Disjointed Perspectives on Motherhood

A wonderful compendium of  interpretive scholarship about arguably our most important relationship: with our mothers, and with ourselves as mothers. By turns lyrical, intense, and always thoughtful, this is textual analysis at its best. Disjointed Perspectives on Motherhood invites us into the dramatic worlds of mothering and trauma, broadly defined, from 18th century English Gothic to Emersonian America—from the Igbo mothers of Nigeria, to the contemporary genre of ‘nobody memoir.’ These are literary essays in both senses of a consistently high standard, offering a wealth of fresh insights into this under-explored yet often misunderstood or ‘disjointed’ figure at the heart of all our lives. -- Fiona Giles, The University of Sydney
A wide-ranging study of the literary representation of mothering—highlighting the socio-cultural expectations surrounding motherhood and the often traumatic consequences of these expectations. These essays examine texts of various languages from different time frames and geographical spaces. Taken together, they provide a damning critique of patriarchal society's refusal to understand the myriad experiences of mothering. -- Natalie Edwards, University of Adelaide
Disjointed Perspective on Motherhood does the important work of denaturalizing the link between women and motherhood. Wide-ranging in scope, the essays examine women’s experiences of refusing, embracing, or struggling with motherhood, and the vast majority of them will be extremely useful to scholars working in the areas of gender and cultural studies. -- Erica Johnson, Pace University
Disjointed Perspectives on Motherhood offers new insight into the maternal experience. Addressing the duality of nature and nurture as they come together in shaping the complex identity of ‘mother,’ it becomes clear how unrealistic and simplistic our expectations have become. The essays in this text open avenues for compassion and curiosity which will foster our understanding of one of the most important roles we may hold in our lives as women—that of mother. -- Melissa Sulkowski, Licensed Professional Counselor
Readers will find the individual chapters to be engaging, carefully theorized, and well argued, but it is the collection’s clear, consistent focus on the unifying theme that is most impressive, even as the chapters cover a wide range of genres and historical periods. Moreover, the strong feminist approach to the theme of mothering and trauma/displacement is a very important contribution to mothering studies, which scholars and students will appreciate. -- Pegeen Reichert Powell, Columbia College Chicago