The maternal body in movement in Carola Saavedra’s writing

Abstract

This work aims to analyze the relationships between motherhood and acting in the novel “Com Armas Sonolentas” by contemporary writer Carola Saavedra. The maternal body, as a place of conflict between inside and outside, tradition and transformation, is highlighted in the work. Thus, the novel acts as an invitation to the debate about motherhood that has recently been put on the agenda, in the publishing market, from new perspectives. To address the maternal body, Saavedra dialogues with the visual arts and inserts images into the literary text that point to the strength of ancestors in the mythical imagination of Latin America. We will use as a methodology the notions of body and writing, or body writing, the idea of affinity in opposition to the concept of identity, and the reflections proposed by literature, photography, and performance regarding the conflicts that involve the practice of motherhood in the Latin American scope. The author appropriates the structure of other artistic practices, such as photography and performance, to create a bold text that redefines the political potential of literature in contemporary times. Thus, Saavedra uses the space of staging in the novel to present possibilities for changes in the experience of the maternal body.