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An Atlas of a Difficult World System: A Marxist Feminist Reading of Adrienne Rich’s Poetry and Prose

Brooks, Allison Marie
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1585837295633261

Abstract Details

2020, PHD, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English.
My dissertation is a Marxist feminist rereading of Adrienne Rich’s work set against the “feminization of labor” trend described by contemporary Marxist theory. In executing close readings of Rich’s poetry and prose in this context, I seek to bring in to conversation two critical academic debates: the aforementioned “feminization of labor” trend as described in the work of Guy Standing, and the “death” of poetry debate as it relates to a perceived “crisis” in the readership, publication, and teaching of American poetry since the 1960s. The feminization of labor can be understood as an evolution in labor relations, emerging since the 1960s, that describes how jobs are made less secure and paid less either because women are now employed in large numbers in that industry or else because of the traditional affiliation those jobs have with women. The “death” of poetry debate describes a decrease in readership and several other vague issues of “importance” and “quality,” which are said to represent a deterioration of American Poetry produced since the 1960s. I suggest that the “crisis” of poetry discussed by American writers, educators, and publishers might be better understood or at least further illuminated by considering that the business of being a poet in America has become “feminized.” Entering this discussion from a Marxist feminist theoretical stance, I argue that rather than the flamboyant concept of poetry “dying” we are presently witnessing the feminization of jobs facilitated by the increasingly cemented relationship of published poet and college instructor following the MFA boom of the post-war years. To do so, I offer a chronological reading of three major poems written by Adrienne Rich—"Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law,” “Diving into the Wreck,” and “ An Atlas of a Difficult World”—interspersed with speeches and craft essays composed by Rich in corresponding time frames.
Tammy Clewell, PH.D (Advisor)
219 p.
Gender Studies; Literature; Pedagogy; Philosophy
Adrienne Rich, Marxist feminism, aesthetics, poetry, gender

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Brooks, A. M. (2020). An Atlas of a Difficult World System: A Marxist Feminist Reading of Adrienne Rich’s Poetry and Prose [Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1585837295633261

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Brooks, Allison. An Atlas of a Difficult World System: A Marxist Feminist Reading of Adrienne Rich’s Poetry and Prose . 2020. Kent State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1585837295633261.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Brooks, Allison. "An Atlas of a Difficult World System: A Marxist Feminist Reading of Adrienne Rich’s Poetry and Prose ." Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1585837295633261

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.