New representations and politics of procreation: surrogate motherhood, artificial insemination and human cloning in contemporary women’s writing in France

This paper focuses on an emerging trend in recent women’s writing in French of literary texts dealing with new reproductive technologies and arrangements and their impact on contemporary parenting patterns. It considers especially the themes of cloning, surrogate mothering and artificial insemination and offers an overview of the texts portraying them. My analysis consider how these texts engage with and contribute to feminist and so-called post-feminist debates on the family, on motherhood and parenting, and on questions of gender and sexuality, identity and difference. These issues will be addressed in relation to the particular cultural, political and legal context of France, during a time of the review of its bioethical laws.