Introduction

Women in French Studies AVANT-GARDE WOMEN DRAMATISTS WRITING IN FRENCH INTRODUCTION The topic for the WIF session on Avant-Garde Women Dramatists was inspired by a graduate seminar that I gave at San Diego State University on French women playwrights. In preparing the course, I discovered few published works and little criticism. I found material on the tradition ofwomen dramatists but not enough on the present. George Sand, for example, achieved considerable success in the nineteenth century. In the first half of the twentieth century, Colette created dialogues. Simone de Beauvoir saw Les Bouches inutiles performed, and Marguerite Yourcenar wrote a few sketches produced for American college students as well as a play about the dictatorship of Mussolini. In the 1950s, French women dramatists appeared in greater numbers, and since that time, we are familiar with Françoise Sagan and Françoise Dorin and their "théâtre du boulevard," as well as Marguerite Duras, Nathalie Sarraute, and most recently, Hélène Cixous. During the seminar, one of my graduate students discovered a marvelous playwright, Jeannine Worms, who had created works reminiscent of both Ionesco and Arrabal, but from a distinctly female perspective. Several of the MLA panelists have brought forward additional names. One of our participants. Celita Lamar, has broken ground with an outstanding volume published by Peter Lang in 1991: Our Voices, Ourselves: Women Writing for the French Theatre. Questions have arisen that deserve exploration: Who are the other women writing for the theatre today in the French-speaking world? Which of them have been produced and\or published? Which unproduced or unpublished works deserve to be produced or published? The field is rich with possibilities. May the publication of our papers inspire further research. Janis Glasgow San Diego State University Women in French Studies Sunday, 27 December 35. Avant-Garde Women Dramatists Writing in French 7:00-8: 15 p.m., Liberty 4, Sheraton New York Program arranged by Women in French. Presiding: Janis Glasgow, San Diego State Univ. 1 . "Language, Music, and Intertextuality: The Theater ofVera Feyder," Celita Lamar, Univ. of Miami, Coral Gables 2."Women Revolutionaries in Marguerite Yourcenar's Render Unto Caesar." Gay Manifold. Wesleyan Univ. 3.The Verbosity of Minimalism: Sarraute, Duras, and Redonnet," Rachael Criso, Univ. of Pennsylvania 4."Social, Sexual, and Intellectual Revolt in the Theater ofAvant-Garde Dramatist Agnès Echène," Nina S. Hellerstein, Univ. of Georgia ...