Alice Walker

A modern classic whose influence can still be felt in contemporary literature, Walker's searing exploration of both white racism and violent Black patriarchy in the first half of the twentieth century is a uniquely powerful reading experience.
'The great irony about The Color Purple is that it transcends colour. To do that you have to be a magician or a genius... Not a word is wasted, every breath accounted for. We all know that this is one of the greatest books of all time.' - Benjamin Zephaniah

The classic, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that made Alice Walker a household name.

Set in the deep American South between the wars, The Color Purple is the classic tale of Celie, a young black girl born into poverty and segregation.

Raped repeatedly by the man she calls 'father', she has two children taken away from her, is separated from her beloved sister Nettie and is trapped into an ugly marriage.

But then she meets the glamorous Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker - a woman who has taken charge of her own destiny. Gradually Celie discovers the power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past and reuniting her with those she loves.

A Novel

The Color Purple

A selection of thirty-seven articles and essays by the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer includes reviews of other noted authors, reports on Cuba, the civil rights and peace movements, and autobiographical anecdotes. Reprint. 10,000 first printing.

Womanist Prose

In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens

Possessing the Secret of Joy

The Temple of My Familiar

* WINNER of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work * Alice Walker, author of the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning The Color Purple—“an American novel of permanent importance” (San Francisco Chronicle)—crafts a bilingual collection that is both playfully imaginative and intensely moving. Presented in both English and Spanish, Alice Walker shares a timely collection of nearly seventy works of passionate and powerful poetry that bears witness to our troubled times, while also chronicling a life well-lived. From poems of painful self-inquiry, to celebrating the simple beauty of baking frittatas, Walker offers us a window into her magical, at times difficult, and liberating world of activism, love, hope and, above all, gratitude. Whether she’s urging us to preserve an urban paradise or behold the delicate necessity of beauty to the spirit, Walker encourages us to honor the divine that lives inside all of us and brings her legendary free verse to the page once again, demonstrating that she remains a revolutionary poet and an inspiration to generations of fans.

Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart

The second novel written by Alice Walker, preceding THE COLOUR PURPLE is a heartfelt and moving story about one woman's personal revolution as she joins the Civil Rights Movement. Set in the American South in the 1960s it follows Meridian Hill, a courageous young woman who dedicates herself heart and soul to her civil rights work, touching the lives of those around her even as her own health begins to deteriorate. Hers is a lonely battle, but it is one she will not abandon, whatever the costs. This is classic Alice Walker, beautifully written, intense and passionate.

Meridian

From National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Alice Walker, and edited by the notable Valerie Boyd, comes an unprecedented compilation of Walker's fifty years of journals drawing an intimate portrait of her development over four decades as an artist, human rights and women's activist, and intellectual. For the first time, the edited journals of Alice Walker are gathered together to reflect the complex, passionate, talented, and acclaimed Pulitzer Prize winner of The Color Purple. She intimately mines her thoughts and feelings as a woman, a writer, an African-American, a wife, a daughter, a mother, a lover, a sister, a friend, a citizen of the world. In an unvarnished and singular voice, she explores an astonishing array of events: marching in Mississippi with other foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr.; her marriage to a Jewish lawyer, partly to defy laws that barred interracial marriage in the 1960s South; an early miscarriage; the birth of her daughter; writing her first novel; the trials and triumphs of the Women’s Movement; erotic encounters and enduring relationships; the ancestral visits that led her to write The Color Purple; winning the Pulitzer Prize; being admired and maligned, sometimes in equal measure, for her work and her activism; burying her mother; and her own daughter’s betrayal. A powerful blend of Walker’s personal life with political events, this revealing collection offers rare insight into a literary legend.

The Journals of Alice Walker

Gathering Blossoms Under Fire

Presents the text of Alice Walker's story "Everyday Use"; contains background essays that provide insight into the story; and features a selection of critical response. Includes a chronology and an interview with the author.

Everyday Use

اللون أرجواني

The desires and fears of the American black woman are explored with compassion and understanding in these thirteen short stories.

Stories of Black Women

In Love & Trouble

Thirteen short stories, including a political dialogue between two young black women as they meet over the years, explore the African-American experience in contemporary America, probing into relations between races and between sexes. Reprint. 10,000 first printing.

You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down

Um dos mais importantes títulos de toda a história da literatura, inspiração para a aclamada obra cinematográfica homônima dirigida por Steven Spielberg, o romance A cor púrpura retrata a dura vida de Celie, uma mulher negra do sul dos Estados Unidos da primeira metade do século XX. Pobre e praticamente analfabeta, Celie foi abusada, física e psicologicamente, desde a infância pelo padrasto e depois pelo marido. Um universo delicado, no entanto, é construído a partir das cartas que Celie escreve e das experiências de amizade e amor, sobretudo com a inesquecível Shug Avery. Apesar da dramaticidade de seu enredo, A cor púrpura se mostra extremamente atual e nos faz refletir sobre as relações de amor, ódio e poder, em uma sociedade ainda marcada pelas desigualdades de gênero, etnia e classes sociais.

A cor púrpura

'Alice Walker in this, the most beautiful, the most compassionate, the most sensuous of novels, has created a masterpiece. It is one of the most life-enhancing novels you could hope to read. Flawless' Mary Louden, THE TIMES 'All your life you have the necessary illusion that you know all there is to know about heartbreak. I hate to the one to tell you about the heartbreak you will experience after you die . . .' A family goes to the remote sierras of Mexico - the writer-to--be Susannah; her sister Magdalena; their father and mother. There, amid indigenous people called the Mundo, they begin an encounter that will change them more than they ever could have dreamed. This is a deeply sensual novel that explores the richness of female sexuality as a celebration of life, affirming the belief 'that it is the triumphant heart, not the conquered heart, that forgives. And that love is both timeless and beyond'.

A Story of Requited Love, Crossing Over, and the Sexual Healing of the Soul

By the Light of My Father's Smile

Alice Walker's powerful first novel. Alice Walker's first book recounts the lives of three generations growing up in Georgia, where the author herself grew up. Grange Copeland is a black tenant farmer who is forced to leave his land and family in search of a better future. He heads North but discovers that the racism and poverty he experienced in the South are, in fact, everywhere. When he returns to Georgia years later he finds that his son Brownfield has been imprisoned for the murder of his wife. But hope comes in the form of the third generation as the guardian of the couple's youngest daughter, Grange Copeland, who glimpses a chance of both spiritual and social freedom.

The Third Life of Grange Copeland

Presents a collection of poems that focus on both the joys and sorrows of life.

New Poems

Hard Times Require Furious Dancing

"Poetry is leading us," writes Alice Walker in The World Will Follow Joy. In this dazzling collection, the beloved writer offers over sixty new poems to incite and nurture contemporary activists. Hailed as a “lavishly gifted writer” (The New York Times), Walker imbues her poetry with evocative images, fresh language, anger, forgiveness, and profound wisdom. Casting her poetic eye toward history, politics, and nature, as well as to world figures such as Jimmy Carter, Gloria Steinem, and the Dalai Lama, she is indeed a "muse for our times" (Amy Goodman). By attentively chronicling the conditions of human life today, Walker shows, as ever, her deep compassion, profound spirituality, and necessary political commitments. The poems in The World Will Follow Joy remind us of our human capacity to come together and take action, even in our troubled political times. Above all, the gems in this collection illuminate what it means to live in our world today.

Turning Madness into Flowers (New Poems)

The World Will Follow Joy

1983 Pulitzer Ödülü

Renklerden Moru

'These are the stories that came to me to be told after the close of a magical marriage to an extraordinary man that ended in a less-than-magical divorce. I found myself unmoored, unmated, ungrounded in a way that challenged everything I'd ever thought about human relationships. Situated squarely in that terrifying paradise called freedom, precipitously out on so many emotional limbs, it was as if I had been born; and in fact I was being reborn as the woman I was to become' The Way Forward is with a Broken Heart starts with a lyrical, autobiographical story of the breakdown of a marriage during the early years of the civil rights movement. Alice Walker then goes on to imagine stories that grew out of the life following that marriage. Filled with wonder at the capacity of humans to move through love and loss, this is an uplifting read that showcases the authors warmth, wit and wisdom.

The Way Forward is with a Broken Heart

Neil McEwan

Building on the formula of York Notes, this Advanced series introduces students to more sophisticated analysis and wider critical perspectives. The notes enable students to appreciate contrasting interpretations of the text and to develop their own critical thinking. Key features include: study methods; an introduction to the text; summaries with critical notes; themes and techniques; textual analysis of key passages; author biography; historical and literary background; modern and historical critical approaches; chronology; and glossary of literary terms.

Notes

The Color Purple, Alice Walker

Um clássico da literatura. Um importante manifesto. Um clássico da literatura americana, aclamado pela crítica e amado por sucessivas gerações de leitores. Tão relevante hoje quanto no ano da sua publicação, é uma extraordinária peça de ficção que combate o ódio, a desigualdade e a violência, ao mesmo tempo que celebra o amor pela vida. «Uma exuberante celebração do que significa ser mulher.» Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Celie, de 14 anos, escreve cartas a Deus para tentar compreender o que lhe está a acontecer. Órfã de mãe, abusada pelo homem a quem chama "pai", separada da irmã, Netie, privada dos dois filhos e oferecida em casamento a um homem que a maltrata, considera-se «uma negra, pobre e feia". Até que conhece Sugar, a amante do marido. Com a ajuda de Sugar, «a mulher mais linda» que ela viu na vida, Celie descobre não só o paradeiro da irmã desaparecida mas também o próprio corpo, o prazer, o amor e, acima de tudo, a sua voz. Romance epistolar composto pelas cartas que Celie endereça a Deus com uma honestidade brutal e pelos relatos de viagem que Nettie lhe envia de uma missão em África, A Cor Púrpura aborda temas como a violência brutal a que estavam sujeitas as mulheres negras no início do século XX, a relação dos negros com o seu passado de escravatura, e a busca do espiritual num mundo cruel e sem sentido. Galardoado com o prémio Pulitzer e com o National Book Award para o melhor livro de ficção, A Cor Púrpura foi adaptado ao cinema em 1985 por Steven Spielberg e nomeado para 11 Óscares. Os elogios da crítica: «Alice Walker é uma escritora maravilhosamente talentosa.» The New York Times Book Review «A cor púrpura coloca Walker á altura de Faulkner.» The Nation «Um romance sempre em vigor.» Newsweek «Óptimo. Um livro para colocar entre os clássicos da literatura de todos os tempos.» San Francisco Chronicle «Um livro que genuinamente nos faz pensar.» Guardian «Uma fábula para o mundo moderno.» Washington Post «Um livro impressionante e brilhantemente concebido. . . uma saga cheia de alegria e dor, humor e amargura, e uma série de personagens que vivem, respiram e iluminam o mundo das mulheres negras.» Publishers Weekly «A cor púrpura é uma celebração exuberante de tudo o que significa ser mulher, ser uma mulher negra e gostar das melhores celebrações, é honesta. A honestidade de Alice Walker neste livro é combativa, implacável e redentora. É dessa honestidade que surge a amargura e, no entanto, a amargura nunca macula a humanidade da visão de Walker. Adoro que A cor púrpura não tente amenizar seus golpes, mas também seja corajoso o suficiente para manter uma fé maravilhosamente afirmativa na possibilidade, no perdão, na bondade e na esperança.» Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie «Uma das escritoras americanas mais talentosas.» Isabel Allende «Às vezes engraçado, principalmente comovente e ainda enfeitiçado com um encanto de conto de fadas, A cor púrpura aborda bravamente questões sociais e deve ser leitura obrigatória para todos, especialmente para aqueles que ainda optam por fechar os olhos aos abusos e violências cometidos por conta do sexismo e racismo.» Open Road Review Magazine

Alice Walker

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