Eugénisme

1958 · 373245 — 1958. Single unlined 8-1/2 x 11 inch leaf holograph text in blue ink recto and verso; old fold lines with small tear and crease to one edge; in franked autograph envelope with light toning and wear. A punchy humorous letter to Sybil Landeau while she was still an undergraduate student at Hunter College the school Audre Lorde was also attending at the time.<br /> <br /> Her friend Eugenia begins by apologizing for her "bad French" stating that since she was "on the verge of leaving New Orleans I wanted to make it really abstruse and delay comprehension until I arrived in S.F. which would make me in two places at once"<br /> <br /> After offering to contact any friends of Landeau's in San Francisco she then writes "What are your present interests aside from Opera exams and Audre Lorde"<br /> <br /> While it is unknown exactly when the friendship between between Landeau - a passionate opera fan and future lawyer - and Lorde became intimate this letter provides perhaps the first indication that Landeau's feelings toward Lorde had begun to evolve into something far more personal. Their resulting affair continued into their graduate years at Columbia University and though it ended at some point during the 1960s both women carried on working together for civil and gay rights and their friendship endured until Lorde's untimely 1992 death.<br /> <br /> An important letter in the biography of Audre Lorde sent to one of her earliest girlfriends. unknown