Portrait of a Feminist: A Memoir in Essays

By: Marianna Marlowe

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Synopsis: Infused with a passion for justice, this sublime, expansive memoir by a Peruvian American feminist will appeal to fans of Crying in H Mart and How to Raise a Feminist Son. Through braided memories that flash against the present day, Portrait of a Feminist depicts the evolution of Marianna Marlowe&’s identity as a biracial and multicultural woman—from her childhood in California, Peru, and Ecuador to her adulthood as an academic, a wife, and a mother. How does the inner life of a feminist develop? How does a writer observe the world around her and kindle, from her earliest memories, a flame attuned to the unjust? With writing that is simultaneously wise and shimmering, nuanced and direct, Marlowe explores her own experiences with the hallmarks of patriarchy. Interweaving stories of life as the child of a Catholic Peruvian mother and an atheist American father in a family that lived many years abroad, she explores realities familiar to so many of us—unequal marriages, class structures, misogynist literature, and patriarchal religion. Portrait of a Feminist confronts the two most essential questions of feminism today: What does it look like to live a life in defense of feminism? And how should feminism be evolving today?