Insufferable Maternity and Motherhood in “First Love”

Abstract

The portrayal of the maternal figure in Beckett’s work is central but often ambiguous, where the mother represents both nurturing and stifling traits. This chapter argues for the need to engage more rigorously with issues around gender and sexuality in Beckett’s work, and his treatment of maternity and motherhood, which have not been addressed sufficiently in Beckett criticism. This chapter analyses the politics of maternity and motherhood in “First Love”. Drawing on French feminist writer and psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva and her theories on abjection, motherhood and the semiotic chora, this chapter argues that the fear and misogyny often displayed towards the mother could be read as fear of the “archaic mother” which turns out to be “fear of her generative powers” (77).