Psychologies of Mothering: Literacy and Literature

As we become readers and literate beings, we enter new spaces, learning not only the decoding and encoding of words but also walking into the world of texts and literature. And as we move through time— and time, undeniably, moves through us— we co-editors continue to agree on this shared vulnerability: All human life on the planet is born of woman. The one unifying, incontrovertible experience shared by all women and men is that months-long period spent unfolding inside a woman’ s body … most of us first know both love and disappointment, power and tenderness, in the person of a woman. (Adrienne Rich, Of Woman Born, 1976). This 21st Century collection ranges from academic analyses in literacy and literature to personal narratives or “ momoirs.” They discuss mothers’ psychological senses of self and experiences of the world, as seen in literacy and literature, as well as the role of mothers and the psychological impact of mothering, within these intersecting areas of expression.

Dr. Kristen Ferguson is a Professor, the Dr. Elizabeth Thorn Chair in Literacy, and Interim Associate Dean in the Schulich School of Education at Nipissing University in North Bay. She teaches Language Arts and Literacy Education. Her research interests include elementary and post-secondary literacy education, literacy coaching, and stress and coping in teaching, alongside mothering scholarship informed by her experiences as a mother of three. Dr. Laurie Kruk is a Professor of English Studies at Nipissing University. She has published The Voice Is the Story: Conversations with Canadian Writers of Short Fiction (2003) and Double-Voicing the Canadian Short Story (2016). She has also published three poetry collections: Theories of the World (1992), Loving the Alien (2006) and My Mother Did Not Tell Stories (2012). In terms of Munro scholarship, she has recently published “ The Children Leave: Maternal Abandonment in Two Alice Munro Stories” in Maternal Regret: Resistances, Renunciations, and Reflections, ed. Andrea O’ Reilly (Demeter 202

Introduction: Laurie Kruk, “ Stories of Mothers … Mothering Through Time” Chapter 1: Jane Barker, “ Pen and Ink: A Neverending Story” Chapter 2: Tina Benevides, “ ’ Thursday’ s Child’ : Navigating Identity, Literacy, and Motherhood Across Cultures” Chapter 3: Melissa Corrente, “ Momoir Revealed: Moving from Narrative Revelation to Reformation” Chapter 4: Rupinder Kahlon and Sarah Boddy, “ Motherhood and Literacy: Celebrating the Moments and Problematizing the Construction” Chapter 5: Masha Blokh, “ Love of Books, Love of Children: A Mother’ s Story” Chapter 6: Laura Lafrance, “ Mothering as ‘ the Greats of Arts’ : Charlotte Perkins Gilman’ s Complex Maternal Psyche in ‘ The Yellow Wall-Paper’ and Herland” Chapter 7: Paula Serrano Elena, “ Challenging the Ideal of Motherhood: Unveiling Maternal Violence in Szilvia Molnar’ s The Nursery” Chapter 8: Kristen Ferguson, “ Depictions of Mothers in Award-Winning Governor General’ s Illustrated Books for Young People” Chapter 9: Laurie Kruk, “ ’ Disconcerting, and Wonderful’ : Second-Wave Female Friendship and Mothering in Alice Munro’ s ‘ Differently’ ” Chapter 10: Andrea O’ Reilly, “ ’ It remakes you’ and ‘ changes one’ s existence forever’ : Reading Matrescence in Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy and Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel to Explore and Reimagine Normative Moterhood” Conclusion: Kristen Ferguson Notes on Contributors