Postcolonial Subjects: Francophone Women Writers (review)

Book Reviews Mary Jean Green, Karen Gould, Micheline Rice-Maximin, Keith L. Walker, Jack A. Yeager, eds. Postcolonial Subjects: Francophone Women Writers. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1996. Pp. xxii + 359. Cloth, $49.95, Paper, $19.95. This collaborative collection of critical essays devoted to writers from Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and francophone Canada is rich in many ways. It allows the reader interested in a wide scope of francophone fiction to read an entire range of critical essays. It provides scholars well acquainted with a specific francophone literature to read well-crafted insightful essays in their field. And, it promotes thought and discussion concerning similarities and differences among women writers using a common language and yet writing from divergent cultural and geographical spaces. Having assembled 19 articles linked by gender and language, the editors begin their introduction by situating francophonie within a literary rather than political context. Stating that a common language needs a cultural framework, they conclude that "to write in French is, in one sense, to engage in dialogue with Racine and Voltaire, Proust and Descartes" (xi), thereby positioning the third world woman writer within an elite, maledominated , white European literary tradition. They add, however, that these writers are engaged in struggle against that very tradition. In his analysis of Assia Djebar's L'Amour, la fantasia, John Erickson foregrounds the ambiguous situation of the Algerian writer who calls French her stepmother tongue, using it to recount Algerian women's history in a language many of them neither speak nor read. One important characteristic of the literature is the separation between francophone women writers in North America for whom French is the mother tongue, and their sisters in Africa who know it is as the language of colonization. Eloise Brière explains, however, that Antonine Maillet also has an uneasy relationship with French, rejecting standard French in favor of her Acadian variant. She risks being unintelligible to "standard" readers in order to validate her true mother tongue, Acadian French. Linked to language is the theme of patriarchy. Studying Marie Laberge's women's theater in Quebec, Jane Moss reiterates the dramatist's message tht woman must combat patriarchal oppression through empowering language that expresses female desire and independence. The editors of this collection explore the wide range of francophone women's writing without attempting to create a canon or to reaffirm an existing one. With this intent, they present some critical essays devoted to well established writers like Anne Hébert and Manama Ba, others dealing with less established writers such as the new women writers of Quebec: Nicole Houde, Louise Bouchard, Francine Noël. In addition, Ronnie Sharfman gives us a fascinating but chilling analysis of Marie Chauvet's trilogy, Amour, colère, folie, which, although out of print, circulates among Haitians in exile, who find within its pages the true portrayal of Haiti's unabated violence. The organization of the volume is excellent. Part I describes strategies that reinscribe women into history. Part II examines women's writing across national boundaries and diverse cultural spaces. Part III groups essays addressing issues of domination, revolt, liberation. Françoise Lionnet's concluding essay sets the stage for further discussion— perhaps a second volume of essays?—as it probes the issue of métissage by examining texts engaged in transforming language and narrative strategies appropriated through European cultural contact. All 19 essays deserve individual comment; each adds an important element in explorations of gender, race, and cultural identity. As a collection, they highlight the importance of multiple voices and diverse viewpoints in the widening field of cultural studies. Delving into this volume, the reader will be richly rewarded. Mildred Mortimer University of Colorado at Boulder VOL. XXXVII, NO. 3 99 ...