ABSTRACT
Contemporary feminist poet Susan Griffin, who began writing at the age of 14, has published more than fifteen books of poetry, drama, fiction and non-fiction on subjects ranging from rape and pornography to war, eros and illness. Griffin's background is pertinent to understanding her work, for, concurring with the feminist insight that 'the personal is political', Griffin at times interweaves autobiography with cultural critique, a literary form she calls 'social autobiography'. Griffin's writing, which since 1976 has been published by major trade presses, reveals an exceptionally broad understanding of interconnection. Her studies of rape and pornography reveal motivations and mechanisms of domination that also explain our relationship to nature. Her poetry is intimately related to her prose, which itself is highly poetic, reflecting her conviction that poetry is 'a powerful way of knowledge' that arises out of bodily experience and 'teaches political theory imagination'.
