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A review by half_book_and_co
Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry by Imani Perry
5.0
I want to start this review with a simple statement: This might be one of the best biographies I have read to date. I don't throw around this sentence lightly but from start to finish I was engrossed in Imani Perry's "Looking for Lorraine. The Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry".
Based on archival material (some of which has only been available since 2010), Hansberry's published writing, and loads of contextual matter, Perry paints a portrait of the playwright (best known for "Raisin in the Sun"), critic, and activist Lorraine Hansberry which allows for a deeper understanding of the person Hansberry, her work, and artistic and political movements she was aligned to. Perry peels back layer after layer while also being transparent about what we cannot know and what might be even unethical to speculate. She hones in on Hansberry's queerness, discussing its importance in regards to her understanding of herself, her politics, her relationships and very deeply her writing too. I loved how Perry understands it to situate Hansberry in a wider context, describe important networks (like Hansberry's friendship with Nina Simone and James Baldwin), and offer interesting analyses of Hanberry's creative Oeuvre. This book portrays Lorraine Hansberry as the complex woman she was - grown up somehow middle-class and then turning wholeheartedly to Communism, a staunch feminist who engaged with the writing of Simone de Beauviour but often centred male characters in her own writing, a lesbian who was part of Daughters of Billitis and who married a white Jewish communist. Through the meticulous reconstruction of Hansberry's life and thoughts, one also gains insights into leftist debates, the Civil Rights Movement, lesbian and queer publishing, and anti-colonial politics of the 1950s and 1960s. Written in assured prose this is a wonderful tribute to Lorraine Hansberry.
Based on archival material (some of which has only been available since 2010), Hansberry's published writing, and loads of contextual matter, Perry paints a portrait of the playwright (best known for "Raisin in the Sun"), critic, and activist Lorraine Hansberry which allows for a deeper understanding of the person Hansberry, her work, and artistic and political movements she was aligned to. Perry peels back layer after layer while also being transparent about what we cannot know and what might be even unethical to speculate. She hones in on Hansberry's queerness, discussing its importance in regards to her understanding of herself, her politics, her relationships and very deeply her writing too. I loved how Perry understands it to situate Hansberry in a wider context, describe important networks (like Hansberry's friendship with Nina Simone and James Baldwin), and offer interesting analyses of Hanberry's creative Oeuvre. This book portrays Lorraine Hansberry as the complex woman she was - grown up somehow middle-class and then turning wholeheartedly to Communism, a staunch feminist who engaged with the writing of Simone de Beauviour but often centred male characters in her own writing, a lesbian who was part of Daughters of Billitis and who married a white Jewish communist. Through the meticulous reconstruction of Hansberry's life and thoughts, one also gains insights into leftist debates, the Civil Rights Movement, lesbian and queer publishing, and anti-colonial politics of the 1950s and 1960s. Written in assured prose this is a wonderful tribute to Lorraine Hansberry.