Do You Want to Hear a Horror Story? Representation of Motherhood in The Recent Works of Mariana Enriquez And Samanta Schweblin

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyze the representation of motherhood in a selection of short stories by Mariana Enriquez and Samanta Schweblin as read within the conventions of the gothic genre. I argue that the use of the genre enables the problematization of the representation of motherhood and care work as horror draws attention to the anxieties that, in our culture, have justified patriarchal intervention. This analysis focuses on two conventions featured by the genre: first the haunted house as the space where maternal mandates repress individual and social horrors; and secondly, technological intervention as a way to dominate and/or eliminate the mother from reproductive processes. The analysis of these motives within the stories allow the exploration of the horrors associated to mothering within patriarchal contexts, that escape the representative possibilities of realism.