A Double Life

by Harper, Lisa Catherine

• ISBN13: 9780803235083
• ISBN10: 0803235089
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-03-01
• Publisher: Bison Books

Summary

There is no denying it: motherhood splits a woman's life forever, into a before and an after. To this doubled life Lisa Catherine Harper brings a wealth of feeling and a wry sense of humor, a will to understand the emotional and biological transformations that motherhood entails, and a narrative gift that any reader will enjoy. Harper documents her own journey across this great divide as a seasoned explorer might, observing, researching, relating anecdotes and critical information. From late-night Lindy Hop dancing to crippling sciatica, morning sickness to indulgent meals, graduate seminars to sophisticated ultrasounds, Harper marries scientific details with intimate insights as she uncovers the fascinating strangeness of this remarkably familiar territory. Following Harper's first pregnancy from conception to her daughter's first word,A Double Lifelooks at how the biological facts of motherhood give rise to life-altering emotional and psychological changes. It shows us how motherhood transforms the female body, hijacks a woman's mind, and splits her life in two, creating an identity both brand new and as old as time. It charts the passage from individual to incubator, from pregnancy, labor, and nursing to language acquisition, from coupledom to the complex reality of family life. Harper's carefully researched story reminds us that motherhood's central joys are also its most essential transformations.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Inside
Conception	p. 3
Expecting	p. 9
Something from Nothing	p. 23
Signs and Symptoms	p. 29
Tested	p. 41
Public Life	p. 51
Pas de Deux	p. 65
My Phantom Self	p. 75
Song of the Self	p. 87
The Mind-Body Problem	p. 99
The Lives and Deaths of Mothers	p. 111
Room for One's Own	p. 123
Last Days	p. 129
Inside/Out	p. 139
Outside
The Fourth Trimester	p. 163
Hatching	p. 181
Sea Change	p. 193
In the Dark	p. 199
Out of the Body	p. 203
An American Woman's Home	p. 211
Flying Home	p. 223
Selected Bibliography	p. 233
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