Jayne Cortez, Adrienne Rich, and the Feminist Superhero - Voice, Vision, Politics, and Performance in U.s. Contemporary Women

One a lyric "confessional" poet and essayist, the other a jazz "spoken-word" performance artist, Adrienne Rich and Jayne Cortez were American feminist superheroes who produced extensive bodies of poetic work that reveal strangely overlapping visions, but in radically different voices and poetic styles. This book reconsiders the poetry activism of Cortez and Rich side-by-side, engaging poetics theory, cultural studies, and popular media in its literary analyses. A collection of eight integrated chapters by multiple poetry critics, as well as an artist-statement narrative by Wonder Woman sculptor Linda Stein, the book focuses upon the voice of bravado, the various calls for global justice, and Third Wave feminist "intersectional" critiques all embodied within these two women's poetic texts. The book also examines the twentieth-century figure of the American superhero, particularly Wonder Woman, bringing popular-culture studies into conversation with literary criticism, as well as visual art through the inclusion of Stein's commentary and illustrations. This beautiful and compelling book experiments with the festschrift concept by inviting multiple and competing disciplinary views on U.S. feminist poetics, women's art and aesthetics, racial and sexual identities, as well as politics and performance-all in tribute to the power of poetry by Cortez and Rich.

About the author

Laura Hinton is professor of English at the City College of New York (CUNY).

Summary

The book examines the rise of the American popular-culture female superhero-notably, Wonder Woman-exploring the textuality of female-poetic activism through this superhero theme.

Product details

• Authors: Laura Hinton
• Assisted by: Laura Hinton (Editor), Hinton Laura (Editor)
• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.09.2017
• EAN: 9781498528757
• ISBN: 978-1-4985-2875-7
• No. of pages: 322
• Series: Lexington Books
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Englisch, USA, Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika, USA, Literaturwissenschaft: 1900 bis 2000, Soziale und ethische Themen, Literaturwissenschaft: Lyrik und Dichter, English, LITERARY CRITICISM / Poetry, LITERARY CRITICISM / American / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Feminism & Feminist Theory, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 20th Century, LITERARY CRITICISM / Feminist, Literary studies: poetry & poets, Feminism & feminist theory, United States of America, USA, Literary studies: from c 1900 -, Feminism and feminist theory, Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000, Literary studies: poetry and poets