From the shock and awe of labour to domestic isolation, a wave of recent novels captures the transformative nature of being a motherThey say nothing prepares you. Before having my baby, I approached the literature of motherhood as though I were about to sit an exam. If my studies tempered the shock of birth and early parenthood, then I didn’t notice. The sheer physical and emotive force of the experience left me profoundly shaken. Words felt insufficient. And yet I kept reading – everything I could get my hands on. I wanted answers. I wanted to feel recognised. I wanted this untranslatable experience to be translated into language. Most of all, I think, I wanted restitution for all the maternal stories that had been left untold by centuries of silencing and minimising, not just for myself, but for all of us.Books about motherhood come in waves: the recent spate only the latest in a long line of literary endeavours. In the 1950s there was Shirley Jackson’s Life Among the Savages. The 1960s wave saw Margaret Drabble’s The Millstone and Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook, alongside Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique; the 1970s The Women’s Room by Marilyn French, Adrienne Rich’s Of Woman Born, and In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens by Alice Walker. In the 1980s writing about motherhood became even more transgressive and imaginative, with Beloved by Toni Morrison, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, and Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter. The early 2000s saw an... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2024-01-20 11:00:01 UTC ]
Barack Obama has revealed his summer reading list, including titles from Toni Morrison, Colson Whitehead, Ted Chiang and Hilary Mantel. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-15 11:40:17 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Toni Morrison's Beloved (Vintage Digital) has made its debut in the Amazon charts, following the announcement of the 88-year-old author's death last week. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-14 00:52:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The award-winning author Toni Morrison died Aug. 5, 2019. We're reposting this 1981 interview conducted shortly after her fourth novel, "Tar Baby," was published. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-08-07 16:16:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The award-winning author Toni Morrison died Aug. 5, 2019. We're reposting this 1981 interview conducted shortly after her fourth novel, "Tar Baby," was published. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-08-07 16:16:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The award-winning author Toni Morrison died Aug. 5, 2019. We're reposting this 1981 interview conducted shortly after her fourth novel, "Tar Baby," was published. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-08-07 16:16:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The award-winning author Toni Morrison died Aug. 5, 2019. We're reposting this 1981 interview conducted shortly after her fourth novel, "Tar Baby," was published. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2019-08-07 16:16:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In her creative and critical work, Toni Morrison sought to remap the contours of American literature and culture. Continue reading at The Conversation
[ The Conversation | 2019-08-07 06:00:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Nobel laureate, who died on Monday, blasted many a myth, with eloquence and grace. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-08-06 18:28:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Morrison's accolades included a Pulitzer, a Nobel Prize in literature, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2019-08-06 14:40:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Toni Morrison, giant of American literature and the first black woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, has passed away. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-08-06 14:08:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Toni Morrison, Nobel Laureate and author of Beloved, has died at the age of 88, her publisher Knopf has confirmed. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-08-06 11:43:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this
SCIENCE FICTION HAS BEEN mapping the topography of a yawning postcapitalism since the cyberpunk movement of the 1980s, a laborious undertaking still ongoing in the 21st century. Before cyberpunk, Deleuze and Guattari pointed the way in their books on capitalism and schizophrenia; after... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-08-03 12:30:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this
During one of my first open mics in New York City, the comic running the mic tapped me on the elbow after my set and said, “Hey, you’re funny!” She sounded surprised. I was, too. Being funny wasn’t my main goal. I was there to spy on comics, trying to experience the highs and lows […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-31 08:49:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Booker Prize Foundation revealed the longlist for its literary award Tuesday, with Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Valeria Luiselli and Jeanette Winterson among the nominees. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2019-07-24 19:43:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Margaret Atwood's 'The Testaments' is among 13 titles longlisted for this year's Booker Prize, despite being embargoed until September 10. It may even make the shortlist, announced on September 3, before it is even published. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-07-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Margaret Atwood is longlisted for this year's £50,000 Booker Prize for her "terrifying and exhilarating" sequel The Testaments (Chatto & Windus) alongside fellow former winner Salman Rushdie, in the first year the prize has been sponsored by charitable foundation Crankstart. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-23 23:49:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Spanish philosopher and poet George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” As a genre, historical fiction allows us to shuttle back in time to stand in the shoes, clogs, chopines, and go-go boots of people—real and imagined—to consider the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-07-15 11:00:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this
More than 100 books. New novels from Margaret Atwood, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Colson Whitehead. Zadie Smith short stories. What more could you want? (Except to have them all RIGHT NOW.) The post Most Anticipated: The Great Second-Half 2019 Book Preview appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2019-07-15 10:00:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this
As publishers vie to persuade us to pack their titles for the holidays, we chart the evolution of the ’beach read’Summer reads, beach reads, holiday reads … at this time of year, the publishing world works itself into a sweat trying to force its novels into our carry-on luggage, or over the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-07-14 07:00:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Businesses and public policy makers are tapping novelists to imagine the path forward. But how much stock should we put in the predictions of storytellers? Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2019-07-12 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this