Being a mother of a disabled child in children's literature between the 19th and 20th century

Abstract

Children's literature, ever since folk tales, presents numerous characters with disabilities, many of them in childhood; in these cases, the relationship with the mother figure is often placed at the centre of the narrative. The paper aims to examine how such experiences have been represented by investigating children's literature as an historiographical source to reconstruct the collective imagery and attitudes, between acceptance and rejection. The maternal characters are the object and subject of sorrow, judgment and the attribution of blame; nonetheless, the mothers often take care, almost exclusively, of the disabled child. The narratives reveal a complex experience, intensely linked to the profound meaning of motherhood.