The Jewish Mother turned monster: Representations of motherhood by Hebrew women novelists 1881–1993

Abstract

Abstract The paper discusses the changes in the representation of motherhood in Hebrew novels written by women within the span of a century. The outline of the changes is found to be similar to the general trend discernible in women's writing in the West, despite the anomalous history of Hebrew literature. In most general terms, the history of the mother in these novels might be outlined in terms of a move from absence to presence, from silence to voice, from passivity to activity, from asexuality to overt promiscuity, from submission to aggression. Given the culturally ingrained model of the Jewish Mother that the novelists have to cope with, this move is shattering. The mother, who was neglected or even suppressed in the earlier novels, returns, with a vengeance, in more recent ones. The vengeance, though, may prove excessive.