Horrible mothers : representations across francophone North America

Author(s)

    • Bourdeau, Loïc

Bibliographic Information

Horrible mothers : representations across francophone North America

edited by Loïc Bourdeau

University of Nebraska Press, c2019

  • : cloth

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Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

For too long the main narratives of motherhood have been oppressive and exclusionary, frequently ignoring issues of female identity-especially regarding those not conforming to traditional female stereotypes. Horrible Mothers offers a variety of perspectives for analyzing representations of the mother in francophone literature and film at the turn of the twenty-first century in North America, including Quebec, Ontario, New England, and California. Contributors reexamine the "horrible mother" paradigm within a broad range of sociocultural contexts from different locations to broaden the understanding of mothering beyond traditional ideology. The selections draw from long-established scholarship in women's studies as well as from new developments in queer studies to make sense of and articulate strategies of representation; to show how contemporary family models are constantly evolving, reshaping, and moving away from heteronormative expectations; and to reposition mothers as subjects occupying the center of their own narrative, rather than as objects. The contributors engage narratives of mothering from myriad perspectives, referencing the works of writers or filmmakers such as Marguerite Andersen, Nelly Arcan, Gregoire Chabot, Xavier Dolan, Nancy Huston, and Lucie Joubert.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction: Failing Successfully Loic Bourdeau 1. The Whore and Her Mother: Exploring Matrophobia in Nelly Arcan's Putain Pauline Henry-Tierney 2. Horrible Mothers in Memere's Kitchen: Queer Identity in New England Franco-America Susan Pinette 3. "I'm Not the Virgin Mary": Rebellious Motherhood in Gregoire Chabot's "A Life Lost" Chelsea Ray 4. Permissive Parenting: The Awful American Mother in Nancy Huston's Lignes de faille Alison Rice 5. Lucie Joubert's Ironic Rejection of Motherhood in L'envers du landau Natalie Edwards 6. Voicing Shame: From Fiction to Confession in the Work of Marguerite Andersen Lucie Hotte and Ariane Brun del Re 7. The Transgressive Mother in Nancy Huston's Bad Girl: Classes de litterature Susan Ireland and Patrice J. Proulx 8. Forgiving the Horrible Mother: Children's Needs and Women's Desires in Twenty-First-Century Quebecois Film Amy J. Ransom 9. Politics and Motherhood in Xavier Dolan's J'ai tue ma mere and Mommy Loic Bourdeau Contributors Index

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