The Mother Knot

Jane Lazarre

Published by Duke University Press 1997

The Mother Knot

Jane Lazarre

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822378181

Overview
Contents

About this book

In this compelling memoir by a writer, mother, and feminist, Jane Lazarre confronts the myth of the "good mother" with her fiercely honest and intimate portrait of early motherhood as a time of profound ambivalence and upheaval, filled with desperation as well as joy, the struggle to reclaim a sense of self, and sheer physical exhaustion. Originally published in 1976, The Mother Knot is a feminist classic, as relevant today as it was twenty years ago.

Author / Editor information

Jane Lazarre is on the Faculty of Eugene Lang College at the New School for Social Research. She is the author of numerous works of fiction and non-fiction, including Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness and Wet Earth and Dreams, both published by Duke University Press.

Reviews

“The Mother Knot deserves a permanent place in the stirring body of testimonial literature American feminism has given rise to.”—Vivian Gornick

“A modern feminist classic, certain to leave its readers changed from the experience of reading seldom spoken truths.”—Maureen T. Reddy, from the Introduction to the new edition of The Mother Knot

“A wholly original and important book. . . . I cannot imagine a woman who would not be moved, or a man who would not be enlightened.”—Adrienne Rich

“A powerful autobiographical account. . . . Lazarre slugs it out with her own demons and the Great American Good Mother Myth. It will frighten people who don’t like to have their myths messed with, but a lot of others will breathe easier because of it.”

-- Louise Berkinow New York Times Book Review

“Beautifully written . . . . The Mother Knot says the unsayable, crackling with insights. . . . At once profoundly consoling and terrifying, her finds are universal.”

-- Barbara Seaman Washington Post Book World

“Many women will see themselves in Jane Lazarre’s beautifully written autobiographical account of her experience of motherhood, which is full of contradictory feelings and the conflict she felt between the portrayal of ideal motherhood and reality.”

-- The Guardian

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Introduction Maureen T. Reddy Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface to the Duke Edition Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xix
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xxi
Part One Birth
1 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
2 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	9
3 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
4 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	30
5 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
Part Two Mothers and Fathers
5 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
7 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	76
8 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
9 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
Part Three Children
10 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	106
11 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	122
Part Four The Dark Lady
12 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	140

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Pages
- Main content: 196

eBook

Published: August 22, 1997
ISBN: 9780822378181