Memoirs of a Spacewoman by Naomi Mitchison
**Overview of "Memoirs of a Spacewoman"**
"Memoirs of a Spacewoman" is a science fiction novel that presents a first-person narrative of Mary, a communications specialist navigating a utopian future. The story unfolds through her various space voyages, where she grapples with her professional duties and personal desires, including her experiences with pregnancy and relationships. Each journey exposes Mary to unique alien life forms, challenging her identity and emotional state, particularly as she forms deep connections with these beings.
Key themes include the tension between empathy and self-identity, as Mary often risks losing herself in the process of communication with aliens. Her encounters range from a connection with radiate beings that leads to a loss of personal agency, to a complicated pregnancy with a Martian, resulting in the birth of a haploid daughter named Viola. Mary also confronts moral dilemmas, such as her crew's interactions with caterpillars and the consequences of their actions on other species. Ultimately, the narrative is rich with exploration, emotional depth, and reflections on motherhood, identity, and the responsibilities that come with interspecies interactions. The story invites readers to consider the implications of empathy and the nature of connection across vastly different forms of life.
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Memoirs of a Spacewoman
First published: 1962
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—feminist
Time of work: Sometime after the twentieth century
Locale: Terra (Earth) and other planets
The Plot
Memoirs of a Spacewoman is a first-person narrative set in a utopian future. Mary, of indefinite age because of time blackouts during space travel, recalls her career as a communications specialist on various space expeditions. The novel, structured around Mary’s different voyages, also centers on her sexual desires and her pregnancies. As a communications specialist, Mary risks losing her own identity through establishing complete empathy with an alien life-form; despite extensive training and a stable personality, she has sometimes come close. In her first voyage, she communicates so successfully with radiate beings that her vertical, two-sided psychology becomes confused. She temporarily loses the ability to make choices; she thus loses the chance to have a child with a fellow voyager to whom she was attracted (and by whom she later bears a child).
On a second voyage, having barely survived an explosion, she is impregnated by the Martian Vly, who tries to communicate with her in order to save her. From this pregnancy is born a haploid, a being with the mother’s genes doubled and none of the father’s. She feels an unusual attachment for her haploid Viola, worrying that because of her daughter’s short stature, she may never become an explorer. This would be an unfortunate plight, because nonexplorers are bound by time. Another voyage presents Mary with a generalized life-form that she does not recognize as a single being. When she realizes that it is like a giant sea urchin and discovers almost too late that it is about to destroy the crew, her expedition makes an emergency takeoff, abandoning two people. Mary feels some guilt because her flirtation may have caused the two to stray so far from the ship.
On the voyage described in most detail, Mary and her crew establish communication with some lovable caterpillars. One of the crew, Francoise, takes their point of view so completely that she adopts their cause against the tormenting butterflies, although the butterflies claim good reasons for their actions. She commits interference, for which she is banished from exploring forever. Mary recalls having come close to interfering when she visited the Epsies and discovered that they murder most cruelly the Rounds, lovable mammals with whom Mary had established rapport.
On Terra, Mary agrees to become a host for an alien graft to ensure its survival. To her surprise, she develops maternal feelings for the graft, whom she names Ariel. Ariel’s death causes Mary deep depression. Later, she agrees to another graft, with near-disastrous results. She decides to take a year to “stabilize” and to have a daughter by Peder Pedersen, a longtime colleague. Mary basks in her happiness with her life of exploration, her successful and happy children, and Peder’s loyalty.