Memoir, psychoanalysis, feminist theory and literary criticism combine in a thoughtful essay collection that observes motherhood from every angle
Motherhood has always been central to some strands of feminism, while being wilfully left out of others. From the campaigners fighting for children’s rights to their mothers after parental separation in the 19th century, to literary figures – such as Adrienne Rich in the 1970s and Rachel Cusk in the 1990s – who have made space for maternal ambivalence, women have battled to claim maternity without becoming trapped within it. Now, as issues of surrogacy and trans motherhood pose fresh challenges, feminism’s confrontation with the issue feels newly urgent. Siri Hustvedt joins the fray with a mixture of directness and obliqueness.
She takes on motherhood from every direction, combining memoir with ethnography, the history of science and psychoanalysis, literary and art criticism. The book begins with lovingly detailed portraits of Hustvedt’s mother and grandmother, and moves through essays on Wuthering Heights, the art of Louise Bourgeois, the nature of viruses and misogyny to end with a long tour de force exploration of the horrific death of Sylvia Marie Likens in 1965.
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