| Popis: |
“Conceptualizing the Maternal” examines representations of the maternal in Italian women’s writings over the course of the twentieth century. It suggests that Italian women, in their narratives and essays, both consider and overwhelmingly reject the stereotype of the maternal encountered in “mammismo” in favour of developing alternative (if often ambivalent) maternal modes. In doing so, they frequently construct maternal, rather than daughterly discourses. These maternal discourses regularly posit fractured maternal subjectivities that might well be disturbing in their earliest incarnations but gradually move towards more positive representations in very particular explorations of relational selves. The writers considered (including Aleramo, Vivanti, Deledda, Ginzburg, Fallaci, Ravera and Maraini) consciously reflect each other’s explorations of the maternal and refract prescribed maternal norms. |
