Writing Mother: Maternal Abandonment in Nancy Huston’s La Virevolte Kirsten Halling Wright State University Abstract: In Nancy Huston’s 1994 novel, La Virevolte, and her 1996 English translation, Slow Emergencies, her protagonist struggles to balance motherhood and her career to no avail, finally abandoning her family to devote herself to dance. Huston’s profoundly moving analysis of the family dynamics before and after a mother’s abandonment reveals a real desire to negotiate the complexities of mothe rhood. In this paper, the character’s evolution is analyzed through the lens of de Beauvoir’s theories on maternal instinct and mothering. Keywords: Motherhood – Nancy Huston – abandonment – Simone de Beauvoir With what price we pay the glory of motherhood. - Isadora Duncan ometimes life’s defining moment can come early. Nancy Huston’s came at age six, when her mother left home to start a new family, abandoning Huston and her two siblings in the care of their father. Given the enormity of such an event in a child’s life, it is no wonder that Huston has devoted a lifetime trying to understand her mother’s motivations and rationale. The theme of motherhood, and often maternal abandonment, is addressed in many of Huston’s novels [i.e. La Virevolte (1994), Prodige (1999), Lignes de faille (2006), Infrarouge (2010)] and in her numerous essays [ i.e. Nord perdu (1999), Lettres parisiennes: autopsie de l’exil (1986), Âmes et Corps (2004)]. Now, in her sixties and a mother of two, Huston lives in Paris where she publishes novels and essays in both English and French. In her 1994 novel, La Virevolte, she adopts the voice of a career dancer and choreographer who tries to settle down with her two children and professor husband, but is finally unable to endure her bourgeois life. Huston’s profoundly moving analysis of family dynamics before and after a mother’s departure is not tainted with accusations or bitterness, but reveals a real desire to negotiate the complexities of human relations. Her narrative of loss and survival is S