The Feminist Rhetorics, Storytelling, and Teachings of Diane di Prima by Hendricks, C.C.;

Short description:

The Feminist Rhetorics, Storytelling, and Teachings of Diane di Prima: Reinventing the World offers the first comprehensive study of the feminist rhetorics and storytelling strategies of a key woman in the Beat generation.

Long description:

The Feminist Rhetorics, Storytelling, and Teachings of Diane di Prima: Reinventing the World offers the first comprehensive study of the feminist rhetorics and storytelling strategies of a key woman in the Beat generation.

Drawing on memoirs, poetry, archival materials, and editorial work, it examines how narratives of gender and sexual alternatives, activist networking, and critical subjectivity were mobilised to foster feminist consciousness and social change. Blending rhetorical analysis with interdisciplinary perspectives from feminist and queer studies, the book situates these strategies within Beat literature and historiography, recovering an overlooked figure and demonstrating her influence on feminist rhetoric through layered methodological approaches.

The Feminist Rhetorics, Storytelling, and Teachings of Diane di Prima: Reinventing the World is an essential resource for scholars and students in gender studies, literature, rhetoric, and sexuality studies, as well as readers interested in Beat literature and feminist historiography.

“Reinventing the World, an innovative gendered treatise, defies definition. This fascinating examination of Diane di Prima’s life and labor relies upon storytelling, feminist scholarship and method/ology, historiography, and rhetorical biography to create a powerful profile of a poet, community organizer, editor/publisher, and mother. Hendricks admirably intertwines her own 21^st-century experiences with archival materials and meticulously-researched historical narratives as she amplifies possibilities within feminist, queer, and cultural storytelling and social circulation theories—a must-read for those interested in novel approaches to intersectional rhetorical history and memoir.”

Lynée Lewis Gaillet, Co-editor of Blurred Boundaries: Feminist Essays on Twenty-first Century Academic Labor

“Hendricks surpasses her goal to circulate and promote di Prima’s “story and boundless contributions to the possibilities of feminist rhetoric.” Contributions from writer and activist di Prima, from feminist storytelling to circulation are laid out as theories, practices, lessons, and a balm in these fraught times. Hendricks’ engagement with di Prima—and with us—is reflexive, participatory, and intimate, defining and modeling critical subjectivity: using narrative and critical reflection for feminist critique. This book is a gem I’ve recommended to students and peers.”

Charlotte Hogg, Author of White Sororities and the Cultural Work of Belonging

Table of Contents:

Preface: Feminist Storytelling, A Primer 

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction: Feminist Stories as Method(ology), Theory, History

2. Critical Subjectivity: Resistance from Within

3. Sex/Sexuality/Sexism: Feminist Stories of Resistance and Subjugation

4. Feminist Circulations: I/You/We/Us

5. Conclusion: A Feminist’s Work Is Never Done

Index