Francophone Women Writing in 1998-99 and Beyond: A Literary Feast in a Violent World

Abstract

From the seventies onwards, francophone African women writers have published a steady stream of novels exploring the highs and lows of the human condition. With good reason, critics have seen their texts as providing first-hand information on women's perceptions of society. In this regard, the 1998-99 crop is no different from that of previous years. New talents such as Fatou Keïta, Adjoua Flore Kouamé, Bessora, Myriam Warner Vieyra's daughter Célia Vieyra, and many others rub shoulders with household names such as Calixthe Beyala, Véronique Tadjo, Aminata Sow Fall, Mariama Ndoye, Ken Bugul, and other well-established writers. Issues traditionally associated with African women's writing in years past, such as polygamy, forced marriage, and women's limited opportunities are still there, although not as prominently as before. Conversely, new problematics born of rapidly changing sociocultural environments are finding their way into the corpus. Among them, the issue of violence and survival in hostile environments seems to gain momentum while the soothing virtue of human interaction becomes a kind of last refuge in the face of extreme economic hardship, domestic violence, the collapse of social values, and war. Needless to say, understanding what recent African women's writing is all about requires readers to go beyond the mere listing of violent acts. It requires an exploration of the way people answer the challenge of surviving in rough and often inhumane conditions, how they assess the past to better understand the future, how they devise new strategies, follow new dreams, and attempt to make do with the often limited resources at their disposal.