Description
Book SynopsisThe 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.
Trade Review"Honey has made a remarkable case for the restoration and addition of these three remarkable women in to their rightful place in the canon." * Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide *
"In this biographical and critical study, Honey focuses on three poets she introduced to many with her groundbreaking anthology
Shadowed Dreams: Women’s Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance ... Each poet is treated separately and chronologically, and the poems are examined in the context of the writer’s life and of the limits placed on educated, talented women in the early part of the 20th century ... Highly recommended." * Choice *
"An excellent book on a trio of under-read and often misunderstood poets. Maureen Honey's portrait of this unique cadre of modernists reveals the fascinating conflicts of politics and poetics that exemplify the Harlem Renaissance's artistic production." -- Cherene Sherrard-Johnson * author of Dorothy West's Paradise: A Biography of Class and Color *
"Maureen Honey’s archival research and critical acumen transform our understanding of Gwendolyn Bennett, Mae Cowdery, and Angelina Grimké, poets who explored their interior and erotic lives with deft lyricism and uncommon courage." -- Cheryl A. Wall * author of Women of the Harlem Renaissance *
Table of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments1 The Lyric Poetry of Angelina Weld Grimké, Gwendolyn B. Bennett, and Mae V. Cowdery2 Angelina Weld Grimké’s Sapphic Temple of Desire3 Harlem’s Phoenix: Gwendolyn B. Bennett4 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Mirror: The Failed Promise of Mae V. Cowdery Epilogue Appendix A: List of Published Poetry Appendix B: Selected List of Unpublished Poetry Notes Bibliography Index
