Arts and Literature in Canada:Views from Abroad, Les arts et la ...

Karen GouldRefiguring the Mother:Quebec Women Writers in the 80s 1AbstractInfluenced by feminist discourse of the 1970s concerning the low status andsilence of women in patriarchal culture, women writers in the 80s haverefigured the mother’s position in modern culture, and offered new outlookson creativity and motherhood, as well as the social impact of motherwork. Thispaper examines Ma fille comme une amante by Julie Stanton and La Cohortefictive and Copies conformes by Monique LaRue, three works that portray themother in a positive light as a topic of exploration, rather than the subject ofrepression or narrative silence.RésuméInfluencées par le discours féministe des années soixante-dix sur ladévalorisation et le silence de la mère dans la culture patriarcale, desécrivaines des années quatre-vingt réexaminent la position de la mère dans laculture contemporaine et offrent de nouvelles perspectives sur la créativité dela maternité et la portée sociale du travail maternel. Cet article traite de Mafille comme une amante de Julie Stanton ainsi que de La Cohorte fictive et deCopies conformes de Monique LaRue, trois textes qui valorisent la mèrecomme sujet d’exploration et non plus comme objet de répression et de silencenarratif.Representations of motherhood, mothering and the maternal in recent fictionby Quebec women writers highlight some of the emerging views of mothersand maternal work in contemporary feminist thought. Since the mid-1970s,feminist theorists in Canada and in the U.S. have urged us to reexamine theinstitution of motherhood, the conditions in which women mother, and thefunction of the maternal figure in our cultural mythologies. Indeed, the role ofthe mother in contemporary culture, along with issues of reproductive choiceand the psychology of maternal care, constitute a significant site of inquiry anddebate in recent feminist theory and critical practice.In the 1980s and 90s, Quebec women writers are challenging traditionalperspectives on mothers and mothering by reassessing the nature of maternalpower, by analyzing the constraints placed on women and men in the culturalreproduction of mothering, and by addressing in their writing the daily realitiesof women’s experiences as mothers through maternal eyes. While manyInternational Journal of Canadian Studies / Revue internationale d’études canadiennes6, Fall/Automne 1992