Nome canonico: Cleyre, Voltairine de
Data di nascita: 1866-11-17
Data di morte: 1912-06-20
Luogo di sepoltura: Waldheim Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Sesso: female
Nazionalità: USA
Luogo di nascita: Leslie, Michigan, USA
Luogo di morte: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Luogo di residenza: Leslie, Michigan, USA
Ontario, Canada
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Istruzione: Convent of Our Lady of Lake Huron
Attività lavorative: teacher
writer
poet
anarchist
feminist
Relazioni: Lum, Dyer D. (mentor, lover)
Goldman, Emma (friend)
Breve biografia: Anarchist without adjectives Voltairine de Cleyre was born in Leslie, Michigan, and educated in a Catholic convent (from which she tried to run away). After graduating, she became a strongly anti-clerical freethinker, feminist, and political radical, influenced by the works of Mary Wollstonecraft, Clarence Darrow, and Thomas Paine. De Cleyre felt her life change forever after the executions of the Haymarket protestors in Chicago in 1887. She was known as a excellent, passionate public speaker and writer and a tireless advocate for the cause of anarchism. In 1890, she had a son with James B. Elliot, another freethinker. From 1889 to 1910, she lived among poor Jewish immigrants in Philadelphia, where she taught English and music and learned Yiddish. She was plagued by bouts of illness and depression and attempted suicide on at least two occasions. An attack on her life by a former student left her with chronic ear pain and a throat infection that often made it painful for her to speak or concentrate. She died of meningitis in 1912 and was buried near her friend Emma Goldman. [This must have been rather hard on Emma, who did not die until 1940.]Read An American Anarchist: The Life of Voltairine de Cleyre by Paul Avrich (1978). "The most gifted and brilliant anarchist woman America ever produced."
--Emma Goldman

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Recensioni

A Loving Anarchist! The Spirit of Voltairine de… di T.S. Greer

This book is one of my all time favorite reads. I'd been putting it off for awhile, thinking it would be rather dry but wanting to know what de Cleyre had to say. Big surprise - I thoroughly enjoyed almost every chapter. This is a book of essays and lectures the author wrote and delivered during the early 20th century. I'm very intrigued by the idea of anarchy but don't have any background or knowledge to help me with this topic. This book cleared up a lot of basic questions for me, in what I found to be a very simple and clear explanation of many issues. She addresses issues of marriage, sexuality, feminism, violence, majority rule and others. There is also a good chapter wherein she defends Emma Goldman, altho she does not see eye-to-eye with Goldman. It is very helpful to see their two perspectives compared and analyzed. de Dleyre also addressed methods of change in society, asking if education is enough, if violence necessary. This is indeed a classic volume on anarchy and I expect to return to it. I recommend this to anyone who has any interest in any of these issues. It is VERY readable, unlike some writing on the topic.… (altro)

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mkboylan | Jan 15, 2013 |

Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de… di Voltairine De Cleyre

De Cleyre was an extremely fascinating woman and it's a shame her work is so unknown now. Her ideas about marriage and relationships are still radical in some areas, and she was far ahead of her time in speaking out against marital rape. Not your "typical" anarchist, for most of her life she argued in favor of holding personal property and did not speak against competition. Her ideas about education also remain radical, and Modern Educational Reform should be read by anyone who currently wants to see a change in the public education system.… (altro)

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quantumbutterfly | Jan 17, 2010 |

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