Of Suffocated Hearts and Tortured Souls Seeking Subjecthood through Madness in Francophone Women's Writing of Africa and the Caribbean

by Orlando, Valérie

• ISBN13: 9780739105627
• ISBN10: 0739105620
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-02-05
• Publisher: Lexington Books

Summary

A 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.

Author Biography

Valerie Orlando is Associate Professor of French, specializing in Francophone Studies, at Illinois Wesleyan University.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xvii
Introduction: Writing New H(er)stories for Francophone Women of Africa and the Caribbean	1	(32)
State I: Mediating Identity in Foreign Spaces
Introduction to State I	33	(4)
The Politics of Race and Patriarchy in Suzanne Lacascade's Claire-Solange, ame africaine	37	(14)
Home Is Where I Eat My Bread: Multiculturality and Becoming Multiple in Leila Hoauri's Zeida de nulle part	51	(22)
State II: Writing in Madness
Introduction to State II	63	(10)
Self-Loathing, Self-Sacrifice: Michele Lacrosil's Cajou and Myriam Warner-Vieyra's Juletane	73	(24)
Out(in)side the Confinement of Cultures: Marie Chauvet's Amour, Colere, et Folie and Mariama Ba's Un Chant ecarlate	97	(28)
Rooms and Prisons, Sex and Sin: Places of Sequestration in Nina Bouraoui's La Voyeuse Interdite and Calixthe Beyala's Tu t'appelleras Tanga	125	(22)
State III: Reconciliation: Feminine Utopias
Introduction to State III	145	(2)
War, Revolution, and Family Matters: Yamina Mechakra's La Grotte eclatee and Hajer Djilani's Et Pourtant le ciel etait bleu	147	(18)
Feminine Voices and H(er)stories: Simone Schwarz-Bart's Pluie et Vent sur Telumee Miracle and Aminata Sow Fall's Douceurs du bercail	165	(16)
Epilogue: Transgressing Boundaries, Reconstructing Stories	181	(6)
Bibliography	187	(6)
Index	193