Introduction

Adèle King3 Women In French Studies Introduction The essays in this volume range from the sixteenth century to the present , and from metropolitan France to several corners of die world where French is written: Algeria, Canada, Belgium, Guadeloupe. The old distinction of French and Francophone seems increasingly irrelevant in the modem world. The work of Maryse Condé, set in her native Guadeloupe but also in France, West Africa and the Linited States, where she has lived, spans three continents. We are publishing a new interview with Marie Cardinal, of French parents, but born in Algeria and now living in Canada. And where do we place Leila Sebbar, of Algerian parentage but living in France? The collection begins with our Graduate Prize Essay, on Madeleine Ouellette-Michalska. Other subjects range from interesting new insights into such well-known authors as Christine de Pizan, Marguerite Yourcenar, Marguerite Duras and Maryse Condé, to studies of lesser-known authors, such as Adélaïde de Souza, Angele Vannier and Claire Lejeune. While most of the essays deal with literature, there is also an essay showing how the didactic work of G. Bruno influenced the philosophical ideas of her husband, Alfred Fouillée. In rereading our collection, I am again aware of the recurring themes of women's work that transcend differences in eras, nations, genres and styles. While we must not, as Michelle Donovan warns us, try to read a "modem political feminist consciousness" into writers of earlier centuries, nor adopt a reductive essentialism, it is possible to define a new kind of "universalism," which as Carolyn Duffey remarks in speaking of Françoise Lionnet's work, "could lead to common theoretical and ethical ground for developing global feminist solidarity ," a solidarity among cultures, without any sense of one dominating another. Thérèse Migraine-George and Gabriella Ricciardi analyze the refusal of an easy exoticism in the work of Ouelette-Michalska and of Leila Sebbar. Is there not even a solidarity across time? Essays on Christine de Pizan show how women have used their pens for centuries to criticize a powerful male culture. Women writers contribute to a literary culture that goes beyond gender; they often, as Judith Sarnecki shows in a poem of Marguerite Yourcenar, and Medha Kannarkar analyses in a novel of Adélaïde de Souza, subvert simple notions of gender. Women writers also extend traditional ideas of genre, as ClaireAntoinette Lindenlaub suggests in her study of the mnemonic in a novel by Marguerite Duras. Michèle Bacholle and Karen Bouvver study the use of feminine rhythms and imagery of birth in the poetic works of Angèle Vannier and Claire Lejeune. Colette Hall, editor of Volume 3 of Women in French Studies, invited our readers to send commentaries on the journal, to begin a Dialogue, the reactions of our readers to WIF Studies articles. Dialogues are often considered one way in which women are less hierarchical than men, at least in our present culture . We had no contributions to the dialogue, but I again extend our invitation. Adèle King ...