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Even the Stars Look Lonesome
''Even the Stars Look Lonesome'' (1997) is African-American writer and poet Maya Angelou's second book of essays, published during the long period between her fifth and sixth autobiographies, ''All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes'' (1986) and ''A Song Flung Up to Heaven'' (2002). ''Stars'', like her first book of essays, ''Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now'' (1993), has been called one of Angelou's "wisdom books".〔 By the time it was published, Angelou was well-respected and popular as a writer and poet. She discusses a wide range of topics in the book's twenty short personal essays, including Africa, aging and the young's misconceptions of it, sex and sensuality, self-reflection, independence, and violence. Most of the essays are autobiographical and had previously appeared in other publications. One essay defends Angelou's support of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, and another one centers on her friend Oprah Winfrey.
''Stars'' was an immediate bestseller, prompting Random House to increase their first printing of 350,000 copies to 375,000, even before Angelou began her national book tour to promote it. Like her previous works, the book received generally positive reviews. An audio book, read by the author, was recorded in 2001.
==Background==
''Even the Stars Look Lonesome'' is Maya Angelou's second book of essays. ''Stars'', together with her first book of essays ''Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now'' (1993), is one of the volumes writer Hilton Als called Angelou's "wisdom books" and "homilies strung together with autobiographical texts",〔 published during the long period between her fifth and sixth autobiographies, ''All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes'' (1986) and ''A Song Flung Up to Heaven'' (2002). She had published several volumes of poetry, including ''Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie'' (1971), which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.〔 She had recited her poem ''On the Pulse of Morning'' at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton in 1993,〔 making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961.〔 In 1997, when ''Stars'' was published, ''The Heart of a Woman'' (1981), Angelou's fourth installment of her series of autobiographies, was chosen as an Oprah's Book Club selection, helping it become a bestseller and increasing its total printing to over one million copies, 16 years after its publication.〔 Also in 1997, Angelou was in the middle of accomplishing her long-standing goal: becoming the first African-American woman to direct a major motion picture, ''Down in the Delta''.〔〔
By the time ''Stars'' was published, Angelou had become recognized and highly respected as a spokesperson for Blacks and women.〔 She was, as scholar Joanne Braxton has stated, "without a doubt ... America's most visible black woman autobiographer".〔 She had also become, as reviewer Richard Long stated, "a major autobiographical voice of the time".〔 Angelou was one of the first African-American female writers to publicly discuss her personal life, and one of the first to use herself as a central character in her books. Writer Julian Mayfield, who called her first autobiography ''I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'' "a work of art that eludes description", stated that Angelou's series set a precedent not only for other Black women writers, but for the genre of autobiography as a whole.〔
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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