Possessing the Secret of Joy. - Hardcover

Walker, Alice

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0151731527 ISBN 13: 9780151731527

Publisher: Thomson Learning, 1992

Synopsis

"Possessing the Secret of Joy" is the story of Tashi, a tribal African woman who lives much of her adult life in North America. As a young woman, a misguided loyalty to the customs of her people led her to voluntarily submit to the tsunga's knife and be genitally mutilated (pharoanoically circumcised). Severely traumatized by this experience, she spends the rest of her life battling madness, trying desperately through psychotherapy - she is treated by disciples of both Freud and C.G. Jung, and even by Jung himself - to regain the ability to recognize her own reality and to feel.It is only with the help of the most unlikely ally she can imagine that she begins to study the mythological "reasons" invented by her ancient ancestors for what was done to her and to millions of other women and girls over thousands of years. As her understanding grows, so does her capacity to encounter her overwhelming grief. Underneath this grief is her glowing anger. Anger propels her to act. Action brings both feeling - life, the ability to exist with awareness in the moment - and death. Of which she finds she has completely lost her fear. While not a sequel to "The Color Purple" or "The Temple of My Familiar, Possessing the Secret of Joy" follows the life of a barely glimpsed character from those books. Combining fact and fiction, communing with the spirits of the living and the dead, Alice Walker in this novel strikes with graceful power at the heart of one of the most controverial issues of our time.

About this title

Review:

"As compelling as . . ." The Color Purple"." --"San Francisco Chronicle"

"Extraordinarily courageous and chilling . . . Walker's remarkable compassion rings on every page." --"Cosmopolitan"

"Remarkable . . . superb fiction." --"New York Daily News"

"As compelling as . . ." The Color Purple."" --"San Francisco Chronicle"
"Extraordinarily courageous and chilling . . . Walker's remarkable compassion rings on every page." --"Cosmopolitan"
"Remarkable . . . superb fiction." --"New York Daily News"

"As compelling as . . . The Color Purple." --San Francisco Chronicle

"Extraordinarily courageous and chilling . . . Walker's remarkable compassion rings on every page." --Cosmopolitan

"Remarkable . . . superb fiction." --New York Daily News

Book Description:

This is the compelling story of Tashi, an extraordinary woman torn between African and American cultural identities, from the author of The Color Purple.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thomson Learning
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0151731527
• ISBN 13: 9780151731527
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 286