Mothering Her Self

Verena Klein

Mothering Her Self. Mothers and Daughters in Ethel Wilson's Work

ISBN 978-3-88476-847-1, 236 S., kt., € 23,50 (2006)

(Mosaic - Studien und Texte zur amerikanischen Kultur und Geschichte, Bd. 28)

The authoress of four novels, two novellas and one collection of short stories, Ethel Wilson (1888-1980) is considered one of the founding mothers of contemporary Canadian literature. Orphaned at a very young age, Wilson was educated in England, but spent most of her lifetime in Canada. All set in British Columbia, her works foreground the reality of Canadian women in the first half of the twentieth century and have been praised for their stylistic virtuosity, their convincing portrayals of Canadian nature and their persistent focus on human relations. This study proposes a mother-daughter reading of Wilson's ouevre, an aspect of her fiction which so far has only insufficiently been commented upon. Using Anglo-American mother-daughter theory as a starting point, this survey holds that Ethel Wilson may have used her writing as a means to come to terms with the traumatic events of her youth. Maintaining that it is the absence of the mother that functions as the common denominator throughout the Wilsonian canon, this study deals with the impact of motherlessness on Wilson's female protagonists.

Buchvorschau / Inhaltsverzeichnis (pdf)

Pressestimmen

"Verena Klein's dissertation constitutes the first comprehensive study focusing explicitly on mother-daughter relationships in Wilson's œuvre - an ultimately rewarding focus, as the book demonstrates. Mothering Her Self both constitutes a valuable contribution to Ethel Wilson criticism and exemplifies an interesting application of the rather neglected sphere of mother-daughter discourse to the literary sphere."

Eva Gruber, Amerikastudien / American Studies 54.2 (2009)

"This book represents literary criticism and editing of a very high order. It is an excellent addition to the scholarly literature surrounding Ethel Wilson."

David Stouck, Canadian Literature: A Quarterly of Criticism and Review 197 (2008)