Motherhood and Representation: The Mother in Popular Culture and MelodramaFrom novels of the nineteenth century to films of the 1990s, American culture, abounds with images of white, middle-class mothers. In Motherhood and Representation, E. Ann Kaplan considers how the mother appears in three related spheres: the historical, in which she charts changing representations of the mother from 1830 to the postmodernist present; the psychoanalytic, which discusses theories of the mother from Freud to Lacan and the French Feminists; and the mother as she is figured in cultural representations: in literary and film texts such as East Lynne, Marnie and the The Handmaid's Tale, as well as in journalism and popular manuals on motherhood. Kaplan's analysis identifies two dominant paradigms of the mother as `Angel' and `Witch', and charts the contesting and often contradictory discourses of the mother in present-day America. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 72
Page iv
... 7. Motherhood — United States. 8. Mothers — United States. I. Title. P5228.M66K36 1992 810.9'3520431 — dc20 91—45539 ISBN 13: 978-0-415-01127-3 (pbk) For my mother, Gertrude Mercer, and my daughter, Brett Kaplan Copyright Page.
... 7. Motherhood — United States. 8. Mothers — United States. I. Title. P5228.M66K36 1992 810.9'3520431 — dc20 91—45539 ISBN 13: 978-0-415-01127-3 (pbk) For my mother, Gertrude Mercer, and my daughter, Brett Kaplan Copyright Page.
Page v
The Mother in Popular Culture and Melodrama E. Ann Kaplan. For my mother, Gertrude Mercer, and my daughter, Brett Kaplan This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS List of illustrations Preface Dedication.
The Mother in Popular Culture and Melodrama E. Ann Kaplan. For my mother, Gertrude Mercer, and my daughter, Brett Kaplan This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS List of illustrations Preface Dedication.
Page xi
... daughter, Brett Kaplan. My complex and contradictory relationships with both people fuelled the desire to write the book: I wanted to find out how mothers are constructed in patriarchy on the assumption that such research not only would ...
... daughter, Brett Kaplan. My complex and contradictory relationships with both people fuelled the desire to write the book: I wanted to find out how mothers are constructed in patriarchy on the assumption that such research not only would ...
Page xii
... daughter left home for college, was motivated partly by the desire to help my daughter understand the pain she endured because, given reigning discourses and institutions, I could not happily combine sex, work and motherhood during all ...
... daughter left home for college, was motivated partly by the desire to help my daughter understand the pain she endured because, given reigning discourses and institutions, I could not happily combine sex, work and motherhood during all ...
Page xv
... daughter, Brett Kaplan, for the tiresome work of compiling the indices. Parts of the book have been published in different versions than appear here in the following journals and volumes: “The Case of the Missing Mother: Patriarchy and ...
... daughter, Brett Kaplan, for the tiresome work of compiling the indices. Parts of the book have been published in different versions than appear here in the following journals and volumes: “The Case of the Missing Mother: Patriarchy and ...
Contents
Part II Motherhood and fictional representation | 57 |
Notes | 220 |
Bibliography | 227 |
Names index | 239 |
Subject index | 245 |
Other editions - View all
Motherhood and Representation: The Mother in Popular Culture and Melodrama E. Ann Kaplan Limited preview - 2013 |
Motherhood and Representation: The Mother in Popular Culture and Melodrama E. Ann Kaplan No preview available - 1992 |
Common terms and phrases
American argue articulated baby Barbara briefly Carlyle Carlyle’s century Chapter child Chodorow Christopher Strong codes complicit concept confine conflict constructed culture Cynthia daughter defined desire developed difficult discussed dominant East Lynne erotic explore fantasies father female feminine feminism feminist fiction fictional figure film film versions film’s final finally find first focus foetus Freud Freudian gaze gender genre Handmaid’s Tale Harriet heroine historical Hollywood ideal identification ideology images Imaginary Irigaray Isabel Kristeva Lacanian Levison linked Lois Weber male Marnie maternal melodrama maternal sacrifice middle-class mother mother-figure mother—child mother—daughter motherhood discourses narrative nineteenth-century North America notes novel nuclear family Oankali Oedipal paradigm patriarchal Peola phallic phallus popular position postmodern pre-Oedipal produced psychic psychoanalytic theory reflects relation relationship representations represents reproductive technologies resisting role Rousseau sexual significant significantly social specific spectator sphere Stella Dallas Symbolic terrain unconscious upper-class Weber woman woman’s women