Of Woman Born: Motherhood As Experience and Institution [Hardcover]

Adrienne Cecile Rich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1986

Adrienne Rich's influential and landmark investigation concerns both the experience and the institution of motherhood.

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. She draws on personal materials, history, research, and literature to create a document of universal importance.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Asking "But what was it like for women?" with "painful consciousness of my own Western cultural perspective and that of most of the sources available," Adrienne Rich examines pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood from historical, physical, religious, institutional, political, and personal angles. In her introduction to the 1986 edition, she explains "I did not choose this subject; it had long ago chosen me... I only knew that I had lived through something which was considered central to the lives of women... a key to the meaning of life; and that I could remember little except anxiety, physical weariness, anger, self-blame, boredom, and divisions within myself..." Written with a stimulating combination of poetic rhythm, scholarly precision, feminist perspective, and personal reflection, Of Woman Born is both an engrossing read and an affirmative, potentially life-changing examination of what it means to be of woman born. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Jesse Larsen

About the Author

Adrienne Rich's honors include the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. She lives in California. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 322 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; 10 Anv Sub edition (October 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393023796
• ISBN-13: 978-0393023794
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #298,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An important book, January 18, 2004

By 

H. Sinclair "Sinclair" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution (Paperback)

Those who have criticized this book thus far here are women who derive their sole identity and sense of importance, sadly, from their role as mothers. I know women who thoroughly enjoy being mothers, but they are few and their circumstances are unique. And even some of them still have a clear need to have another identity and a life of the mind they aren't permitted within the "institution" of motherhood. I myself, and most other mothers I know, struggle with the impossible expectations placed upon us to be perfect mothers/providers/etc., struggle to create a new and healthy understanding of motherhood, struggle to do right by our children and yet hold on to our own personhood, thinking, humor,... finding ourselves too often battling with self-hatred, resentment and guilt, knowing inside that no matter what, someone will criticize us for doing it all wrong. This book exposes this unfair situation in which many women who are mothers find themselves in. If to some Rich comes off as "angry," well of course she is. It's a righteous anger. My only criticism of this book is the lack of attention it gives to the experiences of women of color and working-class women.

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life Changing Book, January 15, 2005

By 

Charleen Touchette "Author of IT STOPS WITH ME" (Santa Fe, New Mexico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution (Paperback)

When I first read OF WOMAN BORN, in the mid-seventies, it was a Godsend. Rich's feminist critique of the institution of motherhood elucidates the source of so many of the world's problems. When women, the source of life, the life givers, the ones who bear each one of us into the world, whether man or woman, are denigrated, oppressed, abused, imprisoned, and exploited by governments, religions, and cultures - everything is off-kilter. Rich accurately describes the state of motherhood in the mid-20th century and the toll it took on mothers and children. She helped me understand that the pressures mothers put on their daughters to conform to sexist stereotypes were part of the oppression they themselves were enduring. Re-reading this book over the decades, I've seen that while some things have improved for women since Rich wrote OF WOMAN BORN, we still have a long way to go before women are treated equally or given the respect they deserve for their role as life givers and nurturers. The worldwide upsurge in the revival of Fundamentalist religions that institutionalize the oppression and second-class status of mothers and their daughters is frightening, as is the rage expressed by some reviewers of this book. People who are threatened by the ideas in OF WOMAN BORN want to return to the days when women were chattel and children were seen but not heard. In the 21st century, don't we owe our children, grandchildren and the world more than the tired, worn-out worldviews that brought women and families so much pain?

59 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Started as term paper, ended up a revelation!, December 6, 1999

By 

Kathy (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution (Paperback)

We were asked to do a term paper on Adrienne Rich and some of her poetry. During my research I found this book and it changed my entire view of motherhood..or rather the institution of motherhood. I have never realized how literally confining motherhood is. I look back at what my mom used to tell me about how kids held her back from what she wanted to do, and I realize (with the help of this book) what she ment. Not that was being rude when she said this, just that it is a fact that our patriarchal society uses motherhood to put women in 'their place'. Please if their is one book you take time to read make it this one. Rich writes this analytical book in such a way as to make it sound personal and interesting...not dry and dull. Highly, highly recommend it if you are trying to understand your mother or mothers in general. What an EYE OPENER!