Theis (modern languages, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania) examines literary utopias and dystopias not as political imaginings, but social ones, particularly in how the maternal functions of
creation, nurturing and education are treated. Drawing on Russian, English, French and German writers, she argues that the representation of children who are conceived and raised by the state
with no individual maternal care is a hallmark of utopia gone wrong. Theis divides her study by maternal roles: teachers, representatives of nature, creators, and eugenicists. She also
considers the role of men in providing maternal care. She discusses trends in this genre over time and by society, although this theme is secondary to her main one. Beneath the literary
analysis, one has a feeling that the subject is a powerfully emotional one for Theis, that she sees the seeds of destruction in the devaluation of a mother's nurturing role. Annotation 穢2009
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