Mothers Voicing Mothering?

Mothers and mothering are significant features of contemporary women's writing in France, but in Marie NDiaye's writing, mothers often appear inadequate, abusive or even murderous. This book seeks to explore what this negative representation tells us about mothers and how mothers represent their own mothering to themselves.

Autorentext

Pauline Eaton holds a PhD in Modern French Studies from Birkbeck, University of London, for her work on Marie NDiaye. The focus of her studies has been a search for the literary representation of motherhood from the point of view of the mother. Published articles include «Rosie Carpe and the Virgin Mary: Modelling Modern Motherhood?» in Religion and Gender and «Three Strong Grandmothers» in Studies in Gender and Sexuality.

Klappentext

Mothers and mothering are significant features of contemporary women s writing in France and mothers are narrators and key protagonists in nearly all Marie NDiaye s novels and short stories. These mothers rarely strike the reader as attractive personalities and, in their mothering role, are portrayed as inadequate, abusive or even murderous. A pattern of maternal failure is passed on from mother to daughter and the relationship between mothers and daughters is one of rejection and suppression. This book explores what this negative representation tells us about mothers and about how mothers represent their own mothering to themselves. Close readings of text and intertext are at the centre of the analytic approach, embracing references to existing commentaries on the author and to the psychoanalytic, mythological, religious and literary background against which NDiaye s mothers demand to be read.

Inhalt

Contents: Mythologies and Models of Motherhood: Medea, Madonna and More The Good Mother, the Bad Mother and the Ordinary Devoted Mother Mothers and Daughters: Suppression and Subjectivity Counterpoint: Joy, Ambivalence and Success.