Mothers of Invention: Feminist Authors and Experimental Fiction in France and Quebec by Miléna Santero (review)

Abstract

Book Reviews153 Santero, Miléna. Mothers ofInvention: Feminist Authors and Experimental Fiction in France and Quebec. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2002. Pp i-xvi; 348. ISBN 0-7735-2373-1 75.00 (Cloth). ISBN 0-7735-2487-8. $29.95 (Paper). Mothers of Invention explores the works of four of the most pioneering feminist writers of the 1970s: Nicole Brossard, Hélène Cixous, Madeleine Gagnon, and Jeanne Hyvrard. One of the crucial differences between Santoro's book and earlier studies of these women authors lies in the fact that Santoro focuses on the "textual practice" or aesthetic qualities of each novel, in addition to the theoretical and political nature of the writers' productions. This shift in focus provides an innovative look at these texts, at the same time that it expands on earlier discussions of these authors' works. Santoro begins with a survey of the historical context for these women's works in the mid to late 1970s, namely the revival of feminism in France and Quebec. The first chapter also explains clearly Santoro's rationale and methods for studying the texts, including her redefinition of the term "avant-garde" so that it might apply to writers as diverse as Cixous, Gagnon, Brossard, and Hyvrard. The subsequent chapters are divided up by author, with three of the chapters giving a detailed analysis of one pivotal text: Cixous' 1976 La, Gagnon's 1979 Lueur, and Brassard's 1977 L'Amer. For Jeanne Hyvrard, the focus is on three of her early novels from 1975-1977. These four chapters are the heart of the study: the meticulous close readings here, along with the dense analysis of the cultural milieu, provide original readings of all four writers. I particularly enjoyed the ways in which Santoro made many connections and comparisons between the French and the Québécois rather than studying them in isolation. One of the most intriguing viewpoints that Santoro offers is her psychoanalytic study of the maternal metaphors in the feminist writers' texts: she argues that while Cixous and Gagnon both celebrate and rediscover the maternal, Brossard and Hyvrard begin by rejecting the mother in order to find freedom of expression, both symbolic and literal, in their novels. Despite these differences, however, all four women created experimental works that deconstructed "dominanf rhetoric and avoided replacing traditional logic with some other form of hegemony. Santoro claims that, because they actively rejected any notion of "authority" that would deem them the head of a new "movement" or school of thought, the "feminist avant-garde did not generate a sustained movement, but led rather quickly to more intimate, less collectively identified writings for all of its participants." (275). Thus Santoro prefers to call these writers an avant-garde "community," rather than a movement. The prose throughout is lucid and the analyses will engage well-read feminist scholars at the same time that they provide a wealth of information— biographical, historical, theoretical and textual—to those who may not know these writers or their early works as well. It will be a welcome addition in graduate-level French or francophone courses and is suitable for advanced 1 54Women in French Studies undergraduates as well. Mothers ofInvention is a groundbreaking work and will provide new paths for future scholars ofFrench and Québécois feminist writers. Juliette M. RogersUniversity of New Hampshire Simek, Nicole. Eating Well, Reading Well: Maryse Condé and the Ethics of Interpretation. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2008. Pp 235. ISBN: 978-90-420-23277 . Paperback. €47. Eating Well, Reading Well: Maryse Condé and the Ethics ofInterpretation by Nicole Simek proposes a critical, ethical approach to the creative writings of Maryse Condé while simultaneously refusing the paradigm of literature as moral code. Specifically, the book examines the way in which the global reader responds to and consumes each text while keeping in mind the problematic of exemplarity. One ofthe greatest strengths ofthe book is the variety and diversity of the subjects addressed within each chapter. Focusing on four main themes including history and globalization, intertextuality and reader reception, trauma and subjectivity, as well as community and ethics, this beautifully executed and meticulous study provides a detailed analysis of eight of Condé's...