If space is important in the realm of imagination and a key theme in feminist theory, cross-cultural studies of social maps reveal that men and women's spatial experiences differ; women rarely control physical or social space directly. Positing the thesis that women's writing of Francophone Africa and the Caribbean offers important perspectives on the relationship of gender to space,Writing from the Hearth proposes close readings of Francophone women writers of Africa (Aoua Keita, Mariama Ba, Ken Bugul, Calixthe Beyala, and Aminata Sow Fall) and the Caribbean (Marie Chauvet, Simon Schwarz-Bart, Maryse Conde, and Edwidge Danticat). As critical readings of postcolonial African and Caribbean literature show that tropes of confinement appear frequently in female-authored texts-where home is often depicted as a place of alienation-this critical study examines ambiguities associated with domestic space as enclosure as it explores the relationship between the female protagonist and the inner and outer spaces of her world: domestic, imaginative, and public space. Writing from the Hearth probes the hypothesis that the female protagonist can move toward empowerment by entering public space from which she has been excluded by indigenous patriarchs and European colonizers and by establishing a new relationship to domestic space or securing a liberating alternative space within it. Flexible and multipurpose, alternative space is a place of possibilities that can function as a refuge for meditation, recollection, or fantasy, an antechamber for action, and a site of resistance and performance. Here, by telling the tale, writing the creative work, a woman can affirm her sense of self.

About the Author
Mildred Mortimer is professor of French, University of Colorado at Boulder.

Reviews
The breadth and depth of this work's theoretical foundation makes it a must read for scholars across a wide array of disciplines. Its importance also lies in the richness and diversity of the chosen texts and is underscored by the quality of Mortimer's close textual readings. Finally, it is her insightful and adept crossing of the boundaries that continue to divide scholars and scholarship of francophone literature today that makes it a journey worth taking. * Research in African Literatures, August 2009 *
Mortimer intriguingly juxtaposes women's narratives (fiction, memoir and other genres) from Africa and the Caribbean. Writing from the Hearth will stir thought by scholars in a wide range of fields. No one before has put together Conde's Tituba and Keita's Femme d'Afrique. -- Susan Andrade, University of Pittsburgh
An important contribution to feminist discourse....Recommended -- . * CHOICE, April 2008 *



Book Information
ISBN 9780739119075
Author Mildred Mortimer
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Lexington Books
Publisher Lexington Books
Weight(grams) 340g
Dimensions(mm) 228mm * 157mm * 19mm