Title: Aphrodite's daughters
Description: "Aphrodite's Daughters brings to dramatic life three lyrical poets of the Harlem Renaissance whose work was among the earliest to display erotic passion as a source of empowerment for women. Angelina Weld Grimké, Gwendolyn B. Bennett, and Mae V. Cowdery are framed as bold pioneers whose verse opened new frontiers into women's sexuality at the dawn of a new century. Honey describes Grimké construction of a Sapphic deity inspiring acolytes to express forbidden same-sex desire while she outlines Bennett's exploration of sexual pleasure and pain and Cowdery's frank depiction of bisexual erotics. Grimké, Bennett, and Cowdery, she argues, embraced the lyric "I" as an expression of their modernity as artists, women, and participants in the New Negro Movement by highlighting the female body as a primary source of meaning, strength and transcendence. Honey juxtaposes each poet's creative work against her life writing, personal archive, and appearances in the black press. These new source materials dramatically illuminate verse that has largely appeared without its biographical context or modernist roots. Honey's highly nuanced bio-critical portraits of this unique cadre of New Negro poets reveal the fascinating complexity of their private lives, and she creates absorbing narratives for all three as they experienced sexual awakening in lesbian, heterosexual, and bisexual contexts. The vivid interplay between intimate, racial and artistic currents in their lives makes Aphrodite's Daughters a compelling story of three courageous women who dared to be sexually alive New Negro artists paving the way toward our own era."--
Subjects: African American authors, American Women poets, African American women, African American poets, Intellectual life, History and criticism, Criticism and interpretation, Harlem Renaissance, Modernism (Literature), Women authors, American poetry, African American arts, American poetry, african american authors, history and criticism, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Women's Studies, LITERARY CRITICISM / Women Authors, African-American arts, LITERARY CRITICISM / American / African American, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies, LITERARY CRITICISM / Poetry, HISTORY / United States / 20th Century, Arts noirs américains, Modernisme (Littérature), Noires américaines, Vie intellectuelle, Poétesses américaines, Poètes noirs américains, Poésie américaine, Auteurs noirs américains, Histoire et critique, HISTORY, 20th Century, LITERARY CRITICISM, Poetry, SOCIAL SCIENCE, Ethnic Studies, African American Studies, Women's Studies, American, African American, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Women
Places: New York (State), New York
People: Angelina Weld Grimké (1880-1958), Gwendolyn Bennett (1902-1981), Mae V. Cowdery (approximately 1909-1953)
Time periods: 20th century