Motherhood in Literature and Culture: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from Europe (Routledge Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Literature)

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. -- From publisher's website Acknowledgements Foreword, Lisa Baraitser Introduction: Motherhood in Literature and Culture Gill Rye, Victoria Browne, Adalgisa Giorgio, Emily Jeremiah, and Abigail Lee Six Part I: Pregnancy and Birth 1: Birth Fear and the Subjugation of Women’s Strength: Towards a Broader Conceptualization of Femininity in Birth Susannah Sweetman 2: The Temporalities of Pregnancy: On Contingency, Loss, and Waiting Victoria Browne 3: An (Un)Familiar Story: Exploring Ultrasound Poems by Contemporary British Women Writers Emily Blewitt 4: Birthing Tales and Collective Memory in Recent French Fiction Valerie Worth-Stylianou 5: Natality, Materiality, Maternity: The Sublime and the Grotesque in Contemporary Sculpture Christine Battersby Part II: Generation and Relation 6: Erasing Mother, Seeking Father: Biotechnological Interventions, Anxieties over Motherhood, and Donor Offspring’s Narratives of Self Gabriele Griffin 7: Mums or Dads? Lesbian Mothers in France Gill Rye 8: The Kinning of the Transnationally Adopted Child in Contemporary Norway Signe Howell 9: Ties that Bind in Tanja Dückers’s Novel Himmelskörper: History, Memory, and Making Sense of Motherhood in Twenty-First-Century Germany Katherine Stone 10: Matrixial Creativity and the Wit(h)nessing of Trauma: Reconnecting Mothers and Daughters in Marosia Castaldi’s Novel Dentro le mie mani le tue: Tetralogia di Nightwater Adalgisa Giorgo Part III: Experience and Affect 11: Publicizing Vulnerability: Motherhood and Affect in Joanna Rajkowska’s Post-2011 Art Justyna Wierzchowska 12: Present and Obscured: Disabled Women as Mothers in Social Policy Harriet Clarke 13: Nuria C. Botey’s Short Story 'Viviendo con el tío Roy': Motherhood and Risk Assessment under Duress Abigail Lee Six 14: Broken Nights, Shattered Selves: Maternal Ambivalence and the Ethics of Interruption in Sarah Moss’s Novel Night Waking Emily Jeremiah 15: Uncertain Mothers: Maternal Ambivalence in Alina Marazzi’s Film Tutto parla di te Claudia Karagoz 16: 'How to Say Hello to the Sea': Literary Perspectives on Medico-Legal Narratives of Maternal Filicide Ruth Cain Part IV: Reflections 17: To Be or Not To Be (a Mother): Telling Academic and Personal Stories of Mothers and Others Gayle Letherby 18: Last Will and Testament: Potatoes, Love, and Poetry Ana Luisa Amaral List of Contributors Index Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 6 Copyright Page 7 Contents 8 Acknowledgements 12 Foreword 14 Introduction: Motherhood in Literature and Culture 18 PART I: Pregnancy and Birth 32 1 Birth Fear and the Subjugation of Women’s Strength: Towards a Broader Conceptualization of Femininity in Birth 34 2 The Temporalities of Pregnancy: On Contingency, Loss, and Waiting 50 3 An (Un)familiar Story: Exploring Ultrasound Poems by Contemporary British Women Writers 63 4 Birthing Tales and Collective Memory in Recent French Fiction 75 5 Natality, Materiality, Maternity: The Sublime and the Grotesque in Contemporary Sculpture 87 PART II: Generation and Relation 100 6 Erasing Mother, Seeking Father: Biotechnological Interventions, Anxieties over Motherhood, and Donor Offspring’s Narratives of Self 102 7 Mums or Dads? Lesbian Mothers in France 115 8 The Kinning of the Transnationally Adopted Child in Contemporary Norway 128 9 Ties That Bind in Tanja Dückers’s Novel Himmelskörper: History, Memory, and Making Sense of Motherhood in Twenty-First-Century Germany 141 10 Matrixial Creativity and the Wit(h)nessing of Trauma: Reconnecting Mothers and Daughters in Marosia Castaldi’s Novel Dentro le mie mani le tue: Tetralogia di Nightwater 154 PART III: Experience and Affect 168 11 Publicizing Vulnerability: Motherhood and Affect in Joanna Rajkowska’s Post-2011 Art 170 12 Present and Obscured: Disabled Women as Mothers in Social Policy 186 13 Nuria C. Botey’s Short Story ‘Viviendo con el tío Roy’: Motherhood and Risk Assessment under Duress 201 14 Broken Nights, Shattered Selves: Maternal Ambivalence and the Ethics of Interruption in Sarah Moss’s Novel Night Waking 214 15 Uncertain Mothers: Maternal Ambivalence in Alina Marazzi’s Film Tutto parla di te 227 16 ‘How to Say Hello to the Sea’: Literary Perspectives on Medico-Legal Narratives of Maternal Filicide 240 PART IV: Reflections 256 17 To Be or Not To Be (a Mother): Telling Academic and Personal Stories of Mothers and Others 258 18 Last Will and Testament: Potatoes, Love, and Poetry 273 List of Contributors 286 Index 292 "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 books 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 mothers in Europe today. It will be of interest not only to those working in gender, womens 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."--Provided by publisher 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 contexts3/4 including France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Spain, and the UK3/4 and 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 also includes essays that examine representations of motherhood in philosophy, art, social policy, TV, 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 analyze 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.