The essays in this volume provide an overview and critical account of prevalent trends and theoretical arguments informing current investigations into literary treatments of motherhood and aging. They explore how two key stages in womens livesmaternity and old ageare narrated and defined in fictions and autobiographical writings by contemporary French and francophone women. Through close readings of Maryse Cond?, H?l?ne Cixous, Zahia Rahmani, Linda L?, Pierrette Fleutieux, and Mich?le Sarde, among others, these essays examine related topics such as dispossession, female friendship, and womens relationships with their mothers. By adopting a broad, synthetic approach to these two distinct and defining stages in womens lives, this volume elucidates how these significant transitional moments set the stage for womens evolving definitions (and interrogations) of their identities and roles.
CONTENTS
Preface: Where the Lines Cross
Karen McPherson and Florence Ramond Jurney
I. Defining the Mother
Aban-donner: The Maternal in Le jour o? je n?tais pas l?
Laurie Corbin
The Accidental Author: Motherhood, Woundability, and Writing in Maryse Cond?s La vie sans fards
Nicole Simek
Childless Mothers: Personal Perspectives from Francophone Women Writers
Alison Rice
If you dont have children, you must be& : Linda L?s ? lenfant que je naurai pas and Voluntary Non-Motherhood
Julie Rodgers
Linda L?s Antigonal Refusal of Motherhood
Gillian Ni l£:
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