From the Cradle to the Grave: A Novel and Exegesis
(2002) From the Cradle to the Grave: A Novel and Exegesis . PhD Thesis, School of Arts, Griffith University.
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Abstract
From the Cradle to the Grave: A Novel and Exegesis is concerned with maternal infanticide. This is, however, a somewhat inflammatory and perhaps misleading statement. While it is concerned with the infanticidal mother, she is in this instance largely an icon, a way into an exploration of diverse aspects of motherhood, especially negative ideas about mothers and mothering. It would be more precise to say that this thesis is concerned with the paradoxical Childless Mother. Both the novel and exegesis circle around ideas about parenting that seek to confront traditional assumptions about the connections and differences between good and bad mothering. The exegesis - From the Cradle to the Grave - does this through a discussion of various aspects of culture, which produce and are produced by mothering practices. In particular it engages with childcare literature, medical and legal engagements with women and children, and myth and fairy tales. The novel - The Bone Flute - is another exploration of the paradoxical nature of motherhood. While the exegesis seeks to draw together some of the material and historical truths of mothering, the novel addresses another kind of truth; through various narrative devices it seeks a different type of engagement with the lived realities of women. Both texts ask questions about the nature of maternity and its relationship to femininity. Both attempt to come to terms with the paradoxical status of mothers without children. The exegesis is an explication of the research processes, the reflections and considerations that preceded and accompanied the writing of The Bone Flute. It seeks to make explicit the tangled web of reading and thinking that informed the writing of a novel - from initial impulse to final draft. The exegesis is not, however, an explicit explanation of how the novel was written. Rather the two texts existed (and exist) symbiotically - each inciting and reflecting upon the other. While the exegesis explores the material
| Item Type: | Thesis |
|---|---|
| Status: | Unpublished |
| Keywords: | infanticide, creative writing, writing, feminism, fairy tales, folktales, body, murder, SIDS, childhood, childcare, child-care, postnatal psychosis, postnatal depression, child abuse, creativity |
| Subjects: | 400000 Journalism, Librarianship and Curatorial Studies > 400100 Journalism, Communication and Media > 400104 Communication and Media Studies 400000 Journalism, Librarianship and Curatorial Studies > 400100 Journalism, Communication and Media > 400103 Professional Creative Writing |
| ID Code: | 4596 |
| Deposited By: | Bourke, Nike |
| Deposited On: | 14 July 2006 |
| Copyright Owner: | Copyright 2002 Nicole A. Bourke |
| Additional Information: | For more information about this thesis (including access to the fulltext), please contact the author Dr Nicole Bourke n.bourke@qut.edu.au |