Letters of Adrienne Rich to Kaori Oshima, 1988-1994
Overview
Letters of writer and feminist Adrienne Rich to Kaori Oshima, who translated two of Rich's prose books into Japanese.
Dates
- 1988-1994
Creator
- Rich, Adrienne, 1929-2012 (Person)
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Kaori Oshima is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library. Copyright in the papers created by Adrienne Rich is held by the Adrienne Rich Literary Trust.
Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.
Extent
1 folderCollection includes letters Adrienne Rich sent to Kaori Oshima, who translated Rich's books On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose 1966-1978, and Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Selected Prose 1979-1985 into Japanese. Topics include the challenges of translating idiomatic English into Japanese and Rich's admiration of Oshima's work; Rich's inclusion of Oshima's name in her poem "Sending Love"; the aftereffects of the Loma Prieta earthquake in California in 1989 and Rich's concern for Oshima after the Kobe earthquake in Japan in 1995; Rich's hope that democratic socialism will be achievable in some parts of the world, particularly in light of events in Eastern Europe and South Africa in the late 1980s; and also her increasing fear for democracy's survival within the United States. Rich also recommends places for Oshima to visit in the United States, including the Women's Building in San Francisco, and offers to provide the names of feminists for Oshima to contact. Copies of two letters from Oshima to Rich are also included as are some poems Rich sent to Oshima.
BIOGRAPHY
Poet, author, feminist, and teacher (Radcliffe College, B.A., 1951), Adrienne Rich won the Yale Younger Poets Award with the publication of her first book in 1951. She received many other awards for her poetry and nonfiction writings, taught writing and women's studies at a number of colleges, and lectured on feminism at conferences and universities in the United States and abroad. She died in 2012.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession number: 2021-M91
The letters from Adrienne Rich to Kaori Oshima were given to the Schlesinger Library by Oshima's daughter, Michiko Oshima, in June 2021.
Processing Information
Processed: October 2021
By: Susan Earle
The Schlesinger Library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit. Finding aids may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
Creator
- Rich, Adrienne, 1929-2012 (Person)
- Author
- Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
- Language of description
- eng
- Sponsor
- Processing of this collection was made possible by gifts from the Zetlin Sisters Fund, the Jane Rainie Opel ’50 Fund, and the Gerard Schlesinger Library Fund.
- EAD ID
- sch02097
Repository Details
Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository
The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.