MLRy 99.3, 2004 793 of fictional images of relations between women. This political stance dictates Cairns's primary attention to realist writing. Grounding her work in investigative research with readers of Lesbia magazine, and other French lesbians, Cairns argues for the importance of realist fiction to women's lives, their affectiveand erotic identifications, their social and political affiliations. While she debates the theorization of lesbian identity per se, through reference to Wittig, Kristeva, Irigaray, and others, Cairns remains largely pragmatic in her approach to writing and sexual identity. This vo? lume certainly makes an important critical intervention in the field, but it is, as Cairns suggests, firstand foremost intended as a reference book, an encyclopaedic tool. The main body of the book is made up of three chapters with discussions of fictional texts arranged in chronological order. The first of these chapters studies works written by women who are themselves not known to identify as lesbians. The second two, focusing on 'the insider' s take', look respectively at works by such authors as Mireille Best, Jocelyne Francois, and Helene de Monferrand who focus on lesbian relations extensively in their writing, and at works by other more marginal lesbianidentified writers, in whose works lesbianism has been a less dominant concern. This arrangement makes for an interesting trajectory for the reader. It is disheartening at firstto find how far writing of the 1960s and 1970s has perpetuated stereotypes of narcissism and psychosis, power play and betrayal in lesbian relations. The later chapters, and later volumes discussed, give way to more politically sensitive, romantic, and erotic representations of women's attention to one another. For a reader who has followed French lesbian writing of the period, there is nostalgia and pleasure in revisiting these novels, some more literary,some more popular; in her resourceful and judicious comments on the texts, Cairns makes a good reading companion. In many cases, too, she provides the firstengaged critical discussions of the texts in question, setting them in the context of their author's biography and more broadly within the history of France post-1968. Occasionally too tart?in her response to Ursula Tidd's fine work on the subject, for instance?Cairns emerges primarily as an authoritative critic with a deep commitment to mapping, and transforming, this field of study. Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Emma Wilson Joffo: 'Un sac de billes' and Other Writings. By Tony Simons. (Glasgow Introduc? tory Guides to French Literature, 46) London: University of Glasgow French and German Publications. 2002. iv + 84pp. ?4. ISBN 0-85261-696-1. Tony Simons's introductory study focuses on two of Joseph Joffo'sautobiographical novels, Un sac de billes (1973) and Baby foot (1977). As with other studies in this student-friendly series, the aim is both to analyse the novels in relation to the social, historical, and political issues raised by their writing and reception and to provide a close reading ofthe novels as narrative constructs. In the case ofJoffo,Simons chooses mainly to explore the Occupation context of Un sac de billes and the Jewish identity of the autobiographical protagonist and its textual effects.The competing individual and group identities ofthe young Jewish protagonist are well analysed as Joand his brother Maurice are forced to traverse a country where their Jewishness must be masked and hidden. Reflections on the representation of closed spaces and the main protagonists' movement between such spaces provide stimulating readings of Un sac de billes as a politicized novel of rites ofpassage. In addition, Simons focuses on storytelling struc? tures in the novel and the relevance of key intertexts, such as the Odyssey and biblical narratives ofthe Jews and theirjourney from enslavement to liberation. Less success? ful is the study's joint reading of Un sac de billes and Baby foot. In comparison with Un sac de billes, Babyfoot emerges as a less accomplished text, trailing in the wake of its 794 Reviews well-known predecessor. Indeed, the paired reading of the texts functions mainly to illustrate the development ofthe autobiographical protagonist rather than to advance arguments over narrative form or social and political context. A corollary of this joint perspective is that less space is available to explore...