Francophone Women Writers: Feminism, Postcolonialismsm Cross-Cultures (review)

This anthology of texts by francophone women writers offers a critical introduction to an important body of work and is original in its coverage of a wide range of geographical areas of the non-Metropolitan French-speaking world. It includes sample texts from a selection of key authors, as well as a short presentation of each writer and her works, and a bibliography for further reading. Maryse Condé's Preface sets up questions that form the book's rationale, most notably why these women's voices are not more clearly heard. Eric Touya de Marenne then gives an overview of the debates regarding the terms 'feminist' and 'post-colonial', and he draws on a number of relevant sources to situate the texts in context. The book is divided into five sections grouping the different writers and extracts together: 'Feminisms', 'Postcolonialisms', 'Cross-Cultures', 'Counter Discourses', and 'Beyond Borders'. This ordering is particularly productive since it permits a range of enquiry that presents overarching contexts, and it shows a sensitivity towards the variety of issues and themes explored in this particular genre of writing. It also allows for a focus on the stated key concepts of language, identity, space, and history, and brings to attention a body of work that is crucial to an understanding of these ideas. While academics already working in the field may find that the anthology covers somewhat familiar ground, the impressive scope of the project ensures that the volume retains both interest and value. Importantly, Touya de Marenne also provides the readers with careful translations of the texts (taken from published translations), thereby opening up this important and underdiscussed corpus to scholars who may not be able to speak or read French. There is a risk, in a study such as this, of homogenizing the subject matter, but Touya de Marenne, sensibly, has attempted to avoid generalization, combining established authors with newer ones and remaining attentive to the extensive geography of the francophone world, as well as to the particularities of sociohistorical contexts in its differing areas. While the book offers no conclusions, it nonetheless leaves possibilities open for further study and exploration. The anthology and the broad critical contextualization will be of particular interest and use to those unfamiliar with the field, or to those embarking on a new project within the field.