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It is the conceit of By the Light of My Father's Smile that angels have complete access to the consciousness of the living beings they observe. One of the book's very first scenes involves the ebullient lovemaking of Susannah and her partner, Pauline, reported in sweaty detail by the angelic paternal voyeur. Highly explicit, this set piece is a kind of guerrilla assault on our sensibilities, preparing us to receive Walker's urgent message--that sexuality and spirituality are inextricable, that denying one causes the other to atrophy as well. The blessings of fathers are, according to this canon, essential to the sexual flowering and spiritual maturity of their female offspring. It is in the loss, the conferring, and the claiming of these blessings that the novel finds its narrative thrust.
By the Light of My Father's Smile is intended perhaps less as a story than as a parable presenting Walker's cosmology for the new millennium--one that synthesizes ancient and modern wisdoms in a way that's as artistically daring as it is politically correct: Sex is good, repression is evil. Dominant is bad, distaff is good. European culture is dead meat, the third world is wise, there is ongoing commerce between the living and the dead, great orgasms shall set us free. Many readers will agree that a world built upon these precepts surely would be preferable to the one we now inhabit. Here, as in previous fictions, Walker the storyteller is spellbinding, Walker the preacher-theorist, less so. On the other hand, what other novelist risks so bravely or with such generosity, and seeks to give so much? With the proper mindset, Walker assures us, anyone can become a member of the Mundo tribe. --Joyce Thompson
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Book Description Hardback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR005783983
Book Description Condition: Very Good. This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. . Seller Inventory # 7719-9780704350830
Book Description Condition: Very Good. Shipped within 24 hours from our UK warehouse. Clean, undamaged book with no damage to pages and minimal wear to the cover. Spine still tight, in very good condition. Remember if you are not happy, you are covered by our 100% money back guarantee. Seller Inventory # 6545-9780704350830
Book Description Hardback. Condition: Very Good+. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good+. 1st Edition. First edition first printing Octavo hardback 224 pages Very Good + condition in Very Good + unclipped dust jacket. No inscriptions. Seller Inventory # 066169
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. First UK edition. Near fine in similar dustwrapper. A novel from the prolific African American writer. Seller Inventory # ABE-844141476
Book Description Condition: Bueno. By The Light Of My Father's Smile is the story of two sisters, Susannah and Magdalena, seen through the eyes of their dead father, now in the spirit world. Highly contemporary, sexually explicit, disturbing and tough, it explores how love and relationships are distorted by dishonesty and deceit.EAN: 9780704350830 Tipo: Libros Categoría: Título: By The Light of My Father's SmileAutor: Walker, Alice Editorial: The Women's Press Ltd Idioma: EN Páginas: 224 Peso: 450. Seller Inventory # Happ-2023-02-15-fb85bf53
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. This is the first UK edition. Size: Octavo (standard book size). 224 pages. Text body is clean, and free from previous owner annotation, underlining and highlighting. Binding is tight, covers and spine fully intact. Dust Jacket is fully intact, no tears or chips, but carries signs of wear to top and bottom edges, corners etc. Previous owner's inscription, lavish, in ink. Edges browned slightly. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilogram. Category: Fiction; ISBN: 0704350831. ISBN/EAN: 9780704350830. Dewey Code: 813.54 21. All our pictures shown here are of the actual item, not stock photos. Inventory No: RB12715. For further info on this title, click on the "Contact Seller" button within this listing. We will try to reply within 24 hours. Otherwise you can order right now (inclusive of shipping options) from the "Add to Basket" button to the right. Seller Inventory # RB12715
Book Description Hardback. 1st UK Edition. Octavo Size [approx 15.5 x 22.8cm]. Very Good condition in Very Good Dustjacket. DJ protected in our purpose-made plastic sleeve. A nice copy. Page edges a little tanned. Robust, professional packaging and tracking provided for all parcels. 224 pages. Seller Inventory # 308818
Book Description Hardback. By the Light of My Father's Smile is Alice Walker's first novel in six years--a stunning, original, and important book by "one of the best American writers of today" (The Washington Post). A family from the United States goes to the remote Sierras in Mexico--the writer-to-be, Susannah; her sister, Magdalena; her father and mother. And there, amid an endangered band of mixed-race Blacks and Indians called the Mundo, they begin an encounter that will change them more than they could ever dream. Moving back and forth in time, and among unforgettable characters and their stories, Walker crosses conventional borders of all kinds as she explores in this magical novel the ways in which a woman's denied sexuality leads to the loss of the much prized and necessary original self; and how she regains that self, even as her family's past of lies and love is transformed. By the Light of My Father's Smile presents, as Alice Walker puts it, "a celebration of sexuality, its absolute usefulness in the accessing of one's mature spirituality, and the father's role in assuring joy or sorrow in this arena for his female children." It explores the richness and coherence of alternative culture, experience of sexuality as a celebration of life, of trust in Nature and the Spirit, even as it affirms the belief, as Walker says, "that it is the triumphant heart, not the conquered heart, that forgives. And that love is both timeless and beyond time." From the Hardcover edition. 1998. First UK edition. A near fine copy only marked by very light age tanning of the pages. The d/w is unclipped and very good with some minor, repaired edge tears. Seller Inventory # 22903548
Book Description HardBack. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. First Edition. 1st UK Edition, 1st Impression, Womens Press 1998. 224pp. Very good clean tight sound square, no bookplate, inscription or marks of any kind, bound in red lettered black cloth, toghether with original unclipped colour pictorail dustwrapper. Brave and beautiful novel from Pulitzer Prizewinning Alice Walker. Seller Inventory # 100162456