Zami. A New Spelling of My Name
Watertown, MA: Persephone Press, 1982. 1st Edition. Octavo, publisher’s stiff illustrated paper wraps.
"A choice of pains. That's what living was all about." First edition of leading Black feminist poet and author Audre Lorde’s seminal memoir. Titled after a Carriacou term denoting "women who work together as friends and lovers," the book chronicles Lorde’s upbringing in Harlem as the daughter of immigrants from Grenada; her childhood experiences of racism; the tragic death of her teenage friend; her initial romantic and sexual encounters with women; and other anecdotes of self-development and her struggles constructing an identity for herself. Lorde coined the term "biomythography" to describe the work, denoting a composition that weaves history, biography, and myth-making. A means in which to subvert the canonical, androcentric autobiography and center female experience, the text’s unprecedented narrative structure has been influential in work produced by Black queer women across numerous disciplines. Light rubbing and wear to wraps, slight toning to spine. Very good. Item #7108
$130.00