Adrienne Rich

"Re-vision – the act of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of entering an old text from a new critical direction – is for woman more than a chapter in cultural history: it is an act of survival. Until we understand the assumptions in which we are drenched we cannot know ourselves. And this drive to self-knowledge, for women, is more than a search for identity: it is part of our refusal of the self-destructiveness of male-dominated society."

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Source: Adrienne Rich (1993). “Your Native Land, Your Life”, p.44, W. W. Norton & Company

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Adrienne Rich

Adrienne Rich

Poet, Essayist, Feminist

Adrienne Rich was a prominent American poet and feminist thinker known for her exploration of women's rights and identity in works like 'Of Woman Born.'

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