The Concept of Motherhood in Feminist Theory and Fiction: A Study of Sheri.S.Tepper's the Gate to Women's Country

Motherhood has always been one of the most challenging themes in both feminist theory and fiction. The sacrifice of the mother/child relation in the corpus of Freud and Lacan’s psychoanalytical theories has initiated feminist critics like the French feminist philosopher and psychoanalyst, Luce Irigaray, to rethink this lost relation through critiques of what she calls the historicity and conservatism of such disciplinary institutions. In this regard, the reclaiming and celebration of the woman-mother is the defining act of resistance to the repressive Western phallogocentric system. Feminist science fiction produced within the framework of patriarchy is conscious to point out how patriarchy influences the act of motherhood. Sheri S. Tepper in the Gate to Women’s Country tries to deconstruct the Greek myths of mother/daughter relationship. The present study attempts to explore the significance of feminist SF in redefining gender through rewriting the concept of motherhood beyond the borderlines of the Western culture. The affinity between Irigaray and Tepper is further demonstrated by the fact that both avoid theorizing motherhood and thus intensify its dynamics.