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The psychoanalytic discovery of the importance of the pre-oedipal
mother-daughter bond in the 1970s generated a vast amount of
feminist theory attempting to identify the specificity of, and give
value to, the daughter's relationship to her mother. At the same
time women writers engaged in the complex task of representing this
highly conflictual relationship which had been largely absent in
women's narrative until then. Although much criticism has been
written on individual texts, no systematic study of the development
of this theme in Western European fiction exists. This book offers
the first comparative assessment of the subject-matter in England,
France, Germany and Austria, Ireland, Italy, and Spain in the
second half of last century. The six main chapters explore the
interplay between narrative strategies, psychic structures, and
socio-political and cultural processes in the textual
representation of the relationship in each country, thus providing
original interpretations both of classic texts by established
writers and of more recent narratives by new or emerging authors.
Among the writers featured are Steedman, Diski, Winterson, Tennant,
de Beauvoir, Leduc, Djura, Wolf, Jelinek, Mitgutsch, Novak, Lavin,
O'Brien, O'Faolain, Morante, Sanvitale, Ramondino, Chacel,
Rodoreda, Martin Gaite.
Motherhood remains a complex and contested issue in feminist
research as well as public discussion. This interdisciplinary
volume explores cultural representations of motherhood in various
contemporary European contexts, including France, Italy, Germany,
Portugal, Spain, and the UK, and it considers how such
representations affect the ways in which different individuals and
groups negotiate motherhood as both institution and lived
experience. It has a particular focus on literature, but it also
includes essays that examine representations of motherhood in
philosophy, art, social policy, and film. The book's driving
contention is that, through intersecting with other fields and
disciplines, literature and the study of literature have an
important role to play in nuancing dialogues around motherhood, by
offering challenging insights and imaginative responses to complex
problems and experiences. This is demonstrated throughout the
volume, which covers a range of topics including: discursive and
visual depictions of pregnancy and birth; the impact of new
reproductive technologies on changing family configurations; the
relationship between mothering and citizenship; the shaping of
policy imperatives regarding mothering and disability; and the
difficult realities of miscarriage, child death, violence, and
infanticide. The collection expands and complicates hegemonic
notions of motherhood, as the authors map and analyse shifting
conceptions of maternal subjectivity and embodiment, explore some
of the constraining and/or enabling contexts in which mothering
takes place, and ask searching questions about what it means to be
a 'mother' in Europe today. It will be of interest not only to
those working in gender, women's and feminist studies, but also to
scholars in literary and cultural studies, and those researching in
sociology, criminology, politics, psychology, medical ethics,
midwifery, and related fields.
Motherhood remains a complex and contested issue in feminist
research as well as public discussion. This interdisciplinary
volume explores cultural representations of motherhood in various
contemporary European contexts, including France, Italy, Germany,
Portugal, Spain, and the UK, and it considers how such
representations affect the ways in which different individuals and
groups negotiate motherhood as both institution and lived
experience. It has a particular focus on literature, but it also
includes essays that examine representations of motherhood in
philosophy, art, social policy, and film. The book's driving
contention is that, through intersecting with other fields and
disciplines, literature and the study of literature have an
important role to play in nuancing dialogues around motherhood, by
offering challenging insights and imaginative responses to complex
problems and experiences. This is demonstrated throughout the
volume, which covers a range of topics including: discursive and
visual depictions of pregnancy and birth; the impact of new
reproductive technologies on changing family configurations; the
relationship between mothering and citizenship; the shaping of
policy imperatives regarding mothering and disability; and the
difficult realities of miscarriage, child death, violence, and
infanticide. The collection expands and complicates hegemonic
notions of motherhood, as the authors map and analyse shifting
conceptions of maternal subjectivity and embodiment, explore some
of the constraining and/or enabling contexts in which mothering
takes place, and ask searching questions about what it means to be
a 'mother' in Europe today. It will be of interest not only to
those working in gender, women's and feminist studies, but also to
scholars in literary and cultural studies, and those researching in
sociology, criminology, politics, psychology, medical ethics,
midwifery, and related fields.
The psychoanalytic discovery of the importance of the pre-oedipal
mother-daughter bond in the 1970s generated a vast amount of
feminist theory attempting to identify the specificity of, and give
value to, the daughter's relationship to her mother. At the same
time women writers engaged in the complex task of representing this
highly conflictual relationship which had been largely absent in
women's narrative until then. Although much criticism has been
written on individual texts, no systematic study of the development
of this theme in Western European fiction exists. This book offers
the first comparative assessment of the subject-matter in England,
France, Germany and Austria, Ireland, Italy, and Spain in the
second half of last century. The six main chapters explore the
interplay between narrative strategies, psychic structures, and
socio-political and cultural processes in the textual
representation of the relationship in each country, thus providing
original interpretations both of classic texts by established
writers and of more recent narratives by new or emerging authors.
Among the writers featured are Steedman, Diski, Winterson, Tennant,
de Beauvoir, Leduc, Djura, Wolf, Jelinek, Mitgutsch, Novak, Lavin,
O'Brien, O'Faolain, Morante, Sanvitale, Ramondino, Chacel,
Rodoreda, Martin Gaite.
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