Bøger af Gwendolyn Brooks

Discover the most enduring works of legendary poet Gwendolyn Brooks-the first black author to win a Pulitzer Prize-in one collectible volume"If you wanted a poem," wrote Gwendolyn Brooks, "you only had to look out of a window. There was material always, walking or running, fighting or screaming or singing." From the life of Chicago's South Side she made a forceful and passionate poetry that fused Modernist aesthetics with African-American cultural tradition, a poetry that registered the life of the streets and the upheavals of the 20th century. Starting with A Street in Bronzeville (1945), her epoch-making debut volume, The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks traces the full arc of her career in all its ambitious scope and unexpected stylistic shifts."Her formal range," writes editor Elizabeth Alexander, "is most impressive, as she experiments with sonnets, ballads, spirituals, blues, full and off-rhymes. She is nothing short of a technical virtuoso." That technical virtuosity was matched by a restless curiosity about the life around her in all its explosive variety. By turns compassionate, angry, satiric, and psychologically penetrating, Gwendolyn Brooks's poetry retains its power to move and surprise.About the American Poets ProjectElegantly designed in compact editions, printed on acid-free paper, and textually authoritative, the American Poets Project makes available the full range of the American poetic accomplishment, selected and introduced by today's most discerning poets and critics.

"Maud Martha" er den amerikanske forfatter, underviser og borgerrettighedsaktivist Gwendolyn Brooks' (1917-2000) autofiktive fortælling om Maud Marthas liv og skæbne, fra hun er 6 år, og indtil hun har født sit første barn og er gravid med sit næste.Det er historien om at komme fra beskedne kår, hvor forældrene må kæmpe for at beholde deres hjem, og om at vokse op i en familie, hvor søsteren er meget smukkere end hende selv. Begge erfaringer, den af fattigdom og den af ikke at være smuk nok, hjemsøger Maud Martha op igennem livet og i hendes parforhold med Paul. Den Paul, som hun venter sit barn med, men som hun er overbevist om hellere ville giftes med en, der var lidt lysere brun.Det er historien om hele tiden at opretholde håbet og optimismen, selvom den hårde realitet er, at de to aldrig vil komme videre fra deres lille lejlighed fyldt med kakerlakker i en by, hvor de dagligt konfronteres med deres hudfarve og deres livsvilkår. Hvor det at være sort betyder at være låst fast i fattigdom og et liv, der i bedste fald får lov at gå ubemærket hen. "Maud Martha" er en smuk og barsk fortælling fortalt i 24 vignetter, der i al sin lyriske enkelthed indkapsler Maud Marthas barndomsminder, familieliv, ægteskab og erfaringer af at leve som sort kvinde i 1950’ernes Chicago. "Maud Martha" udgives i Gyldendals Skala-serie for genopdagede mesterværker fra det 20. århundrede.

September 2003 marked the 50th anniversary of Maud Martha, the only novel published by esteemed poet Gwendolyn Brooks. Initially entitled ""American Family Brown"" the work would eventually come to symbolize some of Brooks' most provocative writing. In a novel that captures the essence of Black life, Brooks recognizes the beauty and strength that lies within each of us.

The stunning only novel by the celebrated poet and first Black author to win a Pulitzer Prize, introduced by Margo Jefferson.'Such a wonderful book. Utterly unique, exquisitely crafted and quietly powerful. I loved it and want everyone to read this lost literary treasure.' Bernardine Evaristo'Maud Martha finds beauty in the brutal formative moments that make us. It is one of my favorite depictions of how a woman comes to trust her eyes.' Raven Leilani'The quotidian rises to an exquisite portraiture of black womanhood in the hands of one of America's most foundational writers.' Claudia Rankine 'Maud Martha reveals the poetry, power, and splendor of an ordinary life.' Tayari JonesWhat, what, am I to do with all of this life?Maud Martha Brown is a little girl growing up on the South Side of 1940s Chicago. Amidst the crumbling taverns and overgrown yards, she dreams: of New York, romance, her future. She admires dandelions, learns to drink coffee, falls in love, decorates her kitchenette, visits the Jungly Hovel, guts a chicken, buys hats, gives birth. But her lighter-skinned husband has dreams too: of the Foxy Cats Club, other women, war. And the 'scraps of baffled hate' - a certain word from a saleswoman; that visit to the cinema; the cruelty of a department store Santa Claus- are always there .Written in 1953 but never published in Britain, Maud Martha is a poetic collage of happenings that forms an extraordinary portrait of an ordinary life: one lived with wisdom, humour, protest, rage, dignity, and joy.

A short statement about the need for Black self-awareness.

Call blacks to work together toward their own REAL emancipation.

Brooks writes about Africa and the African Americans.

A group of poems dedicated to Winnie Mandela.

All the tiger's fierce qualities do not satisfy him; he wants to be stylish and wear white gloves.