...fluid and engaging...

Terri Apter, The TLS

Here Bowlby's widely celebrated talent as a literary critic is demonstrated to quite spectacular effect. Literary critics - academics in general - are permanently aware of the pressure to make their work "relevant", and in less skilled hands the parts of this book concerned with contemporary culture might have appeared worlds away from Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. This book, however, is an instance of genuine dialogue between the contemporary and the historical ... an extraordinary level of insight.

Bryony Randall, Times Higher Education

[Rachel Bowlby] finds some intriguing antecedents to our world of surrogacy, fertility treatment and adoption (and, brilliantly, in the case of Mary, mother of Jesus, to artificial insemination) in plot twists that are, in essence, novelists' decisions to rupture reality so as better to make it serve their specific emotional, psychological and artistic needs.

Rachel Cusk, New Statesman

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This book will undoubtably be worth reading both by those who wish to explore the controversial issues arising from new reproductive technologies, and by those whose interests are literary and who would appreciate the detailed examination of classic texts.

Alison Carter, Solas

Among the elementary human stories, parenthood has tended to go without saying. Compared to the spectacular attachments of romantic love, it is only the predictable sequel. Compared to the passions of childhood, it is just a background. But in recent decades, far-reaching changes in typical family forms and in procreative possibilities (through reproductive technologies) have brought out new questions. Why do people want (or not want) to be parents? How has the 'choice' first enabled by contraception changed the meaning of parenthood? Looking not only at new parental parts but at older parental stories, in novels and other works, this fascinating book offers fresh angles and arguments for thinking about parenthood today.
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A fascinating study examining the diversities and novelties of contemporary parenthood in the light of a range of literary and philosophical works ranging from Greek tragedies to contemporary psychoanalytic theory by way of diverse writers from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries.
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Introduction ; 1. Changing Conceptions ; 2. Surrogates and Other Mothers ; 3. Reproductive Choice: A Prehistory ; 4. Foundling Fathers and Mothers ; 5. Childlessness: Euripides' Medea ; 6. A Tale of Two Parents: Charles Dickens's Great Expectations ; 7. Finding a Life: George Eliot's Silas Marner ; 8. His and Hers: Henry Fielding's Tom Jones ; 9. Placement: Jane Austen's Mansfield Park ; 10. At All Costs: George Moore's Esther Waters ; 11. Between Parents: Henry James's What Maisie Knew ; 12. Parental Secrets in Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge ; 13. 'I Had Barbara': Women's Ties and Edith Wharton's 'Roman Fever' ; Afterword
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...fluid and engaging...
`...fluid and engaging...' Terri Apter, The TLS `Here Bowlby's widely celebrated talent as a literary critic is demonstrated to quite spectacular effect. Literary critics - academics in general - are permanently aware of the pressure to make their work "relevant", and in less skilled hands the parts of this book concerned with contemporary culture might have appeared worlds away from Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. This book, however, is an instance of genuine dialogue between the contemporary and the historical ... an extraordinary level of insight.' Bryony Randall, Times Higher Education `[Rachel Bowlby] finds some intriguing antecedents to our world of surrogacy, fertility treatment and adoption (and, brilliantly, in the case of Mary, mother of Jesus, to artificial insemination) in plot twists that are, in essence, novelists' decisions to rupture reality so as better to make it serve their specific emotional, psychological and artistic needs.' Rachel Cusk, New Statesman `This book will undoubtably be worth reading both by those who wish to explore the controversial issues arising from new reproductive technologies, and by those whose interests are literary and who would appreciate the detailed examination of classic texts.' Alison Carter, Solas
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A fascinating interdisciplinary study written in a clear and accessible style Sharp analysis of contemporary arguments about reproductive technologies Offers new readings of familiar novels from an unusual angle Focuses on parenthood, a topic of almost universal human interest
Les mer
Rachel Bowlby is Professor of Comparative Literature at Princeton University. Her previous books include Just Looking and Carried Away, both about the history of shopping; Still Crazy After All These Years: Women, Writing and Psychoanalysis; Shopping with Freud; Feminist Destinations and Further Essays on Virginia Woolf; and Freudian Mythologies: Greek Tragedy and Modern Identities.
Les mer
A fascinating interdisciplinary study written in a clear and accessible style Sharp analysis of contemporary arguments about reproductive technologies Offers new readings of familiar novels from an unusual angle Focuses on parenthood, a topic of almost universal human interest
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780198728122
Publisert
2015
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press
Vekt
284 gr
Høyde
196 mm
Bredde
131 mm
Dybde
14 mm
Aldersnivå
UU, UP, 05
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
258

Forfatter

Om bidragsyterne

Rachel Bowlby is Professor of Comparative Literature at Princeton University. Her previous books include Just Looking and Carried Away, both about the history of shopping; Still Crazy After All These Years: Women, Writing and Psychoanalysis; Shopping with Freud; Feminist Destinations and Further Essays on Virginia Woolf; and Freudian Mythologies: Greek Tragedy and Modern Identities.