Bronze Silhouette is a poetic collection by a Black and African woman who rhetorically views the present age from the point of view of the under-privileged socio-cultural classes. This is the third published poetic collection by Gladys Williams Russel and is, like her other two works, a virtual discourse on the life patterns and vagaries that confront the lower classes as victims of discrimination. Williams-Russel's earlier two collections, Africa Woman - The Poetic Perspective and A Middling Plain - Reflections on The Times, are also committed to the same theme and the need for men to address the issues that create pain and sadness in all societies. She speaks about love, returned and unrequited; of the pains of motherhood and the hope for positive growth in the future; of the impact on man, of the negative actions by his neighbor; of the bond between man and his God; and of the hope that wells up in every heart that tomorrow would bring forth a better rebirth.. The three collections are sequential in nature and constitute the AFRICA WOMAN SERIES. Aside from being a socio-cultural commentary, the collections also seek to answer questions that relate to the purpose of man's existence on earth, his relationship with the God Force and the effort to achieve optimum perfection here and beyond. In essence, Africa Woman is about the woman's life experience as part of the culture-transiting, post-colonial and newly independent society of the middle quarter of the 20th century. A Middling Plain, on the other hand, is a commentary on the socio-cultural impact of military interferrences and administrations that were a major occurence towards the end of the last century. Against this backdrop, the effort by the people to re-instal democratic governance, created a climate of conflict and confrontation. All three publications, and other works by the author arer available under Amazon .com
About the Author: Gladys Williams Russel was born nearly seventy years ago, in Rivers State, in the oil-rich but often, conflict-ridden part of Nigeria. A veteran writer, author and poet, she grew up in the then beautiful cosmopolitan city of Port Harcourt. Coming from a multi-ethnic background, her training and occupation as a media person, both within and outside of government, have enabled her to examine and appreciate the social, cultural and political developments that confront and affect people in third world or developing communities. Her works, though couched in poetry, are actually a vivid description of the uncertainties, challenges, fears and worries that 'powerless' people, must cope with all over the world. Some may choose to describe her kind of literature as activist, feminist or protest oriented. . But she would rather be seen as a truist. for she see life truly from the point of view of her experience with life itself. She is a widow, a mother and a grand mother and enjoys traveling, writing and learning new skills.