The Autobiography of My Mother
A novel narrated in the first person by its protagonist, tracing the wounds and losses of mother-daughter relations, the impact of colonialism, and the formation of the self. Its candid voice explores family history and personal trauma as memory and anger collide.
Work Information
A novel about the wounds of mother-daughter relations and the imprint of colonialism.
Starting from the absence of the mother, this novel layers the colonial history of Dominica with family memory to portray the pain of self-formation.
Book Information
- Publisher
- Farrar Straus & Giroux
- Published
- 1996-01-01
- Pages
- 228 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 13.97 x 2.54 x 21.59 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780374107314
- ISBN-10
- 0374107319
- Price
- 7896 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Biographies & Memoirs/Specific Groups/Women
Narrated by an elderly West Indian woman looking back on her life, a story beginning at the height of imperialism and ending as colonialism fades deals with sex, human relations, and the interplay of power and powerlessness. By the author of Annie John. 75,000 first printing. Tour.
In a life not unlike those she writes about, Elaine Potter Richardson was born and raised on Antigua, a tiny island in the West Indies. Single-handedly raised by her struggling mother, she never knew her biological father. Brought up on a colonized island, Kincaid grew to harbor contempt toward the British regime, leery of the control they had. Having grown distant from her mother, she left home at 17 to become an au pair in New York, dyed her hair blonde, and changed her name to Jamaica Kincaid. She broke off all contact with her mother, took photography classes at the New School and made new friends. A few years later she entered the literary world with her first published article in Ingenue , an interview of Gloria Steinem. This led to her writing music critiques for the Village Voice . While accompanying a friend, George W.S. Trow, as he researched pieces for the New Yorker column "Talk of the Town," she started taking notes on events in the city. Trow passed her notes on to William Shawn, then the editor of the New Yorker , who spotted her talent and decided to print the notes as a piece. He went on to publish her first piece of fiction, an emotionally intense one-page monologue called "Girl," in 1978. A year later, Kincaid married his son Allen Shawn, a composer. She continued to write for the New Yorker until recently, when she left, unhappy with changes brought on by the new editor. Her first collection, At the Bottom of the River , was published in 1983, and soon after she began gaining a following as one of the decade's most notable new writers. Often compared to other prominent authors such as Toni Morrison and V.S. Naipaul, Kincaid has continued to successfully produce acclaimed pieces of work, winning over critics and audiences alike. At the Bottom of the River received the Morton Dauwen Zabel Award of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award. In 1985 she published Annie John, introducing readers to her unique and luminous prose that has set her apart from other novelists. A Small Place (1988) and Lucy (1991) followed shortly after. The Autobiography of My Mother , which took Kincaid five years to write, has received wide recognition, shooting to bestseller lists across the country, and is regarded as her finest novel yet. When Kincaid is not busy raising her two children or obsessing in her garden, her favorite pastime, she is teaching both fiction writing and English at Harvard one semester a year. Kincaid has risen from an economic and racially challenged childhood to one of the most revered writers of our time. Using her experience and passion, she writes moving and unsettling stories about human suffering, politics, power, and the relationships tying them together. She has said that she writes "to make sense of it all" to herself, not directing her work at anyone in particular. No matter, Kincaid's contribution to the literary world will no doubt have an everlasting effect on those who read her work.
Reviews
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Nice novel
Always a pleasure to read Kincaid
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Good
Nothing to dislike
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Jamaica Kincaid
Why had I never heard of this writer before? In this book, An Autobiography of My Mother, she describes the life a woman born alone, outside her family, outside her society on an island seen by its owners (the British) as far away and of no consequence. But the character reclaims herself from all this rejection and although she remains internally flawed, she ends up empowered by her insight. I loved the images of the warmth and colour of a Caribbean island contrasted with the dinginess of its squalour. From a woman's perspective, she celebrates her sexuality in a handful of exquisitely erotic moments. Now I just want to Jamaica Kincaid.
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The autobiography of my mother.
Ho apprezzato la tenacia della protagonista nella conquista del suo posto nella società. Però mi ha annoiato.Interessante per la descrizione degli ambienti.
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Strange but compelling...
I had to finish it, though I don't know that I really enjoyed it. Written from a unique perspective, and in a unique style, that was perhaps not the purpose of this book. Very insightful in places, a bit tedious in others, but still a worthwile read for the message it contains.