Nuclear Bodies

Motherhood and Pregnancy in the Science Fiction of Judith Merril, Carol Emshwiller, Alice Eleanor Jones, and Virginia Cross

Authors

  • Janis Caroline Boiko Universidade Federal do Paraná

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14393/CEF-v38n2-2025-21

Keywords:

motherhood, women’s bodies, engaged literature

Abstract

Under the nuclear threat of the Cold War, pulp science fiction writers explored motherhood and pregnancy as metaphors for the tensions between the maternal ideal and the imminence of war, portraying female bodies under control, surveillance, and violence. This article aims to analyze how Cross, Emshwiller, Jones, and Merril represented the conditions of female bodies amid the tensions of the Cold War and the baby boom.

Author Biography

  • Janis Caroline Boiko, Universidade Federal do Paraná

    Doutora em História pela Universidade Federal do Paraná.

References

Fontes

Carta de Isaac Asimov à Astounding Science Fiction. Nova York, v. 22, n. 1, setembro de 1938.

Carta de David Mellwain à Astounding Science Fiction. Nova York, v. 22, n. 3, novembro de 1938.

Carta de Mary Byers à Astounding Science Fiction. Nova York, v. 22, n. 4, dezembro de 1938.

CROSS, Virginia. Adversity. Other Worlds Science Stories, Chicago, v. 11, n. 32, p. 84-91, mai. 1955.

EMSHWILLER, Carol. Day at the Beach. The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Nova York, v. 17, n. 2, p. 35-43, ago. 1959.

JONES, Alice Eleonor. Created He Them. The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Nova York, v. 6, n. 8, p.29-36, jun. 1955.

MERRIL, Judith. That only a mother. Astounding Science Fiction, Nova York, v. XLL, n. 04, p. 88-95, jun. 1948.

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Published

2026-03-10

Issue

Section

Artigos

How to Cite

Nuclear Bodies: Motherhood and Pregnancy in the Science Fiction of Judith Merril, Carol Emshwiller, Alice Eleanor Jones, and Virginia Cross. (2026). Caderno Espaço Feminino, 38(2), 446-476. https://doi.org/10.14393/CEF-v38n2-2025-21