LA POÉTIQUE DE LA MATERNITÉ DANS L’ESPACE CONTEMPORAIN DANS LE ROMAN ET QUE NE DURENT QUE LES MOMENTS DOUX DE VIRGINIE GRIMALDI
VIRGINIE GRIMALDI'S POETICS OF MOTHERHOOD IN PRESENT-DAY SPACES

Summary/Abstract: In the novel “Et que ne durent que les moments doux” (2020), the French writer Virginie Grimaldi creates a space in which motherhood is seen at different stages in a woman’s life. The writer questions the values and cultural myths related to motherhood, while emphasizing the transformational dimension of the experience. If the concept of motherhood is usually correlated with notions such as giving birth, breastfeeding, the female body or raising children, the intertwined stories of Lili and Elise peel off some of the idyllic aura of motherhood and bring to light the emptiness felt once a woman becomes a mother. In the novel, the representations of motherhood are illustrated by two diametrically opposed experiences: the trauma of giving birth prematurely and the empty-nest syndrome. In this article, I will focus on analyzing two unexpected spaces: the neonatal incubator and the empty nest that forces the mother to start a journey towards her own self. The poetics of motherhood entails a discourse about identity, guilt, rediscovery, and new beginnings.

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