INUSUAL NARRATIVES: REGRET IN THE ACT OF MOTHERHOOD IN LAS HUERFANAS AND LA MUJER QUE HABLABA SOLA OF MELBA ESCOBAR

Abstract

Latin American literature written by women is having a significant impact on the recreation of universal realities that have remained silenced for decades; this article explores one of these silenced realities, unusual and preferential maternity, regret in the act of motherhood, seen through the work of the Colombian writer Melba Escobar, focusing the analysis on her novels “La mujer que hablaba sola” (2019) and “Las huérfanas” (2024). From a critical, feminist and emotional perspective, it is analyzed how these narratives offer a diverse view of traditional motherhood, highlighting women who do not wish to be mothers, who do it from the wound, or who feel emotionally and physically frustrated with being mothers. A reading of motherhood is proposed as a cultural construction, marked by pain, the desire for freedom, and the need to rewrite, from the material of fiction, a more objective and direct perspective. Also, the article interweaves personal experiences of other Latin American writers, literary analysis, and feminist theory to validate other ways to experience or not the maternal role, beyond the social imposition that the same act has entailed in contemporary history.