Author Amina Cain on Desiring More Stories About the 'Ambivalence of Motherhood'

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 1 February 2022

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the film “The Lost Daughter” directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, actor Olivia Colman plays Leda, a middle-aged college professor who encounters a young mother and her daughter while on vacation, prompting memories from Leda’s past, when she left her husband and two young daughters for three years. This story, adapted from Elena Ferrante’s 2006 novel of the same name, conjured feelings of relief for Los Angeles-based author Amina Cain – not because the main character once abandoned her children, but because a different kind of story about motherhood was being told. In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Cain, who has never wanted children, writes: “It’s rare to see a film or read a novel that depicts ambivalence around motherhood, even rarer one that rejects that life completely, which I deeply appreciate about ‘The Lost Daughter.’ I’m hungry for these stories.” We talk to Cain about why ambivalence towards motherhood still feels socially taboo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:59.5	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Mina Kim.
1:07.0	Coming up on Forum, we explore why it still feels hard to say you don't want children or feel conflicted about motherhood. As writer Amina Kane shares in her LA Times op-ed titled,
1:11.2	I'm hungry for more stories on the ambivalence of motherhood. As writer Amina Kane shares in her LA Times op-ed titled, I'm hungry for more stories on the ambivalence of motherhood.
1:15.5	Then, a bill seeking to cover every Californian with state financed health insurance
1:20.0	has died in the state legislature for the second time in five years.
1:24.7	We'll look at what happened to the bill and the future for single payer in California.
1:29.5	That's all next on Forum. Join us.
1:52.9	This is Forum. I'm Nina Kim. In a recent op-ed for the Los Angeles Times,
1:59.9	Amina Kane writes, it's rare to see a film or read a novel that depicts ambivalence around motherhood,
2:03.5	even rare, one that rejects that life completely.
	...

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