A study into the narrative techniques used to represent relationships between university-educated working mothers and daughters in contemporary UK

By exploring the techniques used by authors to represent relationships between university-educated working mothers and their daughters in contemporary UK fiction, my research aims to provide fresh literary and feminist insight into 'the second shift' (Hochschild, 1989). My research will respond to ongoing feminist theoretical issues

on the representation of work and motherhood through the conflicting lenses of matricentric feminism and neoliberalism. Focusing on the novel, I will conduct a comparative analysis between texts with matrilineal narratives - such as those by Ann Enright, Bernardine Evaristo, Alison Pearson and Meera Syal - and feminist discourse and

matricentric literary criticism - to seek out methods for use in my own writing, with a particular focus on the use of humour in depicting contemporary motherhood. In doing so, I will explore the gap between typically neoliberalist 'mum's lit' and a growing body of experimental and intersectional writing which explores the

challenges of being a university-educated working mother in the 21st century. I will use my findings to inform my creative component, a full-length novel featuring four generations of university-educated mothers and daughters from one family whose experiences have been shaped by post-war cultural and legislative shifts which have transformed the traditional family model. The sometimes farcical, often

comedic, experiences of these fictional women explore the challenges facing the increasing number of university-educated women who combine career and motherhood. While matricentric feminist Andrea O'Reilly observes that 'Motherhood... is feminism's unfinished business' (O'Reilly, 2019) and Eliane Glaser asks, 'Where is #MeToo for mothers?' (Glaser, 2021), there is space to

readdress our approaches to writing motherhood through a contemporary matricentric lens. By combining my critical analyses with a full-length novel, I will explore the question: As writers of matrilineal literature, how can we represent the most recent challenges of work and motherhood?