Remembered Rapture: the Writer at Work

Drawing on her experiences as a professor of English and the author of sixteen highly acclaimed books, critic bell hooks presents an insightful collection of essays on the process and politics of writing. Centrally, many of the essays raise provocative questions about the feminist movement and women's writing--the kinds of voices women have established in the wake of the demand for more writing by women, the politics of confession and the type of standards being set for women writers by critics. Several essays explore hooks's personal relationship to publishing, explaining the impact success has had on her work as she highlights her movement from writing in relative isolation to writing in New York City amidst the publishing industry, in a world full of writers. Other essays focus on the dearth of nonfiction writing by Black women, contrasting that with the rise in their published fiction. More general essays focus on writing as healing, raising issues about the function of writing; the extent to which readers inspire writers; and how race, ger, and class can determine one's relationship to words. Remembered Rapture offers a fresh and lively discussion of living with words.

Bell Hooks is the author of sixteen books, including Killing Rage (Owl Books, 0-8050-5512-6, $12.95), Bone Black, (Owl Books, 0-8050-5027-2, $11.95) and Wounds of Passion (see Owl catalog, p. 47). She is Distinguished Professor of English at City College in New York. She lives in Greenwich Village.