‘The dark hollow of her pram’: a study of a mother’s grief and its public disclosure

Though there have been many studies of the forms of autobiography, much less has been said of the costs, both personal and professional, of literary self-exposure. This thesis comprises a critical analysis of my poetry collection Her Birth, a genuine account of my daughter’s death and my period of bereavement, accompanied by a study of the consequences of self-disclosure particularly within a prize culture. I have taken what Adrienne Rich referred to as the ‘odd-fangled approach’ in her new introduction to the tenth anniversary edition of Of Woman Born. A decade after its publication, Adrienne Rich describes her book as ‘personal testimony mingled with research, and theory which derived from both’. Using a similar hybrid, I have developed the thesis in three ways. First, I have explored the composition of Her Birth as a study of bereavement addressing my reasons for writing the book. Secondly, I have studied the reception of Her Birth in the aftermath of the ‘success’ that followed the book’s prize nominations. Thirdly, I have explored the consequences of placing a personal narrative into the public sphere by reflecting on my own experiences and the experiences of three other female writers who have published prize-winning memoirs on the subject of grief: Cathy Rentzenbrink, Alice Jolly and Marion Coutts