In 1980, Audre Lorde copyrighted the book The Cancer Journals. The Cancer Journals chronicles Lorde's battles with cancer, not just as a woman, but as a Black Lesbian feminist. Lorde believing that post-mastectomy women's feelings need a voice in order to be recognized, repected and of use, breaks the silence giving voice to the anger, pain and fear that she felt about cancer. Lorde refers to silence as a tool of seperation and powerlessness. But through her voice she reclaims her power by speaking of the "travesty of prothesis, the pain of amputation, the function of cancer in a profit economy, her confrontation with mortality, the strength of women loving and the power and rewards of self-conscious living."
This book is a powerful piece in which Lorde gives the reader a peek into her reality of being diagnosed with cancer by weaving excerpts of her personal journal throughout the book. In reading the excerpts from Lorde's journal the reader rides the same roller coaster of emotions that Lorde rode. The reader feels the same sense of loss and emptiness that Lorde feels due to the discovery of cancer, and the physical and mental pain due to the loss of a breast. One feels the confusion she feels as she wonders why such a thing would happen to her. The reader experiences her astonishment as she realizes that the world has told women that a lost breast should be camouflaged and not talked about. The reader's chest explodes in anger right along with Lorde when she realizes that the American Cancer Society is not as concerned with finding a cure as it is with treating the illness once it shows up. The reader senses the love and support that Lorde feels as the women in her life rally around her to help get her through this obstacle that obstructs her once clear path. Finally, the reader experiences Lorde's triumph when she finally comes to terms with her own mortality and begins to live her life in a more self-conscious manner.
By taking the reader into the world of cancer and walking you through it step by step, Lorde helps the reader to gain a better understanding of what those who are cancerous may be going through. The book is not only informative, but gives one a ray of hope. The reader learns that despite the harshness of cancer, one can survive the experience and still live a full life. Audre Lorde sums it up best: those inflicted with cancer may "work with consciousness of death at their [my] shoulder...and it doesn't matter whether death comes next week or thirty years from now this consciousness gives their [my] lives a new breadth."
Reviewed 6 February 1998 by Shelia Higgs.