This Master of Arts thesis is in two parts : a novel, We Too Shall Be Mothers,
(WTSBM) and an exegesis which positions the novel in relation to several
strands of contemporary theory and fiction. The novel is set during the French
Revolution in the southern French city of Avignon and in Vienna, the capital of
the Hapsburg Empire. WTSBM tells the story of a fictional nun, Marie-France,
who leaves her Carmelite convent and embarks on a journey towards
motherhood and fully sexualised adulthood.
The exegesis contains three main strands of theorisation. First, it illustrates
the profound influence of feminist psychoanalytic theory on WTSBM, but also
argues that the novel reformulates and departs from specific aspects of the
feminist psychoanalytic paradigm. Second, the exegesis argues that WTSBM can
be classified as a 'postmodernist, revisionist, historical novel', which can be
positioned alongside other postmodernist, historical literature. Third, the
exegesis argues that WTSBM can be located within contemporary issues of
feminist politics, particularly issues of gender, sexuality and relationship, which
are also evident in Jeanette Winterson's The Passion (1987).
The research material for this thesis has come from a range of sources.
Primary sources include field visits to the European cities of Avignon and
Vienna. Secondary sources include literary theory, novels, and newspaper
reviews, as well as historical monographs and works of religious philosophy and
autobiography.