Motherwork, artwork: The mother/artist in fiction by Parton, Phelps, Chopin, Woolf, Drabble, and

188 Pages·2017·9.56 MB·English

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Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship
Spring 1999
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Nancy Hoyt Lecourt
University of New Hampshire, Durham
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Lecourt, Nancy Hoyt, "Motherwork, artwork: The mother/artist in fiction by Parton, Phelps, Chopin, Woolf,
Drabble, and Walker" (1999). Doctoral Dissertations. 2077.
https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/2077
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MOTHERWORK, ARTWORK; THE MOTHER/ARTIST IN FICTION BY
PARTON, PHELPS, CHOPIN, WOOLF, DRABBLE, AND WALKER
BY
NANCY HOYT LECOURT
BA, Loma Linda University, 1973
MA, Loma Linda University, 1974
DISSERTATION
Submitted to the University of New Hampshire
in Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
English
May, 1999
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This dissertation has been examined and approved.
— ^ —
Sarah Way Shemudif
Associate Professor of English
------
Jean E. Kennard,
Professor of English
(Ul\
_______________
Elizabeth Jan^ Bellamy, j
Associate Professor of English
^ C ^ r-urt lil
Rachel Trubowhz, >
Associate Professor of English
Ph
I^rfciaM. Blum,
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Date
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................iv
INTRODUCTION: THE “GAUGIN POSE” ......................................................... 1
I. “THE MOTHER CAN—THE MOTHER WILL: FANNY FERN AND RUTH
HALL (1855)............................................................................................................16
n. “A DIVISION OF LABOR”: ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS AND THE
STORY OF AVIS (1&T7).........................................................................................47
m. “THINK OF THE CHILDREN”: KATE CHOPIN AND THE AWAKENING
(1899)....................................................................................................................78
IV. “ALMOST LIKE A WORK OF ART”: VIRGINIA WOOLF AND TO THE
LIGHTHOUSE (1927)...........................................................................................105
V. “LET’S ALL WRITE A BOOK ABOUT IT”: MARGARET DRABBLE AND
THE MILLSTONE (1965).................................................................................... 130
CONCLUSION: AN AESTHETIC OF “EVERYDAY USE”............................. 157
WORKS CITED.................................................................................................. 165
in
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ABSTRACT
MOTHERWORK, ARTWORK: THE MOTHER/ARTIST IN FICTION BY
PARTON, PHELPS, CHOPIN, WOOLF, DRABBLE, AND WALKER
by
Nancy Hoyt Lecourt
University of New Hampshire, May, 1999
This study asks the question, What happens to a practicing (fictional) mother
who also tries to be a practicing artist? How do literary texts represent such people?
How do they represent the relationship between material and artistic work? The
primary works studied are Sarah Parton’s Ruth Hall, (1855), Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’
The Story of A vis (1877), Kate Chopin’s The Awakening (1899), Virginia Woolf s To
the Lighthouse (1927), and Margaret Drabble’s The Millstone (1965). The conclusion
focuses on Alice Walker’s short story, “Everyday Use.”
Mother-arti sts finds themselves on the “wrong” side of the nature/culture
binary, where ideologies about “true womanhood” and good mothering, as well as the
role of the “artist,” play out in a variety of ways. The study finds striking similarities
between the first and last novels studied: both Parton’s Ruth and Drabble’s Rosamund
work successfully at their writing because they need to support their children. Rather
than being a hindrance, the children are a motivation for these mothers to produce their
writing. By working for the children, they can remain “good mothers.” However,
neither mother claims to be an “artist.” The middle three novels focus on painters,
iv
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