A major American writer, thinker, and activist, Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) transformed herself from a traditional, Radcliffe-educated lyric poet and married mother of three sons into a path-breaking lesbian-feminist author of forceful, uncompromising prose as well as poetry. In doing so, she emerged as an architect and exemplar of the feminist movement, breaking ranks to denounce the male-dominated literary establishment and paving the way for women writers to take their places in the cultural mainstream. Drawing on a wealth of unpublished materials, including Rich’s correspondence and in-depth interviews with many people who knew her, Hilary Holladay provides a vividly detailed, full-dimensional portrait of a woman whose work and life continue to challenge and inspire new generations.
Hilary Holladay is a biographer, journalist, and scholar of modern and contemporary American poetry. Her books include Herbert Huncke: The Times Square Hustler Who Inspired Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation, which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, and Wild Blessings: The Poetry of Lucille Clifton.
“Compelling. . . . Bearing witness to [Rich’s] transformation in these pages is exhilarating.”—Heather Clark, Times Literary Supplement“[A] capacious, generous biography.”—Stephanie Burt, The Atlantic“Highly 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.”—Julia M. Klein, Boston Globe“[A] terrific biography. . . . Surveying [Rich’s] long life, this is an overdue book that demystifies not only its subject but also the evolution of American women in the 20th century.”—Lauren LeBlanc, Observer“Taut, engaging. . . . This elegant, assured biography underscores Rich’s essential place in our literary pantheon.”—Hamilton Cain, Minneapolis Star Tribune“The woman that emerges in Holladay’s biography is singular: not just brilliant but hard-minded and unsparing. She was a skilled, prolific writer, eager to experiment and brave enough to break with the poetic style that first earned her acclaim. As a political thinker, she was always one step ahead: concerned early on with the whiteness of women’s liberation, sex-positive at the height of the anti-pornography movement, anti-capitalist before that was in vogue. Watching American feminism unfold, she stood by with the next, necessary critique, often implicating herself in the process.”—Maggie Doherty, The New Yorker“In The Power of Adrienne Rich, Holladay sees in this life of revision an ongoing crisis. She describes what she sees as the ‘wound’ of Rich’s life. . . . Rich, of course, was more willing than most to look directly at her wounds. That Holladay uses this same word, ‘wound,’ at the outset of her project—that she uses Rich’s own words to define the terms of the biography—is the book’s great strength.”—Lynn Steger Strong, New Republic“Holladay invites us to explore one of feminism’s greatest conflicts: how women rely upon critical approval, success, and cultural standing in the patriarchal establishment to advance work that inveighs against patriarchy. . . . Fans and students stand to gain a great deal from this balanced biography.”—Bonnie J. Morris, Gay and Lesbian Review“Exceptionally 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 Journal“Gripping 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 Life“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.”—Nancy Schoenberger, author of Blanche: The Life and Times of Tennessee Williams’s Greatest Creation“The 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 of Jane Kenyon: The Making of a Poet“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 The Heart of American Poetry
