Deconstructing conventional ideas on motherhood through an innovative reading of narcissistic mothers in the works of influential modernist writers.

Narcissistic mothers are an important motif in modernist literature. Tracing its appearance in the works of writers such as D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf, this book questions the dichotomous image of either benevolent or suffocating mother, which has pervaded religion, art and literature for centuries. Instead of focusing on the mother-child dyad as characterized primarily by maternal domination and the child' s submission, Marie Géraldine Rademacher insists on the definitional nuances of the term »narcissism« and considers the political and socio-economic context of the time in shaping these women's narcissistic behavior. The study thus inspires a more positive (re)reading of the protagonists.

Autorentext

Marie Géraldine Rademacher works as post-doctoral researcher at the University of Tokyo in Japan. Her research focuses on Travel Writing written by European women who came to Japan in the early decade of the Twentieth century. She also teaches English Literature at Seikei University in Tokyo.