马娅·安杰卢(英語:Maya Angelou,發音: /ˈmaɪ.əˈændʒəloʊ/[1][2],原名Marguerite Ann Johnson;1928年4月4日—2014年5月28日),是一位美国作家和诗人。她已出版了六本自传,五本散文,数部诗集,并为许多戏剧,电影和电视节目跨度当过编剧,其写作生涯超过50年。她已经获得了众多的奖项和超过30个荣誉博士学位。最出名的是她的系列自传,叙述她的童年和成年早期的经验。
。四年之後,其父突然回到斯坦普斯[10],並將兄妹幾人重新安排到聖路易斯的母亲身边生活。八歲時遭到性虐待並被她母親的男朋友弗里曼(Freeman)強姦。她將此事告訴了她的哥哥,後來全家都知道了此事。弗里曼因而被逮捕,但是只囚禁了一天便被放出。四天之後被人謀殺,兇手可能是安吉洛的叔伯之類[11]。在那之后安吉洛突然失聲五年[12]。安吉洛回憶此事時說道:“我曾認為,是我的聲音殺死了他。我殺死了他,因為我說出了他的名字。之後我想我不可以再說話了,因為我的聲音會殺死人”[note 4][13]。根據安吉洛的傳記作家瑪西亞·安·吉萊斯皮(Marcia Ann Gillespie)和其同事所述,正是在這一時期安吉洛發展出了驚人的記憶力、閱讀書籍的習慣及觀察世界的能力[14]。
1951年,安吉洛嫁給了希臘人電工、前海員和有志成為音樂家的托什·安傑洛斯(Tosh Angelos),但當時因為跨種族婚姻而受到母親的非難[25][26][note 5]。在一時期接受現代舞培訓、結識了舞蹈家阿爾文·艾利和露絲·貝克福德。安吉洛和艾利組成了一支名為“艾爾和麗塔”(Al and Rita)的舞蹈隊,在舊金山黑人社會中表演,但從未獲得成功[28]。她隨後與丈夫及兒子一起搬到了紐約市,並師從特立尼達舞蹈家珀爾·普利莫斯學習非洲舞,一年後回到舊金山[29]。
自传六部曲,包括《我知道笼中的鸟儿缘何歌唱》(1969)、《以我之名相聚》(Gather Together in My Name,1974)、《唱啊,跳啊,就像过圣诞一样快乐》(Singin' and Swingin' and Getting Merry Like Christmas,1976)、《女人心语》(The Heart of a Woman,1981)、《上帝的孩子都需要旅游鞋》(All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes,1986)和《歌声飞入云霄》(A Song Flung Up To Heaven,2002)。
^原文為:To know her life story is to simultaneously wonder what on earth you have been doing with your own life and feel glad that you didn't have to go through half the things she has.
^原文為:I thought, my voice killed him; I killed that man, because I told his name. And then I thought I would never speak again, because my voice would kill anyone ...
^Johnson, Claudia. Introduction. Johnson, Claudia (编). Racism in Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Detroit, Michigan: Gale Press. 2008: 11. ISBN 978-0-7377-3905-3.
Angelou, Maya (1969). I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-375-50789-2
Angelou, Maya (1993). Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-394-22363-6
Angelou, Maya (2008). Letter to My Daughter. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-8129-8003-5
Braxton, Joanne M., ed. (1999). Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: A Casebook. New York: Oxford Press. ISBN 978-0-19-511606-9
Braxton, Joanne M. "Symbolic Geography and Psychic Landscapes: A Conversation with Maya Angelou", pp. 3–20
Tate, Claudia. "Maya Angelou: An Interview", pp. 149–158
Burr, Zofia. (2002). Of Women, Poetry, and Power: Strategies of Address in Dickinson, Miles, Brooks, Lorde, and Angelou. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-02769-7
DeGout, Yasmin Y. (2009). "The Poetry of Maya Angelou: Liberation Ideology and Technique". In Bloom's Modern Critical Views—Maya Angelou, Harold Bloom, ed. New York: Infobase Publishing, pp. 121–132. ISBN 978-1-60413-177-2
Gillespie, Marcia Ann, Rosa Johnson Butler, and Richard A. Long. (2008). Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-385-51108-7
Hagen, Lyman B. (1997). Heart of a Woman, Mind of a Writer, and Soul of a Poet: A Critical Analysis of the Writings of Maya Angelou. Lanham, Maryland: University Press. ISBN 978-0-7618-0621-9
Lauret, Maria (1994). Liberating Literature: Feminist Fiction in America. New York: Routledge Press. ISBN 978-0-415-06515-3
Long, Richard. (2005). "Maya Angelou". Smithsonian36, (8): pp. 84–85
Lupton, Mary Jane (1998). Maya Angelou: A Critical Companion. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-30325-8
O'Neale, Sondra. (1984). "Reconstruction of the Composite Self: New Images of Black Women in Maya Angelou's Continuing Autobiography", in Black Women Writers (1950–1980): A Critical Evaluation, Mari Evans, ed. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-17124-3
Toppman, Lawrence. (1989). "Maya Angelou: The Serene Spirit of a Survivor", in Conversations with Maya Angelou, Jeffrey M. Elliot, ed. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press. ISBN 978-0-87805-362-9
Walker, Pierre A. (October 1995). "Racial Protest, Identity, Words, and Form in Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". College Literature22, (3): pp. 91–108.