Both become articulators of the nature and validity of a collective heritage as they interpret the particulars of a culture for a wide audience of whites as well as blacks; as one critic said, Angelou illuminates "with the intensity of lightning the tragedy that was once this nation's two-track culture." As people who have lived varied and vigorous lives, they embody the quintessential experiences of their race and culture.
An account of the life and major writings of Maya Angelou is of necessity based largely on information that she herself has supplied in her autobiographies; where lacunae exist, they do so because Angelou herself has chosen not to discuss certain periods of time, events, or people. "I will say how old I am [53], I will say how tall I am [six feet], but I will not say how many times I have been married," she told an interviewer in 1981; "It might frighten them off."
Angelou's odyssey--psychological, spiritual, literary, as well as geographical--begins with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, generally acceded to be the best of her four autobiographical volumes and the exclusive focus, to date, of serious critical attention.
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