Publications

In a world where postmodern feminism aims at inclusivity and intends to do away with the politics of defining categories, the overturning of the landmark 1973, Roe vs Wade judgment complicates the very notion of reproductive rights and justice. It further brings under scrutiny the institution and practice of motherhood and abortion. Literary fiction dealing with the issues of abortion is numbered but within that limited oeuvre, Red Clocks (2018) by Leni Zumas approaches these issues from an essentially postmodern perspective. The trope of multifarious vantage points of four major characters, the Biographer, the Mender, the Wife, and the Daughter; with the overarching life story of the polar explorer Eivør Mínervudottír simultaneously offers conflicting and converging notions of motherhood, agency, and freedom. The speculative setting of the novel adds to the crisis and the dystopian air further problematizes the issues. By employing the method of close textual reading and anchoring on the theoretical models of feminist critical dystopias and feminist epistemology (postmodern narratives) this research paper intends to investigate the narrative space of the novel to depict the variegated shades of motherhood, the nuances of abolishing the abortion rights and the autonomy over the body.