On Evelyne Accad. Essays in Literature, Feminism, and Cultural Studies ed. by Cheryl Toman (review)

Book Reviews20 1 psychobiography, a glossary, and a list of technical terms related to depth psychology. The bibliography is itself an excellent tool, as it lists the best twentieth- and twenty-first-century biographies ofVoltaire and theoretical works on personality study. But curiously, it omits well-known psycho-biographers, such as William McKinley Runyan or Alan C. Elms, both of whom practice and teach at universities in the region where Nemeth is based. Myrna Bell RochesterPalo Alto, California Toman, Cheryl, ed. On Evelyne Accad. Essays in Literature, Feminism, and Cultural Studies. Birmingham, AL: Summa Publications, 2007. Pp 420. ISBN 978-1-883479-53-4 (Cloth). This collection of essays originated in a conference dedicated to Accad's work that took place in 2004. It can be seen as a companion book to another volume stemming from the same conference, Evelyne Accad: Explorations (L'Harmattan, 2004), although the latter is surprisingly not referenced at all (yet should be, given that several contributions are English translations ofpieces that first appeared in the French volume). Despite some exaggeration in the introduction as to the place and significance ofAccad's texts (the statements that she is "one of the most influential voices today in Middle Eastern Studies, literature, feminism, and cultural studies" or that her novel L'Excisée is a "groundbreaking work of Arab feminist literature" are debatable), her creative writing certainly deserves attention. This eclectic collection ranges from articles to anecdotal contributions. The volume includes much repetitious information about Accad's life and the topics of her books, in part because many of these essays do not engage in in-depth analysis. Almost half of the contributors are former colleagues and students from Accad's thirty-year career at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign , and many of the others are friends of Accad's, as attested by autobiographical reminiscences about meeting her. Therein lies the strength of the collection, but also its weakness: pieces mostly informed by the author's kindly intentions, but lacking careful and critical evaluation of Accad's texts. One contribution in particular, "The Oil-Pot...," relies heavily on quotes from a personal interview with the author. The collection opens with a preface by Nawal El Saadawi and an introduction by the editor. The first section, "On Accad and Women Writers outside Lebanon," compares Accad's works with those of Assia Djebar, Andrée Chedid, Dubravka Ugresic (Croatia), Raja Alem, and Ibrahim al-Kuni (the last being a man, contrary to the introduction statement that this section "compare[s] Accad's works with those of women writers of Saudi Arabia and Lybia" (6). The second section, "On Accad and Women Writers of Lebanon," adds Etel Adnan to the mix. To this reviewer, "On Accad within the Academy" is the most interesting section, especially Figueira's essay on the history of Area and 202Women in French Studies Cultural Studies seen through the lens of Accad's career, although the author should have elaborated on some points (for instance, what brought about the demise of Francophone Literature at her institution?). Vieille's piece could have provided an important account on the post-9/1 1 climate in academia, but unfortunately, as it stands, refusing to give specifics and casually written, it serves only to highlight Accad's courageous stance against the war on the occasion of one roundtable discussion. Next come "On Accad and Otherness," "Accad on Tradition and Modernity," "On Accad and Wellness, Trauma, and Mental and Physical Excision," "On Translating Accad," and "On Creative Writing: Accad-Inspired Works," the last section being out of place in a scholarly volume. A bibliography and scanty index close the collection. While the multi-faceted aspects of Accad's work are repeatedly mentioned, the volume focuses on her four novels while occasionally drawing on her two scholarly books. It is regrettable that her songs are not given any attention, although the importance of singing for Accad is mentioned several times. The best essays are the ones that focus on Accad's most accomplished text, Voyages en Cancer (Zupancic, Hottell) as well as DiLiberti's comparative essay on L'Excisée and Chedid's Le sommeil délivré, Solheim's piece on Coquelicot...