Writing the Modern Family: Contemporary Literature, Motherhood and Neoliberal Culture

Book


Garrett, R. 2021. Writing the Modern Family: Contemporary Literature, Motherhood and Neoliberal Culture. Lanham Bloomsbury Publishing.
AuthorsGarrett, R.
Abstract

Although a large body of work has emerged which addresses neoliberal representations of the family in other cultural forms (such as parenting advice programmes) little has been written specifically on the family and contemporary literature. This book examines the growing body of autobiographical and fictional writing on family and parenting issues in Anglo-American culture from the late 1990s to the present day.

The book looks closely at six distinct genres which have arisen during this time frame: the misery memoir, the mum’s lit popular novel, the maternal confessional, ‘dads’ lit, the dysfunctional domestic novel and the family noir. Writing the Modern Family will examine the way these burgeoning areas of British and American writing respond to a neoliberal public discourse in which a ‘parenting deficit’ rather than economic and structural disadvantage, is responsible for increasing inequality in child welfare and achievement. In evaluating these forms and their relationship to neoliberal culture, the book will also consider the complex interrelationship between these genres.

Year2021
PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
Publication dates
Print29 Jan 2021
Online30 Apr 2025
Publication process dates
Deposited30 May 2025
Place of publicationLanham
Edition1st
SeriesRadical Cultural Studies
ISBN978-1-7866-0518-4 (hardback)
978-1-7866-1650-0 (paperback)
978-1-7866-0519-1 (epub)
979-8-8818-1690-2 (online)
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.5040/9798881816902
Web address (URL)https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/9781786605184/
Additional information

This book is an an imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

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