Suffocating Mothers

by Janet Adelman

An original reading of Shakespeare's plays illuminating his negotiations with mothers, present and absent, and tracing the genesis of Shakespearean tragedy and romance to a psychologized version of the Fall.

Genres: Nonfiction, Shakespeare, Literary Criticism

392 pages, Paperback

First published December 6, 1991

About the author

Janet Adelman was a professor in the English Department at the University of California, Berkley and Shakespeare scholar best known for her combination of psychoanalytic and feminist theory. She authored three major works on Shakespeare, including Suffocating Mothers: Fantasies of Maternal Origins in Shakespeare's Plays, Hamlet to the Tempest (1992), Common Liar: An Essay on Antony & Cleopatra (1973) and Blood Relations: Christian and Jew in the Merchant of Venice (2008), along with numerous articles and reviews. She was well respected as a teacher and as a member of the academic community both at Berkley, where she was the first woman to join the English Department, and nationally as a member of the Modern Language Association and the Shakespeare Association of America.
Adelman retired from Berkley in 2007 and sadly passed away in 2010 at the age of 69.

Reviews

[m]

Very comprehensive!!! Great chapter on Hamlet

[Jen H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't necessarily agree with everything in this book, but it was interesting to consider the author's insight.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat single-minded in its focus, it proved nevertheless comprehensive in what it did cover.