Title: Reproductive acts : sexual politics in North American fiction and film /
Authors: Latimer, Heather, 1978-
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press,
Year: 2013
Subjects: Canadian fiction Women authors History and criticism.; American fiction Women authors History and criticism; Abortion in literature.; Cloning in literature.; Reproductive rights Social aspects.; Reproductive technology Social aspects.
Abstract: "Forty years after Roe v. Wade, it is evident that the ideologies of "choices" and "rights," which have publicly framed reproductive politics in North America since the landmark legal decision, have been inadequate in making sense of the topic's complexities. In Reproductive Acts, Heather Latimer investigates what contemporary fiction and film can tell us about the divisive nature of these politics, and demonstrates how fictional representations of reproduction allow for readings of reproductive politics that are critical of the terms of the debate itself. In an innovative argument about the power of fiction to engage and shape politics, Latimer analyzes works by authors such as Margaret Atwood, Kathy Acker, Toni Morrison, Larissa Lai, and director Alfonso Cuarón, among others, to claim that the unease surrounding reproduction, particularly the abortion debate, has increased both inside and outside the US over the last forty years. Fictional representation, Latimer argues, reveals reproductive politics to be deeply connected to cultural anxieties about gender, race, citizenship, and sexuality - anxieties that cannot be contained under the rules of individual rights or choices.Striking a balance between fictional, historical, and political analysis, Reproductive Acts makes a compelling argument for the vital role narrative plays in how we make sense of North American reproductive politics."--Publisher's website.
Contents: Privacy, patriarchy, and abortion: reproductive politics in The Handmaid's Tale, Blood and Guts in High School, and Don Quixote -- From politics to ethics: maternal abjection, subjectivity, and community in Instruments of Darkness and Paradise -- Fetal Cyborgs and monstrous clones: new reproductive technologies in Patchwork Girl and Salt Fish Girl -- The limits of citizenship: the fetus and the refugee in Children of Men.