Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
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| Zami: A New Spelling of My Name | |
| Author | Audre Lorde |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Biomythography |
| Publisher | Persephone Press |
| Publication date | 1982 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-89594-122-8 |
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name is a 1982 autobiography by African American poet Audre Lorde. It started a new genre that the author calls biomythography.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
The book is an account Lorde's life, beginning as a child in Harlem.
[edit] Explanation of the title
Zami is a carriacou name for women who work together as friends and lovers.
[edit] Plot summary
Audre Lorde grows up in Harlem, a child of Black West Indian parents. Legally blind as a child, she learns to read before going to school, thus stoking up wrath in the nurses at her Catholic school. The family's landlord hangs himself for having to rent his flat to Black people; later they take a trip to Washington D.C., where they are refused ice-cream because of segregation laws. After getting her first periods at age 15, she makes friends with a small number of non-Black girls at Hunter College High School, "The Branded". She is even elected literary editor of the school's arts magazine - she has started writing poetry. After graduation, she leaves home and shares a flat with friends of Jean's (one of The Branded). At the same time, she also goes out with Peter, a white boy who jilts her on New Year's Eve - she is pregnant and decides on an abortion. After some unhappy times at Hunter College, she moves to Stamford, Connecticut, to find work in a factory, where the working conditions prove atrocious. Following her father's death, she returns to NYC and starts a relationship with Bea, whose heart she ends up breaking when she decides to move to Mexico to get away from McCarthyism. There, she goes to university and works as a secretary in a hospital. In Cuernavaca, she meets a lot of independent woman, mostly lesbians; she has a relationship with one of them, Eudora, and works in a library. Back in NYC, Audre explores the lesbian bar scene, moves in with lover Muriel, then another lesbian, Lynn, moves in with them and ends up leaving without warning and with their savings. Finally, Audre begins a relationship with a mother named Afrekete, who decides to leave to tend to her child. The book ends on a homage to Audre's mother.
[edit] Characters in "Zami: A New Spelling of My Name"
- Audre Lorde, the author.
- Phyllis and Helen, Audre's older sisters.
- The Branded, a set of friends of Audre's at high school.
- Maxine, a Jewish friend of Audre's at high school.
- Gennie, a.k.a. Genevieve, a friend of Audre's who takes dance classes and commits suicide.
- Louisa, Gennie's mother.
- Philip Thompson, Gennie's father who left home early and comes back when she is 15.
- Ella, Gennie's stepmother.
- Peter, a white boy whom Audre dates whilst in NYC
- Ginger, a work colleague of Audre's from the factory at Stamford; a lover of Audre's.
- Bea, another lover of Audre's, met in NYC.
- Eudora, an older woman and lover of Audre's in Mexico.
- Muriel, another lover of Audre's.
- Lynn, a lesbian who lives with Muriel and Audre for a while.
- Toni, an old acquaintance of Audre's from high school, who turns out a lesbian.
- Gerri, a black lesbian from Queens
- Kitty, a.k.a. Afrekete, the last lover mentioned in the book, met through Gerri; she has a daughter and leaves abruptly.
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[edit] Major themes
- Lesbianism. The book describes the way lesbians lived in New York City, Connecticut and Mexico during the years spanned in the book.
- Racism. The landlord who hangs himself, the ice-cream episode in Washington D.C., the increased suspicion during the McCarthy era all contribute to highlight the theme of racism.
- The mother. Audre's difficult relationship with her mother, whom she credits for imbueing her with a certain sense of strength, pervades throughout the book.
- McCarthyism and the Rosenbergs are also mentioned.
[edit] External links
- New York Times review
- ZAMI: A PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST AS A BLACK LESBIAN by Barbara DiBernard
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