The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde (Penguin, 1980)
Between 1978 and 1980, Audre Lorde wrote about her experience with breast cancer and mastectomy, connecting her trials and treatment to her own work and to the collective effort of liberation for all women. She bears a great deal of anger towards a medical system that prioritizes cosmetics and prosthetics at the cost of women’s ability to face their own mortality and vulnerability, to live considered lives. She locates a kind of regressive nostalgia in that effort, in turning women ever back to what they cannot return to, rather than supporting the difficult but necessary journey ahead. Lorde refused to turn back, and in doing so, charted a path for all of us to follow.
View this post on the web, reply via email, or become a supporter.