Shifting Scenes: Interviews on Women, Writing, and Politics in Post-68 France

by Alice Jardine, Anne Menke

Overview

Fifteen of the most important and influential women fiction writers, critics, and theorists writing in France today are interviewed in Shifting Scenes. Although their writing and attitudes differ in many ways, their work is perceived in the U.S. to constitute "French Feminism," and has a marked impact on American feminist theory.

Alice Jardine and Anne Menke interviewed Chantal Chawaf, Helene Cixous, Catherine Clement, Francoise Collin, Marguerite Durgaas, Claudine Herrmann, Jeanne Hyvrard, Luce Irigaray, Sarah Kofman, Julia Kristeva, Eugenie Lemoine-Luccioni, Marcelle Marini, Michele Montrelay, Christiane Rochefort, and Monique Wittig. The women were asked what it means to be a woman writer in France today and how each views her relations to her country's institutions, and the place of women writers in the canon. the answers are lively, unexpectedly argumentative, and diverse. What these highly accomplished women have to say about contemporary society, politics, literature, feminism, and their own work, will surprise, inform, and challenge.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231067720
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	06/10/1991
Series:	Gender and Culture Series
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.28(w) x 9.32(h) x 0.92(d)
Lexile:	1110L (what's this?)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Alice Jardine is the author of Gynesis : Configurations of Woman and Modernity. Anne Menke is the translator of Julia Kristeva's Language: The Unknown.

What People are Saying About This

Elaine Showalter

Two American feminists asked several French women intellectuals some American questions; their answers provide a sparkling and often startling account of the difference between the two cultures with regard to feminism, the university, and the canon.

— Elaine Showalter, author of Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Media

Editorial Reviews

Two American feminists asked several French women intellectuals some American questions; their answers provide a sparkling and often startling account of the difference between the two cultures with regard to feminism, the university, and the canon.

Elaine Showalter

A lively informative picture of the diversity of opinion held by French "feminists" today . . . . a stimulating exchange of ideas between cultures as well as across discipline.

Review of Contemporary Fiction

Contains interviews with 15 French women fiction writers, critics, and theorists who have influenced the American as well as the French feminist movement. They discuss their role in French society and their views on institutions, politics, and literature. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews