Mother puzzles : daughters and mothers in contemporary American literature
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Mother puzzles : daughters and mothers in contemporary American literature
（Contributions in women's studies, no. 110）
Greenwood Press, 1989
Related Bibliography 1 items
Available at / 2 libraries
-
No Libraries matched.
- Remove all filters.
Note
Bibliography: p. [185]-193
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Despite extraordinary attention within the past five years by novelists, playwrights, and critics, the subject of mothers and daughters, and motherhood and daughterhood, has remained complicated and compelling. Mother Puzzles is a unique collection that examines how women who write have dealt with those relationships. Pearlman notes in her introduction that missing mothers--mothers who are physically present but emotionally absent--are often found in works by women. The question this collection addresses is why the mother, as currently portrayed in American literature by women, has moved from sainted marginality (as icon), to vicious caricature (as destroyer), to the puzzling figure that emerges here, and why these works are often also about incest and sexual abuse.
Among the authors studied are Sue Miller, Tillie Olsen, Marilyn French, Gail Godwin, Mary Gordon, Marsha Norman, and Susan Fromberg Schaeffer. Feminist/literary/psychological analyses of Housekeeping, Lovingkindness, Fierce Attachments, Men and Angels, 'night Mother, The Snow Queen, and The Good Mother are included. These essays will interest scholars in American literature, readers of contemporary fiction, and those interested in Women's Studies.
Table of Contents
Introduction Anna's Quotidian Love: Sue Miller's The Good Mother Learning to Love Mother: Candace Flynt's Mother Love "A child of anxious, not proud, love": Mother and Daughter in Tillie Olsen's "I Stand Here Ironing" Breaking the Silence: Marilyn French's Her Mother's Daughter Escaping the Mirror of Sameness: Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping A Mother's Story in a Daughter's Life: Gail Godwin's A Southern Family The Difficult Journey Home: Mona Simpson's Anywhere but Here Secrets Left to Tell: Creativity and Continuity in the Mother/Daughter Dyad The Displaced Balance: Mary Gordon's Men and Angels Mother, Daughter, Self: Joan Vinge's The Snow Queen "I Thought You Were Mine": Marsha Norman's 'night, Mother Jewish Mothers' Stories: Rosellen Brown's The Autobiography of My Mother Powerful and Powerless: Paradox in Vivian Gornick's Fierce Attachments Tasting Stars: The Tales of Rabbi Nachman in Anne Roiphe's Lovingkindness Paralyzed in the Present: Susan Fromberg Schaeffer's Mothers, or Daughters To Embrace Dead Strangers: Toni Morrison's Beloved A Profusion of Women's Voices: Mothers and Daughters Redefining the Myths Nonfiction about Mothers and Daughters: A Selected Bibliography Index
by "Nielsen BookData"
