the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

This chapter explores the major questions Does women's
liberation requlre a biological revolution? Should women
relinquish their reproductive roles and take recourse to
techniques of reproduction such as artificial insemination
by donor, in vitro fertilizat~on and embryo transfer, or
should they retain thelr reproductive powers in order to
gain the actual experience of mothering, at the same time
ensuring that it is not talnted by the politlcs of the
patriarchal institution of motherhood The chapter further
delves Into the repercussions of reproductive techniques -
ellmination of stereotyped roles, disruption of heterosexual
patterns and nuclear Eamlly structures, collectlvlzed
rearing, and the obliteration of sexlsm, raclsm and classlsm
from socrety
CaAPTER V:
TEE AESTHETICS OF MOTEERBOOD shlfts the focus
from the thematlc to aesthetic aspects of motherhood
lndlcatlng how a self-conscious femlnlst narrative point of
view, structure, genre, imagery and myth contribute to
working out the problematlcs of motherhood
Classifying the texts lnto those wrltten from a
daughter's perspective and those narrated from a mother's
viewpoint, the chapter shows how the former mode of
narration in Tho Dark Eolds No Terrors and Meridian ecllpses