Book Description

An in-depth look at three important French-language women writers who tackle gender stereotypes, desire, the body, language and empowerment, this richly documented study is rigorous, thorough, illuminating and highly readable, with broader implications for contemporary feminism and women's writing within and beyond France and Québec. A major contribution. (Lori Saint-Martin, Professor of Literary Studies, University of Quebec in Montreal) This book is the first comparative study of the work of Francophone authors Annie Ernaux (France), Nancy Huston (Alberta and France) and Nelly Arcan (Quebec) and explores their representation of sex, sexuality and the body from a feminist perspective. In particular, this study examines their narrative treatment of dominant sexual discourses, sexual difference and diverse feminine bodily experience. In so doing, this book reveals these writers' distinctive contribution to contemporary women's writing in French and different feminisms, which takes the form of a unique, frank French feminism. This frank French feminist approach, this book shows, is concerned with tackling gender inequality, sexism and misogyny, but also recognises the difficulties involved in feminist action, and acknowledges that adherence to allegedly oppressive gender stereotypes can actually prove enjoyable and empowering for women. This book examines the authors' earliest to latest publications and a broad range of genres and media, including fictional and autofictional novels, autobiographies, critical essays, photo-texts, diaries, journals, illustrated oeuvres, media addresses and newspaper articles. This book project was the Winner of the 2021 Peter Lang Young Scholars Competition in Contemporary Women's Writing in French.