Rebellious Motherhoods: A Parallel Reading of In vitro by Isabel Zapata and Linea nigra by Jazmina Barrera

Abstract

This proposal is based on the criticism that is produced from literature towards motherhood which, seen from a univocal and uniform perspective in the heteropatriarchal logic, unquestionably the full and natural realization; we propose instead, from the reading of two works by contemporary Mexican authors, In vitro (2021), by Isabel Zapata, and Linea nigra (2020), by Jazmina Barrera, the possibility of reading, from subverted canons, regarding the B-side of maternities, as multiform, heterogeneous and plural possibilities and cultural constructions. In these texts the narrative voices narrate their own experiences and those of their acquaintances and close ones about the implications of motherhood. We find voices that warn that they do not write, produce or create in solitude but accompanied by other voices, readings and perspectives. The readings reveal aspects such as the horrors of obstetric violence, the lack of information, the changes generated in bodies, desire and fear regarding motherhood. These are works that break into the canon because they talk about the private and intimate from feminist logics that question what is not often talked about when narrating maternity: uncertainty, fears, loss of independence and autonomy, the possibility of being rebellious, transgressive, fallible and imperfect mothers, and also texts in which the narrative voices are described as creators in two ways: on the one hand, as creators, and on the other hand, as creators.