ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book investigates the representations of motherhood contained in writings by Beauvoir, Leduc and Ernaux that can, to a greater or lesser extent, be termed autobiographical. Literary representations of the mother must be seen in the context of circulating, competing, historically specific motherhood discourses. The Virgin/Magdalene dichotomy has cast its shadow, directly or indirectly, over a variety of debates in France. In the early twentieth century, for instance, the opposition was prominent in debates concerning the problem of a decline in population growth. Politicians and statisticians exercised by the threat of depopulation drew on the notion that motherhood constituted a sacrosanct and biologically destined role for French women in order to introduce measures to encourage women to have more children. Feminist theorizing of motherhood has proved enormously influential for literary critics wishing to explore the representation of motherhood in women's writing.
