Suggestively Inscribed by Audre Lorde to Sybil Landau, One of Her Earliest Girlfriends
Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold.
Lewis, C.S.
New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, (1957).
Price:
$6,500.00
About the item
Drawings by Fritz Eichenberg. Early printing of the American edition, inscribed and dated on first free endpaper. Red cloth stamped in silver and brown on spine; brown topstain; light wear and toning to spine ends and corners. Dust jacket unclipped; toned overall, with light stains, edgewear, and significant loss to foot of spine panel, with smaller chips/loss to edges; front panel split from spine along joint.
Item #373244
Lewis' modern retelling of Apuleius' myth of Cupid and Psyche, narrated here by one of Psyche's sisters, which relates the story of how the two lovers overcame a multitude of obstacles to their romance, and how immortality is granted to the soul of Psyche as a reward for her commitment to sexual love.
The story may have also served as a knowing parallel to Lorde's and Landeau's own intimate relationship, something additionally alluded to in Lorde's incription, written while both were attending graduate school at Columbia University:
6/1960
Sybil:
"When the time comes to you at which you will be forced at last to utter the speech which has lain at the center of your soul for years, which you have, all that time, idiot-like, been saying over and over, you'll not talk of the joy of words...."
"How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?"
Sincerely,
Audre
Lorde had identified as queer while in high school during the early 1950s, but based on the content of the inscription, it appears Landeau may have been more reticent about openly identifying as a lesbian. While it is unknown exactly when their partnership ended, both did become promiment advocates for civil and gay rights, and their friendship endured until Lorde's untimely death in 1992.
