Mother-daughter relations and the intergenerational effects of inadequate mothering are examined in the fictional work of Rosellen Brown. Wolk traces preoedipal imagery in Brown's work, and cites the writing of Chodorow, who studied the centrality of the mother-daughter relation in the establishment of a girl's sense of self. Wolk examines the ambivalence of both mother and daughter over effective competition between the two—for the daughter, victory in this respect may be perceived as potentially self-destructive, and for the mother, this form of success may presage "intimations of her own death." Implicit in this essay is the profound significance