1. Objectifs

Intentions :
Montrer, à la lumière d’oeuvres de deux romancières québécoises ainsi qu’avec des études littéraires portant sur la maternité et les relations mère/fille, l’importance que ces deux romancières accordent aux relations vécues par les femmes dans le contexte contemporain.

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
Romans de Marie-Claire Blais (L’ange de la solitude, 1989) et d’Anne Hébert (Le premier jardin, 1988)

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

« Marie-Claire Blais and Anne Hébert, two of Quebec’s most respected women writers, have each chosen to portray strong, independant female protagonists in recent novels. each of these two complex characters is both a professional actress and a mother. Blais and Hébert explore the intricate relationships of these women with their daughters by examining their deep, implicit understanding of each other’s unspoken motives. Both novelists focus on maternal guilt generated by the mother’s need to pursue their own goals as well as her sense of responsibility for her daughter’s disappointments and failures. Both authors diverge from their earlier works by portraying active mothers who express solidarity with their daughters even as they pursue their own goals and interests. While both Blais and Hébert have established their novels firmly in the Québécois literary, historical and social context, they reflect larger trends prevalent in contemporary works by Euro-American women writers [...] they have undertaken to address the questions ’what is a mother?’ and ’what is maternal’ and by extension ’what is a daughter?’. It is useful to consider their treatment of these questions in light of autoritative and respected studies of maternity and mother-daughter relations by Nancy Chodorow, Marianne Hirsch, Adrienne Rich, and Sara Ruddick. » (pp. 181-182)