O mother, where art thou?

The Book of Chronicles silences women in specific ways, most radically through their association with maternity. O Mother, Where Art Thou? argues that Chronicles has two principal strategies of silencing women: disavowal and repression of the maternal body. The silencing of women is enacted by excluding them from the central action. The disavowal of the maternal body as 'origin' of the masculine subject effects and guarantees the silence of the feminine, enabling 'man' to imagine himself as sole producer of his world. O Mother, Where Art Thou? argues that Chronicles depends on the absence and silence of women for its imaginary coherence. The book suggests that the work of Luce Irigaray offers a viable mode of reading, writing, listening, and speaking as 'woman', enabling a rigorous, feminist critique of patriarchy.