harlem to leave a major mark on the literary landscape. She examines the varied ways these poets articulated female sexual desire, ranging from Grimké's invocation of a Sapphic goddess figure to Cowdery's frank depiction of bisexual erotics to Bennett's risky exploration of the borders between sexual pleasure and pain. Yet Honey also considers how they were united in their commitment to the female body as a primary source of meaning, strength, and transcendence. The product of extensive archival research,Aphrodite's Daughtersdraws from Grimké, Bennett, and Cowdery's published and unpublished poetry, along with rare periodicals and biographical materials, to immerse us in the lives of these remarkable women and the world in which they lived. It thus not only shows us how their artistic contributions and cultural interventions were vital to their own era, but also demonstrates how the poetic heart of their work keeps on beating.

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Subject: 20th century / african american / African American authors / African American female poets / African American poetic iconoclasts / African American poets / African American poets -- 20th century / African American women / African American women -- New York (State) -- New York -- Intellectual life / African American women writers / African-American arts / African-American arts -- New York (State) -- New York -- 20th century / American poetry / American poetry -- African American authors -- History and criticism / American poetry -- Women authors -- History and criticism / Angelina Weld Grimké / Aphrodite's Daughters / artistic contributions / bennett / Bennett, Gwendolyn, 1902-1981 -- Criticism and interpretation / Bennett, Gwendolyn, 1902–1981 / Bennett’s risky exploration of the borders between sexual pleasure and pain / BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General / BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women / black / black poets / black women writers / blackness / body / candidly erotic forms of female self-expression / cowdery / Cowdery, Mae V. (Mae Virginia), approximately 1909-1953 -- Criticism and interpretation / Cowdery, Mae V. (Mae Virginia), approximately 1909–1953 / Cowdery’s frank depiction of bisexual erotics / Criticism and interpretation / cultural interventions / female body / female empowerment / feminism / feminist / frank depiction of bisexual erotics / gender studies / General biography and genealogy / grimke / Grimkâe, Angelina Weld, 1880–1958 / Grimké, Angelina Weld, 1880-1958 -- Criticism and interpretation / Grimké’s invocation of a Sapphic goddess figure / Gwendolyn B. Bennett / harlem / Harlem Renaissance / History / HISTORY / United States / 20th Century / History and criticism / Intellectual life / Language & Literature / LITERARY CRITICISM / American / African-American / LITERARY CRITICISM / Comparative Literature / LITERARY CRITICISM / Poetry / LITERARY CRITICISM / Women Authors / literary studies / Mae V. Cowdery / MAUREEN HONEY / meaning / Modernism (Literature) / Modernism (Literature) -- New York (State) -- New York / New York / New York (State) / poet / poetic innovation / poetry / published poetry / race / racial uplift / racism / renaissance / risky exploration of the borders between sexual pleasure and pain / Sapphic goddess figure / sexual liberation / SOCIAL SCIENCE / Women's Studies / SOCIAL SCIENCE / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies / Sociology / strength / Three Modernist Poets of the Harlem Renaissance / transcendence / unpublished poetry / women / Women authors / Women poets, American / Women poets, American -- 20th century / women studies / women writers / women's studies
• ISBN: 9780813570808, 0813570808, 0813570794, 9780813570792, 0813570786, 9780813570785