Narratives of Motherhood and Mothering in Fiction and Life Writing

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Ambivalent Narratives of Motherhood and Mothering: From Normal and Natural to Not-at-all

   • Helena Wahlström Henriksson, Anna Williams, Margaretha Fahlgren

   Pages 1-15Open Access

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3. One Hand Clapping: The Loneliness of Motherhood in Lucia Berlin’s “Tiger Bites”

   • Lisa Grahn

   Pages 17-31Open Access

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4. “their mothers, and their fathers, and everyone in between”: Queering Motherhood in Trans Parent Memoirs by Jennifer Finney Boylan and Trystan Reese

   • Elizabeth Podnieks

   Pages 33-54Open Access

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5. Struggling to Become a Mother: Literary Representations of Involuntary Childlessness

   • Jenny Björklund

   Pages 55-75Open Access

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6. Orality/Aurality and Voice of the Voiceless Mother in Abla Farhoud’s Happiness Has a Slippery Tail

   • Eglė Kačkutė

   Pages 77-92Open Access

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7. From Survivor to Im/migrant Motherhood and Beyond: Margit Silberstein’s Postmemorial Autobiography, Förintelsens Barn

   • Elizabeth Kella

   Pages 93-114Open Access

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8. The (M)other’s Voice: Representations of Motherhood in Contemporary Swiss Writing by Women

   • Valerie Heffernan

   Pages 115-134Open Access

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9. Contested Motherhood in Autobiographical Writing: Rachel Cusk and Sheila Heti

   • Margaretha Fahlgren, Anna Williams

   Pages 135-151Open Access

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10. A Plea for Motherhood: Mothering and Writing in Contemporary Norwegian Literature

    • Christine Hamm

    Pages 153-170Open Access

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11. Back Matter

    Pages 171-183

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This open access volume offers original essays on how motherhood and mothering are represented in contemporary fiction and life writing across several national contexts. Providing a broad range of perspectives in terms of geopolitical places, thematic concerns, and theoretical and interdisciplinary approaches, it demonstrates the significance of literary narratives for understanding and critiquing motherhood and mothering as social phenomena and subjective experiences. The chapters contextualize motherhood and mothering in terms of their particular national and cultural location and analyze narratives about mothers who are firmly placed in one national context, as well as those who are in “in-between” positions due to migrant experiences. The contributions foreground and link together the themes central to the volume: embodied experience and maternal embodiment; notions of what is “normal” or natural (or not) about motherhood; maternal health and illness; mother-daughter relations;maternality and memory; and the (im)possibilities of giving voice to the mother. They raise questions about how motherhood and mothering are marked by absence and/or presence, as well as by profound ambivalences.

 

• motherhood
• maternality
• maternal voice
• representations
• childlessness
• life writing
• fiction
• memoir
• mother-daughter relationships
• transgender
• family studies
• kinship
• fertility
• migration
• abortion
• resistance
• Open Access

“Narratives of Motherhood and Mothering in Fiction and Life Writing is a timely and necessary contribution to the emergent field of matricentric literary theory and criticism.  What makes this collection so original and innovative is how it takes up the themes of matrifocal literary theory through perspectives not yet fully included in the field. With contributions from Canada/Lebanon, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, along with chapters on trans, queer, solo, and nonmothers, the collection profoundly expands, enriches, and problematizes current conversations and investigations in this emergent field of literary inquiry. Indeed, in stirring up vital and crucial debates, this collection is a ‘must read’ text for matricentric literary scholars.” (Andrea O’Reilly, Professor, School of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies, York University, Canada, and author of Matricentric Feminism: Theory, Activism, Practice (2021))

“This fascinating study of women’s narratives of motherhood and mothering, bringing together a variety of approaches and styles from different literary cultures and contexts, builds on, and extends existing scholarship to offer new insights in a cross-cultural frame. It contributes to a burgeoning feminist field of work, inquiry, and debate, critiquing and shaping how mothers, mothering, and motherhood are heard and understood. A new point of reference in motherhood studies.” (Gill Rye, Professor, Institute of Languages, Cultures, and Societies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, UK)

• Centre for Gender Research, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

  Helena Wahlström Henriksson

• Department of Literature, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

  Anna Williams, Margaretha Fahlgren

Helena Wahlström Henriksson is Professor of Gender Studies and Associate Professor of American Literature, and currently the Director of the Uppsala University Centre for Gender Research, at Uppsala University, Sweden. Her research interests include feminist cultural studies, life-writing, film and other media, studies of family and kinship, single parents, and parenting over the life course.

Anna Williams is Professor of Literature at Uppsala University, Sweden. Her research interests include literature and gender, working class literature, and biography.

Margaretha Fahlgren is Professor Emerita of Literature at Uppsala University, Sweden. Formerly, she served as Director and Research Director of the Uppsala University Centre for Gender Research. Her research interests range from classic Swedish literature to popular culture.

 

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