Pt. 1. Defining the mother. Aban-donner: The maternal in Le jour ou je nơetais pas la / Laurie Corbin -- The accidental author: Motherhood, woundability, and writing in Maryse Conde's Le vie sans fards / Nicola Simek -- Childless mothers: Personal perspectives from Francophone women writers / Alison Rice -- "If you don't have children, you must be ...": Linda Le's A lơenfant que je nơaurai pas and voluntary non-motherhood / Julie Rodgers -- Linda Le's antigonal refusal of motherhood / Gillian Ni Cheallaigh -- Free at last: Coming to terms with the mother in the woman in La noce dơAnna by Nathacha Appanah / Florence Ramond Jurney -- Pt. 2. Defining the aging self. La derniere adresse: Possessions, dispossession and the preservation of memory / Jean Anderson -- Redefining the self: Explorations of aging in Michele Sarde's Constance et la cinquantaine and Nancy Huston's Dolce agonia / Susan Ireland and Patrice J. Proulx -- A daughter no more: (National) identity and the adult orphan in Loin de mon pere by Veronique Tadjo / Amy Baram Reid -- Writing the mother immortal: Cixous and Dupre / Karen McPherson.
Summary:
These essays examine the trends and theoretical arguments informing current investigations into literary treatments of motherhood and aging. They explore how two key stages in women's lives -- maternity and old age -- are narrated and defined in fictions and autobiographical writings by contemporary French and francophone women. Through readings of Maryse Conde, Helene Cixous, Zahia Rahmani, Linda Le, Pierrette Fleutieux, and Michele Sarde, among others, these essays examine related topics such as dispossession, female friendship, and women's relationships with their mothers. It shows how these significant transitional moments set the stage for women's evolving definitions (and interrogations) of their identities and roles.
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