Writers and their mothers

Ian McEwan, Margaret Drabble, Martin Amis, Rita Dove, Andrew Motion and Anthony Thwaite are among the twenty-two distinguished contributors of original essays to this landmark volume on the profound and frequently perplexing bond between writer and mother. In compelling detail they bring to life the thoughts, work, loves, friendships, passions and, above all, the influence of mothers upon their literary offspring from Shakespeare to the present. Many of the contributors evoke the ideal with fond and loving memories: understanding, selfless, spiritual, tender, protective, reassuring and self-assured mothers who created environments favorable to the development of their children's gifts. At the opposite end of the parenting spectrum, however, we also see tortured mothers who ignored, interfered with, smothered or abandoned their children. Their early years were times of traumatic loss, unhappily dominated by death and human frailty. Elegantly assembled and presented, Writers and Their Mothers will appeal to everyone interested in biography, literature, and creativity in general.

Intro; Preface; Acknowledgements; Contents; Notes on Contributors; Part I: Biographical; 1: Shakespeareâ#x80;#x99;s Mother(s); 2: John Ruskin and Margaret; 3: Ambitious Daughter: Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother; 4: Walt Whitman and His Mother; 5: The Maternal Embrace: Samuel Beckett and His Mother May; 6: William Goldingâ#x80;#x99;s Mother; 7: Voice Rehearsals and Personas in Sylviaâ#x80;#x99;s Letters to Aurelia; 8: No Villainous Motherâ#x80;#x94;The Life of Eva Larkin; â#x80;#x98;Dearest Old Creatureâ#x80;#x99;: The Shared Conversation; Childhood Memories; Someone to Live With; A Search for Identity; Practical Psychology

The Dutiful SonAnd then the Only End of Age â#x80;¦; 9: Robert Lowell: Trapped in Charlotteâ#x80;#x99;s Web; Part II: Autobiographical; 10: Mother Tongue: A Memoir; 11: â#x80;#x98;Persistent Ghostâ#x80;#x99;; 12: Living with Mother; 13: â#x80;#x98;Bring Her Again to Me â#x80;¦'; 14: My Mother, and Friends; 15: My Motherâ#x80;#x99;s Desk; The Acorns, 1956: Scarred for Life; New York, 1958: On the Banks of the River Garigliano; 16: Mater Sagax; 17: My Wicked Stepmother; 18: About â#x80;#x98;My Mother Enters the Work Forceâ#x80;#x99;; 19: A…