African Women 
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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
 WorldCat |
| Title: | Tradition and modernity are here to stay: an analysis of francophone African women's writings published in 1997-98 |
| Author: | Volet, Jean-Marie |
| Year: | 1999 |
| Periodical: | Research in African Literatures |
| Volume: | 30 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| Pages: | 182-193 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | French-speaking Africa Subsaharan Africa |
| Subjects: | women writers literature French language |
| External link: | http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/research_in_african_literatures/v030/30.2volet.pdf |
| Abstract: | An unusual number of francophone literary texts was published by African women in 1997 and early 1998. Different as they may be, these books seem to have a similar purpose, that is, to redefine the role of elders in contemporary society and to argue the case for flexibility in matters pertaining to tradition. This can be seen in the way characters and narrators deal with the issue, but it can also be seen at the level of the narratives' endings, which offer a kind of appraisal of the protagonists' positions. This review of these novels shows both the ways they address the issue and how they inscribe success and failure of characters' strategies in the novels' endings. The eras in which the stories take place are spread along a time line that ranges from a mythical past dominated by 'traditional' ways and values (Koumanthio Zeinab Diallo) to contemporary society (Fama Diagne Sène, Fatou Keïta, Assamala Amoi, Régina Yaou, Massiré Coréa, Rosalie Nana, Aminata Sophie Dièye, Aminata Sow Fall and Abibatou Traoré), with other texts exploring historical times located in between those two extremes (Mame Younousse Dieng, Aïssatou Guindo, Mame Bassine Niang and Calixthe Beyala). Bibliogr., note. |
