Monstrous Mothers Evil Children Group I II

Children are innocent, pure and helpless creatures in need of protection from the evils of the adult world. Though their care is also a task of society and the state, it is first and foremost the task of the good mother to protect the child. The good mother is self-sacrificial – her child always comes first, even before her own needs. This blessed task of taking care of her child fulfills her completely. This summarizes not only the stereotypical image of the good mother, but also the myth of childhood innocence, two ideological constructs that are deeply intertwined. In this seminar we will investigate the historical roots of these cultural constructions, ask for their function and then look at representations that (seem to) challenge them. To understand the contemporary discourse of motherhood and childhood we will look into different historical periods to find out about Victorian femininity, briefly into psychoanalysis (-the monstrous feminine”), the invention of the child in the modern era, means of protecting children (e.g. the Comics Code) and media discourses that struggle with representing the unrepresentable: maternal infanticide and murder committed by children such as the Columbine school shootings or the James Bulger case. Our selected examples of fictional representations of children and mothers will include the following novels and short stories: William Golding: Lord of the Flies Doris Lessing: The Fifth Child Ewan McEwan: The Cement Garden Lionel Shriver: We need to talk about Kevin Stephen King: Carrie Toni Morrison: Beloved Joe Hill: -You Will Hear the Locust Sing” As we are not only reading these novels, but also theoretical texts in addition, this course might not be ideal for students who are slow readers. If you count yourself among the latter and want to take the course nonetheless, you are strongly advised to already read the novels in the semester break. Studienleistung: Quizzes or oral presentation Prüfungsleistung: Term paper Anglistik - Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft Beachten Sie, dass Sie diesen Kurs nach den Prüfungsordnungen ab 2011 nicht besuchen dürfen, wenn Sie die für dieses Modulelement laut Fachspezifischen Bestimmungen und Modulhandbuch notwendigen Voraussetzungen noch nicht erfüllen. Universität Siegen 20141 SoSe 2014 M.A. Peters Maria Verena M.A