Re-Envisioning the Freudian Mother in Southern Literature studies an impressive array of 20th and 21st century southern literary texts. By employing a feminist revision of Freud's theory of the mother, Jill Goad offers a persuasive reading of the maternal figure in these works as powerful and complex. The study both recovers silent characters and reveals the complexity of mother-child relationships from the mothers' perspectives. With the connective thread of motherhood, Goad's book contains finely textured analyses, helpful insights into characters, and a new lens to think about literature.

Sarah Gilbreath Ford, Professor of American literature, Baylor University, USA

This book upends the Oedipal hierarchy by positioning birth as a form of castration. In doing so, it insightfully brings southern mothers and maternal figures to the center of feminist psychoanalytic frameworks that reveal both their complexities and ambiguities. An overall fascinating read that expands the scholarly conversation in exciting ways.

Rebecca L. Harrison, Professor of English, University of West Georgia, USA