Creating a Nonpatriarchal Lineage in Bertha Harris’s Lover

Bertha Harris' 1976 novel Lover garnered critical attention for its postmodern style, its commentary on lesbian identity, its use of nonlinear time in narration, and its redefinition of familial relations. Yet, one stylistic choice that is most apparent in reading the novel is absent from most critical investigation. Throughout the novel, Harris prefaces each chapter with an epigraph about a female saint, usually consisting of a few sentences on her life and death, yet these prominent pieces have been overlooked by all but one critic in the small pantheon of Lover criticism. This chapter proposes that Harris uses saints' narratives to provide alternative biological and familial connections in her creation of a nonpatriarchal lineage for women who seek to escape the confines of traditional gender roles.