Obituary: Lynne Segal on Adrienne Rich

Abstract

‘She opened doors for us’, fellow American poet and writer Erica Jong said, learning of Adrienne Rich’s death. Fortunately, they are doors that will now never close. Most of those ageing feminists who have been inspired by her thoughts for almost half a century, as well as all the new admirers she gathered throughout her long life, will be returning to her poetry and essays again and again, and pondering her legacy. I know I will. Born in Baltimore, USA, in 1929, not only was Rich a poet and writer whose early and continuing literary success led to wide acclaim as one of America’s best poets, but she was a key dissident voice right up until her death, earlier this year, at 82, from complications of the rheumatoid arthritis that restricted her movement, and brought pain into most of her adult life. In particular, she will be remembered for her landmark 1976 text on motherhood, Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution.