The Call of Maternal Space: Toni Morrison's Writing on Motherhood

Toni Morrison has made many efforts to construct a powerful maternal space, which not only works as the womb providing nutrition, but also becomes the central space for children to fi nd their selves. This paper, employing Kristeva's theories on maternal space, discusses Morrison's writings on motherhood from three aspects: children's search for mothers; mother's existence as space; children's self-discovery in maternal space as the result of fulfi lling their narcissistic desire. Meanwhile, how maternal space becomes the powerful source for the birth of subjects will also be discussed.