The Pity
- 69 pages
- 3 hours of reading
New poems by Steve Ely, Zaffar Kunial, Denise Riley, Warsan Shire, and John Glenday
Denise Riley Book order (chronological)
Denise Riley is an English poet and philosopher whose work is remarkable for its paradoxical interrogation of selfhood within the lyric mode. Her critical writings on motherhood, women in history, "identity," and philosophy of language are recognized as an important contribution to feminism and contemporary philosophy. Riley focuses on unique voice and literary significance, offering readers a distinctive perspective on what is essential in life and literature.
"Am I that Name?"
- 126 pages
- 5 hours of reading
Writing about changes in the notion of womanhood, Denise Riley examines, in the manner of Foucault, shifting historical constructions of the category of "women" in relation to other categories central to concepts of personhood: the soul, the mind, the body, nature, the social. Feminist movements, Riley argues, have had no choice but to play out this indeterminacy of women. This is made plain in their oscillations, since the 1790s, between concepts of equality and of difference. To fully recognize the ambiguity of the category of "women" is, she contends, a necessary condition for an effective feminist political philosophy.