The Power of Adrienne Rich

A Biography

The Power of Adrienne Rich
Hilary Holladay
Hardback
h236 x 160mm - 416pg
9 Nov 2020 US
9780385541503
Out Of Stock
Sorry not currently available to order
Adrienne Rich was the female face of American poetry for decades. Her forceful, uncompromising writing has more than stood the test of time, and the life of the woman behind the words is equally impressive. Motivated by personal revelations, Rich transformed herself from a traditional, Radcliffe-educated lyric poet and married mother of three sons into a path-breaking lesbian-feminist author of prose as well as poetry. In doing so, she emerged as both architect and exemplar of the modern feminist movement, breaking ranks to denounce the male-dominated literary establishment and paving the way for the many queer women of letters to take their places in the cultural mainstream. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished materials, including Rich' s correspondence and in-depth interviews with numerous people who knew her, Hilary Holladay digs deep into never-before-accessed sources to portray Rich in full dimension and vivid, human detail.
Eight years after Rich' s death, at 82, comes Hilary Holladay' s The Power of Adrienne Rich, which allows us to meet this prickly poet fresh and entire. It' s the first proper biography of her, and there' s a lot to unpack. This is a good story well-told. --Dwight Garner, The New York TimesHighly readable . . . One of the great virtues of Holladay' s narrative is how skillfully it integrates jargon-free textual analysis of the poetry and uses it to trace Rich' s personal and political metamorphoses. --The Boston Globe[A] capacious, generous biography. --The AtlanticTaut, engaging . . . The Power of Adrienne Rich announces its thesis in its title, but Holladay is a fair-minded and meticulous critic of the poet' s life and art. This elegant, assured biography underscores Rich' s essential place in our literary pantheon. --The Minneapolis Star Tribune"Adrienne Rich was a seeker, and in this incisive, insightful biography Hilary Holladay illuminates her complex life and work with keen skill and grace, tracking the sources of her lifelong quest to become one of our truest and most determined makers, a great citizen-poet, a self-interrogating warrior for social justice. It is a generous, powerful book. " --Edward Hirsch, author of Gabriel: A PoemGripping from the get-go. Hilary Holladay has delivered a courageous and exquisitely crafted biography of Adrienne Rich that is destined to stand as the definitive work on the poet for decades to come. --Evelyn C. White, author of Alice Walker: A LifeA comprehensive biography of Rich . . . was one of the most acclaimed poets of her generation and a face of American feminism. --The New York Times"This, simply put, is a marvelous biography. In the hands of Hilary Holladay--herself a gifted poet--The Power of Adrienne Rich shines with insights into the writing life, and into the tortured trajectory of this poet, scholar, and feminist icon. Rich' s slow awakening from a somewhat prim, l950s-era, father-pleasing writer to one of her generation' s most influential lesbian/feminist/activists is a tale told here with wit and clarity. Rich' s struggle to find and to fully inhabit herself gives us a lucid history of an era, and of the tangled strands of mid-century American poetry. With grace and precision, Holladay analyzes, invokes, illuminates. Seldom has a poet' s life been so compellingly told. " --Nancy Schoenberger, author of Dangerous Muse and The Whitechapel AriasThe multiple identities of this powerful and prophetic poet are explored in this beautifully written and deeply researched biography. She is daughter and wife, mother and feminist, lesbian, Jew, and invalid. But for Rich, it was her art which defined her identity. --Dana Greene, author ofElizabeth Jennings: The Inward War and Denise Levertov: A Poet' s LifeExceptionally well-researched and detailed, this is a definitive portrait of Rich that will be welcomed by aspiring writers and poets, Rich scholars, and devotees of 20th-century American poetry. --Library JournalAcknowledging that Rich' s own endless search for selfhood was at the root of her curiosity, Holladay depicts her ongoing work with language--transcending genre--to uncover what it means to be a person and belong to a community. --Observer
HILARY HOLLADAY is a biographer, novelist, poet, and scholar of modern and contemporary American literature. She is the author of five books and coeditor of two others. Her most recent novel, Tipton, was nominated for the 2015 Virginia Literary Prize in fiction. Her biography American Hipster was a 2014 finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Former director of the Jack and Stella Kerouac Center for American Studies and professor of English at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell, Holladay is coeditor of a volume of critical essays on Kerouac' s On the Road. She lives in Orange County, Virginia.
Status: No local or imported stock presently available
ISBN-13: 9780385541503
Published: 9 Nov 2020
Published In: United States
Imprint: Random House Books for Young Readers
Publisher: Random House USA Inc
Format: Hardback
Height: 236mm
Width: 160mm
Pages: 416

In stock - for items in stock we aim to dispatch the next business day. For delivery in NZ allow 2-5 business days, with rural taking a wee bit longer.

Locally sourced in NZ - stock comes from a NZ supplier with an approximate delivery of 7-15 business days.

International Imports - stock is imported into NZ, depending on air or sea shipping option from the international supplier stock can take 10-30 working days to arrive into NZ. 

Pre-order Titles - delivery will vary depending on where the title is published, if local stock is available in NZ then 5-7 business days, for international imports it can be 10-30 business days. In all cases we will access the quickest supply option.

Delivery Packaging - we ship all items in cardboard sleeves or by box with either packing paper or corn starch chips. (We avoid using plastics bubble bags)

Tracking - Orders are delivered by track and trace courier and are fully insured, tracking information will be sent by email once dispatched.

View our full Order & Delivery information