Great-grandmothers, grandmothers, mothers. The figure of motherhood in the works of Teresa Ferenc

Abstract

The article is an attempt to interpret the poetry of Teresa Ferenc through 20th-century feminist theories and their contemporary analyses. The most important figure in the author’s work Pieta is the mother. However, the mother figure in Ferenc’s works challenges the patriarchal-capitalist vision of womanhood. In the figure of the mother, I find remnants of matrilineal beliefs. Through interpretations of poems, I aim to highlight the issues of a fragmented female genealogy, the reconstruction of which becomes necessary for the creation of the lyrical subject’s identity. The theories of researchers such as Luce Irigaray, Adrienne Rich, Simone de Beauvoir, and Hélène Cixous are a key interpretive tool for me. Deconstructing the archetype of the mother is possible thanks to the engaged poet that Teresa Ferenc is.