| Contents |
Pt. 1. Defining the mother. Aban-donner: The maternal in Le jour où je nʾétais pas là / Laurie Corbin -- The accidental author: Motherhood, woundability, and writing in Maryse Condé'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 Lê's À lʾenfant que je nʾaurai pas and voluntary non-motherhood / Julie Rodgers -- Linda Lê's antigonal refusal of motherhood / Gillian Ni Cheallaigh -- Free at last: Coming to terms with the mother in the woman in La noce dʾAnna by Nathacha Appanah / Florence Ramond Jurney -- Pt. 2. Defining the aging self. La dernière adresse: Possessions, dispossession and the preservation of memory / Jean Anderson -- Redefining the self: Explorations of aging in Michèle 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 père by Véronique Tadjo / Amy Baram Reid -- Writing the mother immortal: Cixous and Dupré / Karen McPherson. |
| Abstract |
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 Condé, Hélène Cixous, Zahia Rahmani, Linda Lê, Pierrette Fleutieux, and Michèle 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. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 147-158) and index. |
| Genre/form | Criticism, interpretation, etc. |
| Genre/form | History. |
| ISBN | 3319408496 hardback |
| ISBN | 9783319408491 hardback |
| ISBN | ebook |
