Rich, Adrienne

Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution with: Ephemera

New York, NY, USA: W.W. Norton & Company, 1976. First Edition, First Printing. Hardcover. “I did not choose this subject,” Adrienne Rich writes, “it had long ago chosen me.” And so she turns from twenty-five years of poems to prose, to investigate both the experience and the institution. The experience is her own – as a woman, a poet, a feminist, and a mother – but it is an experience determined by the institution, imposed on all women everywhere, past and present, whether or not they are with children. She draws on personal materials, history, research, and literature to create a document of universal importance – one that only she could write.” (From front flap) In this piece, the first nonfiction prose book by Adrienne Rich (1929-2012), the feminist poet credited with bringing the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse, she discusses her own experience as a mother, the history of motherhood, patriarchy, lesbianism, and more. The much-heralded Rich won, among many other prizes, the National Book Award for Poetry, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1997 (though she declined the award). From the collection of Laurence Goldstein (1943-2023), poet, editor, and professor in the University of Michigan Department of English Language and Literature. We have included with this piece two sets of loose-leaf paper: one, a slip from Harvard University Press from an unrelated book, the other which appears to be printouts from 1998 of Michigan Quarterly Journal, of which Goldstein was editor; on the back of both are what appear to be Goldstein’s notes on this book. Hardcover in clipped dustjacket. First Edition as stated at copyright page, First Printing as indicated by number sequence thereon. Book in Fine-Very Fine condition with light fading to top of spine; interior Very Fine with light age-toning throughout. Dustjacket Near Fine with a number of chips and small tears along top edge and moderate age-toning; both corners of front flap have been clipped. Fine-Very Fine / Near Fine. [Item #8679]

Price: $50.00