From Motherhood to Mothering

The Legacy of Adrienne Rich's Of Woman Born

Andrea O'Reilly

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780791462881, 9780791462874
• eBook ISBN: 9780791484135
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Feminist Literary Criticism
• Index: Social Sciences

Explores how Rich's work has influenced feminist scholarship on motherhood.

In the years since the publication of Adrienne Rich's Of Woman Born, the topic of motherhood has emerged as a central issue in feminist scholarship. Arguably still the best feminist book on mothering and motherhood, Of Woman Born is not only a wide-ranging, far-reaching meditation on the meaning and experience of motherhood that draws from the disciplines of anthropology, feminist theory, psychology, and literature, but it also narrates Rich's personal reflections on her experiences of mothering. Andrea O'Reilly gathers feminist scholars from diverse disciplines such as literature, women's studies, law, sociology, anthropology, creative writing, and critical theory and examines how Of Woman Born has informed and influenced the way feminist scholarship "thinks and talks" about motherhood. The contributors explore the many ways in which Rich provides the analytical tools to study and report upon the meaning and experience of motherhood.

Table of contents

• From Motherhood to Mothering
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction ANDREA O’REILLY
• PART ONE: Motherhood as Institution Patriarchal Power and Maternal Outrage
• PART TWO: Mothering as Experience: Empowerment and Resistance
• PART THREE: Narrating Maternity: Writing as a Mother
• Contributors
• INDEX