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272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1906
But I sometimes tormented myself by thinking of the book that needed to be written; a book about love and sorrow that would be both harrowing and inspirational, relentless and compassionate; that would show for the first time what it was really like to be a woman now, and that for the first time would inspire in those unhappy brothers of ours, men, both remorse for the past and desire for a better future.
Why do we idealize self-sacrifice in mothers? Where does this inhuman self-immolation come from? It has been passed down from mother to daughter for centuries. It had produced a monstrous causal chain. As women we all become aware at some point of how much our mothers have done for us, and with this knowledge comes remorse for the person who brought us into the world - for not having adequately compensated for the damage she did to herself in doing the best for us. And so we lavish on our own children all that we failed to give our mothers; denying ourselves and offering a new example of mortification, of self-annihilation.
- was seriously the best part of the whole book and I'm just sad it took 208 of 236 pages to get there.
Tra le due fasi della vita femminile, tra la vergine e la madre, sta un essere mostruoso, contro natura, creato da un bestiale egoismo maschile: e si vendica, inconsapevolmente. Qui è la crisi della lotta di sesso.
Perché nella maternità adoriamo il sacrifizio? Donde è scesa a noi questa inumana idea dell'immolazione materna? Di madre in figlia, da secoli, si tramanda il servaggio. È una mostruosa catena. [...] Se una buona volta la fatale catena si spezzasse, e una madre non sopprimesse in sé la donna, e un figlio apprendesse dalla vita di lei un esempio di dignità?