Mater Dolorosa: Motherhood Reclaimed in Three Novels by Marcelle Tinayre

Under the combined influence of Rousseau's educational precepts, and the increasing power of the medical body, nineteenth-century France witnessed a new maternal ideology and discourse. Motherhood became a sacred function. Such sanctification led to a new definition of the mother as pious, devoted, silent, submissive and resigned. Mater Dolorosa reigned supreme. However, as my analysis of three novels by Marcelle Tinayre will show, not all novelists were ready to embrace such tenets with open arms. By examining the tensions created in each narrative by the introduction of maternal scenes, we will examine how Tinayre attempts to reformulate and in the process reclaim motherhood.