Mother of Monsters

The thread is not about the title of Echidna, but a short story by Guy de Maupassant, written in the end of the 19th century.
The Mother of Monsters is about a middle-aged woman who was forced to hide her first pregnancy, wearing a tight corcet, and this resulted to the child being born very misshapen. The child ended up being sold to a group of travelling circus-acts. The woman, despite at first not meaning to go down that route, agreed to sell more of her children, which she deliberately formed in such a way, now wearing the corset and altering it so as to have a source of income by providing the circus with new attractions of this variety...

But the story is not just about misery in rural Normandy following the Franco-Prussian war. In the end it becomes clear that it is a juxtaposition to the opposite spectrum of female life in that period, since the final passage is about reflecting on a middle-aged but still very good-looking actress in Paris, who is bathing in some beach along with her children, who all are misshapen. The narrator originally pities her for this bad luck. But another comments that she chose this, since she needed to maintain a great body, so had to wear the corsets, and this led to the diminishment of the children she brought to this world.

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De Maupassant had produced a large number of stories centered on a sad sentiment about the state of things. He is often regarded as the greatest short story writer of the modern era, and many early figures of 20th century horror consider him as a basis for their own work (Machen would be the most notable of those, who in turn influenced Lovecraft).

-Do you think that a metaphorical, or literal, mother of monsters is an element bound to our society and world? Problems tend to bring more problems, and people may find themselves in an environment that they were not responsible for, but still will have to crawl about the periphery of obstructing walls likely seeming to be impossible to go above.

I've enjoyed reading Guy de Maupassant's stories, but I'm unfamiliar with this one, but now I'll have to read it. Without doing so, I can't comment very well, but certainly Lilith (Hebrew myths) would be an important aspect of myth that might be an element, for I believe she ended up giving birth to monsters, as well as Gaia (Greek myths). So de Maupassant is probably basing his tale upon that original idea, something that the literati would have noticed right away at the time he wrote it.

The sacred feminine, the Lifebearer, who results in our birth and the joy of birth, also results in the tragic or even the destructive. You're going to see this in Rhea and Cronus as well. Again, another monstrous idea, but there with the temporary devouring of children that results in the supplanting of Cronus and his doom.

Guy de Maupassant's A Mother of Monsters can be read here.

Im yet to read this one too, allthough is giving me a Das Parfum die Geschichte eines Mörders vibe. (Perfume story of a murderer by Patrick Süskind) Wich sees a briliant film adaptation as well.

^Thank you for the link to the story online (in English)

(i thought i had posted this before here, i hope it wasn't erased ).