Aphrodite's Daughters : Three Modernist Poets of the Harlem Renaissance / Maureen Honey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Honey, Maureen, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African American arts--New York (State)--New York--20th century.

African American arts.

African American poets--20th century.

African American poets.

African American women--New York (State)--New York--Intellectual life.

African American women.

American poetry--African American authors--History and criticism.

American poetry.

American poetry--Women authors--History and criticism.

American poetry--New York (State)--New York--African American authors--History and criticism.

Harlem Renaissance.

Modernism (Literature)--New York (State)--New York.

Modernism (Literature).

Women poets, American--20th century.

Women poets, American.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : 21 photographs

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, NJ : Rutgers University Press, [2016]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

The Harlem Renaissance was a watershed moment for racial uplift, poetic innovation, sexual liberation, and female empowerment. Aphrodite's Daughters introduces 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 1920's 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product of extensive archival research, Aphrodite's Daughters draws from Grimké, Bennett, and Cowdery's published and unpublished poetry, along with rare periodicals and biographical materials, to immerse us in the lives of these remarkable women and the world in which they lived.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.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

1. The Lyric Poetry of Angelina Weld Grimké, Gwendolyn B. Bennett, and Mae V. Cowdery

2. Angelina Weld Grimké's Sapphic Temple of Desire

3. Harlem's Phoenix: Gwendolyn B. Bennett

4. Shattered Mirror: The Failed Promise of Mae V. Cowdery

Epilogue

Appendix A: List of Published Poetry

Appendix B: Selected List of Unpublished Poetry

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Index

About the Author

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 04. Sep 2019)

ISBN:

0-8135-7080-8

OCLC:

954678702