Foreword

King1 FOREWORD Thanks are due to many people who have helped to make this 1997 volume of Women in French Studies our largest and, perhaps, our best issue so far. First ofall, credit goes to the hard-working and dedicated editorial board, now expanded to eleven members who advise on the contents, reading many essays and making useful suggestionsbothtothose whose essays are accepted andthose whoseessays are returned forfurtherwork. Colette Hall, president of Women in French, our managing editor, advisor and continual support, deserves the gratitude of our editorial board and of all our members. Particular thanks go to Bénédicte Mauguière for arranging the special section on La Femme et L'Espace, with which we open this volume . At Ball State University I have been given financial and moral support by Warren Vander Hill, Provost; Beverley Pitts, Associate Provost; Ronald Johnstone, Dean of the College of Sciences and Humanities; Douglas Barnette, Chairperson ofthe Department ofModern Languages and Classics. Andrew Howard,journalism major, prepared the cameraready copy. In addition I have been helped by three excellent Honors College students - Valory C. Wessels Myers, Misty Bodkins and Denisa Paradise - without whose efforts this volume could not appear. Thanks also to Craig Byer, for technical assistance. The drawings are the work ofa friend and colleague in the Women Studies program at Ball State, Nina B. Marshall, Associate Professor of Art. We are pleased to include a selection ofpapers from our sister organization , Women in French in the United Kingdom. We hope cooperative efforts between our two associations will continue. We are publishing the winner ofour competition for the best essay by a student in a doctoral program. This year the board had a particularly difficult choice; many essays were considered worthy ofthe prize by at least one ofour readers. The students who entered our competition , and the professors who have taught them, deserve our congratulations for the fine work they have already accomplished at the beginning oftheir professional careers. As we are planning to publish Volume VI in the spring of 1998, we have chosen, fromthe group ofexcellent graduate studentessays, aprize 2 Women in French Studies essay and an honorable mention for Volume V and also for Volume VI. In the future, the graduate student essay competition will continue to have a deadline of April 30, but for publication in the volume of the following spring. Members should submit essays as soon as they are ready. The prize essay for Volume V is: Katharine H. Jewett, University of Michigan: "Woman's inter-mission: Speaking between in L 'Ecole des Femmes". Honorable mention goes to Elizabeth Anthony, University of North Carolina: "Marie Redonnet's Poetics ofRelating". The prize essay to be published in Volume VI is: Chloé Hogg, University ofPennsylvania: "The Philosopher as Tramp and Female in the Writings of Graffigny". Honorable mention will be awarded to Erica Cocke, University ofCalifornia-Davis: "Amazons and Androgyns in the Margins ofPoems by Catherine des Roches". As this is the journal ofthe members of Women in French, comments and suggestions are always welcome. Adèle King, EditorBall State University ...