The Pink Guitar Writing as Feminist Practice

The Pink Guitar is a landmark study of women's writing and poetics—and representations of women artists—in the 20th Century.

 

The Pink Guitar is an influential feminist study of poetry and writing.  It probes the work of H.D., William Carlos Williams, and Marcel Duchamp, among others, and includes DuPlessis’ pioneering essay “For the Etruscans,” described in American Literature as “one of the finest pieces of criticism in the feminist literary tradition.”  The book challenges the the idea that stories need to follow set patterns, which often reflect a male-centered view of the world, and encourages the use of fragmented or non-linear forms to reflect the complexity of women's lives. By rejecting the premise that stories need rigid structure, women are free to reclaim writing as a way to express their true experiences.  

 

Rachel Blau DuPlessis is a poet, critic, and Professor of English at Temple University. She is the author/editor of more than 20 volumes of poetry and criticism, including The Objectivist Nexus: Essays in Cultural Poetics and Genders, Races, and Religious Cultures in Modern American Poetry, 1908–1934.