Womens Lives in Contemporary French and Francophone Literature

The essays in this volume provide an overview and critical account of prevalent trends and theoretical arguments informing current investigations into literary treatments of motherhood and aging. They explore how two key stages in womens livesmaternity and old ageare narrated and defined in fictions and autobiographical writings by contemporary French and francophone women. Through close readings of Maryse Cond, Hlne Cixous, Zahia Rahmani, Linda L, Pierrette Fleutieux, and Michle Sarde, among others, these essays examine related topics such as dispossession, female friendship, and womens relationships with their mothers. By adopting a broad, synthetic approach to these two distinct and defining stages in womens lives, this volume elucidates how these significant transitional moments set the stage for womens evolving definitions (and interrogations) of their identities and roles.