Maternal body and voice in Toni Morrison, Bobbie Ann Mason, and Lee Smith / Paula Gallant Eckard.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Eckard, Paula Gallant.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Morrison, Toni, 1931-2019.

Mason, Bobbie Ann.

Smith, Lee, 1944-.

American fiction--Women authors--History and criticism.

American fiction.

American fiction--Women authors.

Mothers in literature.

Women and literature--United States--History--20th century.

Women and literature.

Mothers.

United States.

History.

American fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

Smith, Lee, 1944---Characters--Mothers.

Smith, Lee.

Mason, Bobbie Ann--Characters--Mothers.

Morrison, Toni, 1931-2019--Characters--Mothers.

Morrison, Toni.

Mother and child in literature.

Human body in literature.

Motherhood in literature.

Voice in literature.

Physical Description:

xv, 227 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Columbia : University of Missouri Press, [2002]

Summary:

Throughout human history, motherhood and maternal experience have been largely defined and written by patriarchal culture. Religion, art, medicine, psychoanalysis, and other bastions of male power have objectified the maternal and have disregarded female subjectivity. As a result, maternal perspectives have been ignored and the mother's voice silenced. In recent literary texts, however, more substantial attention has been given to motherhood and to the physical, psychological, social, and cultural dynamics affecting maternal experience. In Maternal Body and Voice in Toni Morrison, Bobbie Ann Mason, and Lee Smith, Paula Gallant Eckard examines how maternal experience is depicted in selected novels by three American writers, emphasizing how they focus on the body and the voice of the mother. These novels include: The Bluest Eye, Sula, and Beloved by Morrison; In Country, Spence + Lila, and Feather Crowns by Mason; and Oral History, Fair and Tender Ladies, and Saving Grace by Smith.

By employing this focus, these writers lessen the objectification the maternal has received and restore a rich subjectivity that foregrounds the mother's perspective. Moreover, their fiction reflects a deep concern for history and culture and for a woman's experience of her world. They challenge the traditional representations of black and white motherhood that have appeared in southern literature and society, rendering complex portrayals of motherhood that defy cultural stereotypes.

Eckard incorporates historical perspectives on African American and southern motherhood, utilizing the works of Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Sally McMillen, Deborah White, Jacqueline Jones, and others. She draws upon the feminist criticism of Adrienne Rich, Elaine Showalter, Naomi Schor, Tillie Olsen, Karla F. C. Holloway, Barbara Christian, and others, and the linguistic and psychoanalytic theories of Julia Kristeva, Helene Cixous, and Luce Irigaray. The author also addresses the cross-cultural connections shared by Morrison, Mason, and Smith, showing that, despite their racial and cultural differences, striking similarities can be found in their renderings of maternity.

The three women writers employ related image patterns, metaphors, and symbols involving the maternal body. By centering maternity so strongly in their novels, Morrison, Mason, and Smith establish the primacy of the mother and obviate the neglect to which maternal perspectives have been subjected. They restore the mother's lost voice and her diminished subjectivity. Together they depict the maternal as a powerful force that shapes human lives and communities.

Contents:

1 Historical and Theoretical Perspectives on Motherhood 11

Toni Morrison 33

2 The Bluest Eye: The Inverted Maternal 38

3 Sula: Finding the Peace of the Mother's Body 51

4 Beloved: Historical Realities/Maternal Mythologies 62

Bobbie Ann Mason 77

5 In Country: Mothers, Dead Babies, and War 83

6 Spence + Lila: Memory, Landscape, and the Mother's Body 101

7 Feather Crowns: Commodifying Southern Motherhood 116

Lee Smith 133

8 Oral History: Telling the Mother's Story 138

9 Fair and Tender Ladies: Letters, Language, and Maternal Subjectivity 155

10 Saving Grace: Mediating the Matriarchal-Patriarchal Dichotomy 174

11 Conclusion: "Listening to the Stories that Mothers Have to Tell" 191.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-216) and index.

ISBN:

0826214029

OCLC:

49284199