Alice Walker: A Woman for Our Times

272 Pages·2017·0.96 MB·English

by  Deborah G. Plant

Alice Walker
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WOMEN WRITERS OF COLOR
Alice Walker
A Woman for Our Times
Deborah G. Plant
Joanne M. Braxton, Series Editor
Copyright © 2017 by Deborah G. Plant
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without
prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Plant, Deborah G., 1956– author.
Title: Alice Walker : a woman for our times / Deborah G. Plant.
Description: Santa Barbara, California : Praeger, 2017. | Series: Women writers
of color | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017016395 (print) | LCCN 2017029393 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780313377518 (ebook) | ISBN 9780313377501 (alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Walker, Alice, 1944– | Authors, American—20th century—
Biography. | African American women authors—Biography. | Civil rights
workers—United States—Biography
Classification: LCC PS3573.A425 (ebook) | LCC PS3573.A425 Z85 2017 (print) |
DDC 813/.54 [B]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017016395
ISBN: 978-0-313-37750-1
EISBN: 978-0-313-37751-8
21 20 19 18 17 1 2 3 4 5
This book is also available as an eBook.
Praeger
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This book is printed on acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
For
My Sister
Gloria Jean Plant Gilbert
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Contents
Series Foreword by Joanne M. Braxton xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction xv
Section I. Earth
Poem: “There Are Bad Women Walking on the Planet Now”
by Phyllis McEwen
One I Am the Earth. . . . 5
Two For Six Years I Do Not Look Up 13
Three Everything Changed 19
Four A Spelman Girl 25
Five On My Own Terms 33
Section II. Fire
Poem: “A Message to Younger Sisters: Be Whole” by Phyllis McEwen
Six I Would Only Be the Philosopher 41
Seven Changing the World 49
viii Contents
Eight Meridian : Coming of Age in Mississippi 57
Nine Thought at the Meridian 67
Ten Truth Teller, Freedom Writer 77
Section III. Air
Poem: “The Clitoris Knows When and How” by Phyllis McEwen
Eleven Apologia: Honoring the Diffi cult 89
Twelve Helped Are Those Who Know 97
Thirteen A Woman of One’s Own: Womanist Philosophy
and Revitalization of the Sovereign Feminine 107
Fourteen The Sacred Masculine 117
Fifteen The Gnostic Gospel of My Father’s Smile 127
Section IV. Water
Poem: “My Body Is a Farm” (For My Son) b y Phyllis McEwen
Sixteen Mbele Aché 143
Seventeen Sub Rosa No Longer: Our Daughters Have Mothers 153
Eighteen Absolute Goodness 163
Nineteen Why War Is Never a Good Idea 171
Twenty We Are the Ones 177
Section V. Aether
Poem: “Little Girls” by Phyllis McEwen
Twenty-One The Cathedral of the Future 187
Twenty-Two Caritas: The Greatest of These 195
Twenty-Three Ouroboros 203
Contents ix
Twenty-Four “Alice” Is Old Greek for Truth 213
Twenty-Five Lapis Philosophorum 217
Notes 219
Index 245