La mejor madre del mundo (2019) by Nuria Labari. Questioning the myth of motherhood

Abstract

Since the end of the 20th century, and particularly in the literature of the last decade, there has been an increasing number of books written by women that reflect a concern about motherhood and its repercussions on both private and public life, about the relationship between literary creation and procreation, and about the longing for motherhood and the possibility for women to live this experience by dismantling the patriarchal patterns that regulate it. This article aims to offer an analysis of one of the most representative books of this writing, La mejor madre del mundo (2019) by Nuria Labari. In her autofictional book, Labari will question the myth of motherhood and the idea according to which there would be an inexorable destiny given to women, that of being mothers. With the story of her personal experience she shows that, behind motherhood, there is a social construction that relegates women to the background.