Zami: A New Spelling of My Name – A Biomythography

Audre Lorde

In “Zami: A New Spelling of My Name,” poet Audre Lorde has written a text she calls a “biomythography.” I think of “biomythography” as a literary form that blends elements of autobiography, the novel, and personal mythology. But however you define the word, “Zami” is a powerful and beautiful text which illuminates the life of an African-American lesbian in the mid-20th century.
“Zami” begins with the young Audre and her parents, a Black immigrant couple who had settled in New York City. Lorde writes in detail of her cultural heritage from the Caribbean island of Grenada. From her childhood in Harlem to her young adulthood, the book is full of fascinating episodes and poetic language. Lorde’s description of using her mother’s traditional mortar and pestle to grind spices in the Caribbean style is a particular tour-de-force of sensuous language.

status	Copy #1 (3335): in
genre	Activism and Human Rights » Feminism
publisher	The Crossing Press
publish date
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