Littératures francophones et théorie postcoloniale (review)

Book Reviews placed love for the unavailable d'Hermenches, the "heroine" is neither seduced nor corrupted by her libertine correspondent. To the contrary, she, and not he, controls the exchange and her destiny . Through her dialogue with d'Hermenches, she constructs and refines an ever-stronger identity , confident of her judgment, indeed, so secure in her knowledge of her self, her passions and needs that she can discuss her sexuality frankly and assess realistically that marriage presents the only means to fulfill it. While Belle's choices are undoubtedly limited by social and gender constraints , the correspondents' discussion of d'Hermenches's military career options and the difficult decisions he must make to further his ambitions show mat men's lives were equally restricted by social, political, and financial concerns. As their correspondence leads to a deeper knowledge of one another as well as of themselves, Belle's letters also comprise an intimate journal of daily and family life, revealing the workings of a close-knit aristocratic family as it deals with the minutiae of the quotidian as well as the inevitable traumatic losses of intimates. It's in the refined descriptions of such events and the nuanced analyses of her situation that Belle's gifts as an observer and writer shine through. Unbeknownst to her, the correspondence swerves from its original purpose and anticipates her subsequent literary works. Janie Vanpee Smith College Jean-Marc Moura. Littératures francophones et théorie postcoloniale. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1999. Pp. 174. This study of the literatures and theories that have emerged from British and French colonialisms looks beyond purported distinctions in colonial methods of rule to the common ground of writers and theorists working in colonial and postcolonial contexts. Moura's book takes on long-standing boundaries between postcolonial theory and francophonie, boundaries only recently breached in the work of French theorists. In so doing, it sets out less to include new works within pre-established categories than to reconsider literary Eurocentrism: "Une critique de l'europeocentrisme littéraire ne peut simplement proposer de remplacer un ensemble de textes par un autre ensemble de textes..." (149). By thus re-evaluating the analytic criteria set up by postcolonial theory, this expansive study strives to analyze francophone texts in a consistently postcolonial manner. In the introduction, Moura defines "francophonie" as "une diversité géographique pluriculturelle organisée nar rapport à un fait linguistique" (2), and cautions against employing the term to designate a commonality of issues in the work of all francophone writers. He severs the term postcolonial from any linguistic particularity, employing it as "un concept analytique renvoyant aux littératures naissant dans un contexte marqué par la colonisation européenne" (4). Following this, the first chapter compares the development of francophone literature with that of lusophone and hispanophone as well as anglophone literatures. Moura concludes that the revitalization of French language literature hinges upon the detachment of the French language from its "aura of exclusivity" and colonialist past. This can only be accomplished, he argues, by discarding both the "formal separation of discursive registers" that mark the language as well as its Gallocentrism (20). Thus acknowledging his purpose of revitalizing the study of French language literature, Moura insists on a dismantling of notions of center and periphery. Chapter two proceeds by emphasizing the ideological weight with which the French language inevitably becomes invested in varying colonial/postcolonial circumstances, and distinguishes between the colonial histories of the regions that produce francophone literature. Moura elaborates critical orientations specific to the study of francophone postcolonial literature by modifying the categories of a text on which his study somewhat overly relies, Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin's The Empire Writes Back. In chapters three and four, he brings together examples from a variety of historical periods and geographical regions (notably Quebec, Vol. XL, No. 4 101 L'Esprit Créateur Haiti and sub-Saharan Africa). This section employs historical and sociological criteria to consider how francophone texts produced in colonial contexts may or may not be deemed postcolonial in nature, examining various francophone writers' attitudes vis-à -vis French language, literature and culture, and contesting periodization according to the fact of independence. Moura stresses...