Item Details

title

Being Born: A Memoir of Self-Making in Four Parts

author

Langford, Margaret Ellen

abstract

In this project, the author pursues an understanding of motherhood through a creative exploration of her own family and legacy. She writes about her experiences growing up with a mother who always felt distant, a grandmother who deeply nurtured, and an Episcopal upbringing that provides the foundation for an adult, feminist, and open-minded faith. She employs the poetry of Sylvia Plath, the essayistic writing of Virginia Woolf, and the fiction and non-fiction work of writers such as Sheila Heti, Maggie Nelson and Adrienne Rich. Through a palimpsest of vignettes, quotations, and other references, Langford asks questions about her own life as a daughter and the possibilities of motherhood, possibilities which exceed the literal bounds of birthing one's own child. Motherhood is understood as process and experience and always idiosyncratic, and an aspect of life that has an apt place in conversations regarding writing, art, and the divine.

subject

Coming of Age

Creativity

Maternity

Motherhood

Religion

Virginia Woolf

contributor

Wilson, Eric G (advisor)

Ruocco, Joanna (committee member)

Erhardt, Marianne J (committee member)

date

2023-06-07T08:35:45Z (accessioned)

2023 (issued)

degree

English (discipline)

embargo

2028-06-01 (terms)

2028-06-01 (liftdate)

identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/102112 (uri)

language

en (iso)

publisher

Wake Forest University

type

Thesis