Underlining the possibilities of self-healing, specifically the need to love her altered body, Lorde further stressed the importance of accepting difference as a resource rather than perceiving it as a threat. Death, she realized, had to be integrated with her life, loving, and work consciousness of limitations and shared mourning of her loss increased her appreciation of living. This tendency to face and metabolize pain Lorde saw as a particularly African characteristic. Rather than ignoring pain and fear, she acknowledged, examined, and used them to better understand mortality as a source of power. Balancing her “wants” with her “haves,” she used this crisis to change patterns in her life. In each of the sections of the book, Lorde sought the strength that could be found at the core of the experience of cancer. Prosthesis”, traces the development of Lorde's decision not to wear a prosthesis, a cosmetic device that she felt placed profit and denial of difference over health and well-being. The last chapter, entitled “Breast Cancer: Power vs. Central to this section is Lorde's recognition of her fierce desire to survive, to be a warrior rather than a victim, and her acknowledgment of the network of women whose love sustained her. The second chapter, subtitled “A Black Lesbian Feminist Experience”, frankly describes the emotions experienced by one without role models through the course of diagnosis, surgery, and recovery. The first section of the book, “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action”, is a short address that was delivered by Lorde on a lesbians and literature panel of the Modern Language Association in 1977, soon after she had recovered from surgery that discovered a benign breast tumor. In this collection, Lorde challenged traditional Western notions of illness and advocated women's ability, responsibility, and right to make decisions about their health.Ī three-part piece developed from journal entries and essays written between 19, The Cancer Journals chronicles Lorde's experiences with her mastectomy and its aftermath. The Cancer Journals, published in 1980 by Spinsters Ink, was the first major prose work of African American poet and essayist Audre Lorde as well as one of the first books to make visible the viewpoint of a lesbian of color.
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