Overview

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.

Full Product Details

Author:   Loïc Bourdeau
Publisher:   University of Nebraska Press
Imprint:   University of Nebraska Press
ISBN:  

9780803293984

ISBN 10:   0803293984
Pages:   228
Publication Date:   01 December 2019
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction: Failing Successfully Loïc Bourdeau 1. The Whore and Her Mother: Exploring Matrophobia in Nelly Arcan’s Putain Pauline Henry-Tierney 2. Horrible Mothers in Mémère’s Kitchen: Queer Identity in New England Franco-America Susan Pinette 3. “I’m Not the Virgin Mary”: Rebellious Motherhood in Grégoire 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 littérature Susan Ireland and Patrice J. Proulx 8. Forgiving the Horrible Mother: Children’s Needs and Women’s Desires in Twenty-First-Century Québécois Film Amy J. Ransom 9. Politics and Motherhood in Xavier Dolan’s J’ai tué ma mère and Mommy Loïc Bourdeau Contributors Index

Reviews

This multidisciplinary collection of essays from a francophone North American context constitutes an important challenge to normalizing and oppressive discourses of motherhood that fail to take account of the much messier and often ambivalent nature of lived maternal experiences. . . . We are reminded in this collection of the dangers of the cultural idealization of mothers and the ongoing need to deconstruct normative motherhood from a feminist perspective. -Julie Rodgers, lecturer in French studies and the Motherhood Project at Maynooth University -- Julie Rodgers

"""This timely volume invigorates scholarly attention to the role of the mother in culture and advocates for a reading of motherhood and maternity imbued with empowering potential for all women whose value is measured according to social expectations of mothers.""—Jocelyn A. Frelier, French Studies ""This collection will be of interest to those studying mothers and motherhood in literature of any language as well as scholars of Francophone North America.""—D. L. Boudreau, Choice “This multidisciplinary collection of essays from a francophone North American context constitutes an important challenge to normalizing and oppressive discourses of motherhood that fail to take account of the much messier and often ambivalent nature of lived maternal experiences. . . . We are reminded in this collection of the dangers of the cultural idealization of mothers and the ongoing need to deconstruct normative motherhood from a feminist perspective.”—Julie Rodgers, lecturer in French studies and member of the Motherhood Project, Maynooth University (Ireland)"

This multidisciplinary collection of essays from a francophone North American context constitutes an important challenge to normalizing and oppressive discourses of motherhood that fail to take account of the much messier and often ambivalent nature of lived maternal experiences. . . . We are reminded in this collection of the dangers of the cultural idealization of mothers and the ongoing need to deconstruct normative motherhood from a feminist perspective. -Julie Rodgers, lecturer in French studies and member of the Motherhood Project, Maynooth University (Ireland) -- Julie Rodgers This collection will be of interest to those studying mothers and motherhood in literature of any language as well as scholars of Francophone North America. -D. L. Boudreau, Choice -- D. L. Boudreau * Choice *

This collection will be of interest to those studying mothers and motherhood in literature of any language as well as scholars of Francophone North America. -D. L. Boudreau, Choice -- D. L. Boudreau * Choice * This multidisciplinary collection of essays from a francophone North American context constitutes an important challenge to normalizing and oppressive discourses of motherhood that fail to take account of the much messier and often ambivalent nature of lived maternal experiences. . . . We are reminded in this collection of the dangers of the cultural idealization of mothers and the ongoing need to deconstruct normative motherhood from a feminist perspective. -Julie Rodgers, lecturer in French studies and member of the Motherhood Project, Maynooth University (Ireland) -- Julie Rodgers

""This timely volume invigorates scholarly attention to the role of the mother in culture and advocates for a reading of motherhood and maternity imbued with empowering potential for all women whose value is measured according to social expectations of mothers.""—Jocelyn A. Frelier, French Studies ""This collection will be of interest to those studying mothers and motherhood in literature of any language as well as scholars of Francophone North America.""—D. L. Boudreau, Choice “This multidisciplinary collection of essays from a francophone North American context constitutes an important challenge to normalizing and oppressive discourses of motherhood that fail to take account of the much messier and often ambivalent nature of lived maternal experiences. . . . We are reminded in this collection of the dangers of the cultural idealization of mothers and the ongoing need to deconstruct normative motherhood from a feminist perspective.”—Julie Rodgers, lecturer in French studies and member of the Motherhood Project, Maynooth University (Ireland)

This multidisciplinary collection of essays from a francophone North American context constitutes an important challenge to normalizing and oppressive discourses of motherhood that fail to take account of the much messier and often ambivalent nature of lived maternal experiences. . . . We are reminded in this collection of the dangers of the cultural idealization of mothers and the ongoing need to deconstruct normative motherhood from a feminist perspective. -Julie Rodgers, lecturer in French studies and member of the Motherhood Project, Maynooth University (Ireland) -- Julie Rodgers

Author Information

LoÏc Bourdeau is an assistant professor of French and francophone studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He holds the College of Liberal Arts/Louisiana Board of Regents Professorship in Francophone Studies. He is the associate editor of Études Francophones.  

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