Description
Book SynopsisA striking number of hysterical or insane female characters populate Francophone women's writing. To discover why, Orlando reads novels from a variety of cultures, teasing out key elements of Francophone identity struggles.
Trade ReviewOrlando has brought together a number of sublimely heartwrenching texts by Francophone women writers with thematic aplomb, if you will. The theme of madness and alienation stretch across what would appear to be dissimiliar works, particular in their own cultural milieus yet united in their "Frenchness"—a source of the women writers' psychological angst. -- T Denean Sharpley-Whiting, Hamilton College
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction: Hysterically Speaking: Voices of Abjection, Marginalization, and Insanity in the Feminine Francophone Novel Chapter 2 Preamble: Writing New H(er)stories for Francophone Women of Africa Part 3 State I: Mediating Identity in Foreign Spaces Chapter 4 The Politics of Race and Patriarchy in Suzanne Lascade's Claire-Solange, ame africaine Chapter 5 Home Is Where I Eat My Bread: Multiculturality and Becoming-Multiple in Leila Hoauri's Zeida de nulle part Part 6 State II: Writing in Madness Chapter 7 Self-Loathing, Self-Sacrifice: Michele Lacrosil's Cajou and Myriam Warner-Vieyra's Juletane Chapter 8 Out/inside the Confinement of Cultures: Marie Chauvet's Amour, colere et folie and Mariama Ba's Un Chant eclatant Chapter 9 Rooms and Prisons, Sex and Sin: Places of Sequestration in Nina Bouraoui's La Voyeuse interdite and Calixthe Beyala's Tu t'appelleras Tanga Part 10 State III: Reconciliation: Feminine Utopias Chapter 11 War, Revolution, and Family Matters: Yamina Mechakra's La Grotte eclatee and Hajer Djilani's Et pourtant le ciel etait bleu Chapter 12 Feminine Voices and H(er)stories: Simone Schwarz-Bart's Pluie et vent sur Telumee Miracle and Aminata Sow Fall's Douceurs du bercail Chapter 13 Epilogue: Transgressing Boundaries, Reconstructing Stories
