NOTE: This bibliography appears as it was published in the Fall 1995 issue of the WTF Newsletter. However, we have since realized that Marie NOiaye is a French writer and should not therefore have been included in this listing. That realization has been indicated by a lining through the entries, which remain legible. Annabelle Rea, March 2012

! . . i ' SENEGALESE WOMEN WRITERS A COLLABORATIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY

1' The following bibliography cornes out of the three­ Senegalese women have created a rich literature ! sponsored over the past twenty years (only "the past twenty • week seminar on Senegalese culture, by the Services Culturels of the French Embassy in the years;' however, if one doesn't begin .with the U.S., held ii1 July, 1994, at the Université Cheikh eighteenth-century Senegalese slave, Phillis Anta Diop in Dakar. Four of the participants: Wheatley, known as an American poet!). lt is our Deirdre Bucher Heistad of the University of hope that our collaborative effort will encourage l' ! Illinois/Urbana (DBH), Thérèse O'Connell of more of you to re ad and te ach texts from this fasci­ t Jacksonville University (TOC), Annabelle Rea of nating culture. (AMR) Occidental College (AMR), and Judy Schaneman of Earlham Colle ge (JS) share with you the ir appre­ Senegalese Women Writers ' ciations of the wolks read. In addition, although l Abdoulaye, Maimouna (1949- ).[Fatou Binetou i not a seminar participant, Frances Novack of ' Ursinus College (FN), who taught as a Fulbright Kane Fall]. Un Cri du coeur. Dakar-Yoff: F.B. scholar at the Université de Saint Louis in the north Kane-Fall, 1990. 1 ' of Sene gal in the Spring of 1994, offered ber exper­ Although the author claims that this novel is not l tise to the bibliographie team. We wish to thank autobiographlcal, she acknowledges that it is a ' .~ ' Professer Adam a Dieye Sow of the Département de "conciliation du réel et de l'imaginaire." The news ' ' Lettres Modernes of Cheikh Anta Diop for review­ that her daughter suffers from a heart condition '; ' ! ing our list of works for accuracy before the anno­ leads the narrator to reflect on the meaning of life. tations were begun. And, fmally, thanks to Nicole As she experiences difficult times, she leams how ·< ! Meyer at the Women 's Studies Research Center of to make the distinction between self-serving people ' the University of Wisconsin-Madison (EMN) for and those ·who practice the values they profess. i' \ her last-minute help with one elusive item. ,... This distinction is symbolized by a comparison ' •' . between her first husband who; in spi te of being a ' The list of primary works is as completè as we have religious leader, lacked· spirituality and was a· bad been able to make it We include sorne items with­ hus band and father, and her second husband, a true out annotation, either because no one volunteered believer, who is responsible, considerate and lov­ to review them or because we had no luck in ing. Although not easily available, this book, · . obtaining the texts (or because one of our bibliog­ despite a sometimes weak plot, constitutes interest­ raphers pulled out at the last ·minute!). According ing reading in that the narrator is the embodiment to our various searches, only five or six titles of our of a virtuous woman who tries to reconcile modern list are not available in North American libraries, life with the traditions of Islam, which she accepts but we bad considerable difficulty purchasing sorne without question. (TOC) of these works, even within S~negal. The WIF Newsletter would be pleased to publish an update if Bâ, Mariama (192~-1981). Une si longue lettre. i• l !. someone can help complete any of the missing Dakar: Nouvelles Editions Africaines, 1979. So • '· items. And we would very much like to see this Long a Letter. Trans. Modupé Bodé-Thomas . work expanded to ether Francophone African London: Heinemann, 1982. countrles in a future issue. Thérèse O'Cmmell of Bâ's first novel has become a well-loved classic for ; ,,·: Jacksonville University ([email protected]) is many, both in Afrlca and elsewhere. It remains planning to work on Cameroon and would like to controversial, however, for its discussion of male­ hear from other volunteers interested in pursuing female relationships in particular and Senegalese the African project. traditions in general. Unlike many other texts in this bibliography, Une si longue lettre must also be One practical recommendatlon: even though a analyzed for the beauty of its ly.rical style and its number of these works contain lexical notes, we fonnal innovations. Within the time frame of the have found extremely useful the Lexique du widows' seclusion of four months and ten da ys français du Sénégal edited by Jacques Blondé, imposed by lslamic law (to ascertain that they. Pierre Dumont and Dominique Gontier (Dakar: aren 't pregnant before they remarry), the protago­ Nouvelles Editions Africaines/EDICEF, 1979). tùst communicates by letter, the narrative fonn And a waming: there doesn't appear to be any rule closest to the oral, with her oldest friend. The let~ for the alphabetization of names for those who use ter directly implicates the reader through the infor~ two family names. If you don 't fmd an au thor, do mal address of the "tu" in this ode to fiiendship. Bâ keep looking for her. WIF • FALL 1995 ·• Page 5 has examined a generation of "pioneers," thosc great interest to anyone studying African women's women who came to adulthood with Senegal's history. (fOC) independence, and their persona! and professional -. Cendres et braises. Paris: L'Harmattan, 1994. "recherche d'une voie [voix]," with a sensitivity This second autobiographical text by the lyrical that will long continue to touch readers. (AMR) Ken Bugul takes her from a passionate and violent -. Un Chant écarlate. Dakar: Nouvelles F~itions five-year affair with her married white French lover Africaines, 1981. Scarlet Song. Trans. Dorothy S. Y., to sclf-acceptance and appreciation of the fia­ Blair. Harlow, Gt. Brit.: Longman, 1986. vors of her !ife. While very much a persona! story, Marriage is again the central issue in Bâ's second, it still provides a social commentary on woman's and final, novel. This time she explores a biracial, role, on differing perceptions of polygamy, on the bicultural union within a context of racism, both importance of the mother-daughter bond, and on African and European, and post-colonial xenopho­ the postcolonial difficulties of finding one's identi­ bia. She examines the adjustment difficulties ty. The book would also provide ample material for inherent in the institution of marri age as weil as the class discussion on the role of love (and a man) in cultural misunderstandings exacerbated by the hus­ a woman 's !ife as weil as how cultural differences band's inflexibility and Jack of support during his affect each person's choices. The text's resolution wife 's adaptation to conjugal !ife in Sene gal. Bâ - she happily becomes one of the· Marabout's sev­ also explores the Senegalese mother-in-law's dis­ era! wives- is thought-provoking. The book pairs appointed ambition, her feeling of having been weil pedagogically with its predecessor, Le Baobab deprived of her "rights" by her son's choice of a fou,· and would blend easily into a course on French wife, and her encouragement of his secret Francophone literature or culture, women 's studies second marriage so she may attain her deserved or autobiography. But the former treats many addi­ "glory" through a traditional daughter-in-law. tional themes relevant to students' lives and illus­ Even though it falls to attain the perfection of its trates more fully the effects of colonization on the predecessor, the novel nonetheless provides an colonized. (EMN) (For further details, see Nicole Important examination of Senegalese culture. Meyer's forthcoming review: World Literature (AMR) Today 70.1 [Wmter 1996].)

Bâ. Ownar. ''Mon Afrique,'' ''Courage,'' ''Sécœresse,'' Cissokho, All;satou. Dakar: La Touriste autochtone. Présence Africaine 57 (1966): 128-29. "Drought,'' Paris: L'Harmattan, 1986. Penguin Book of Women Poets. New York: Penguin, 1978. Diakhaté, Ndeye Coumba. FiUes du soleil. Dakar: Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, 1979. Benga, Sokhna (1967 - ). Le Dard du secret. Dakar. Khoudia, 1990. Diallo, Nafissatou Niang (1941-1982). De Tilène au Plateau: Une Enfance dakaroise. Dakar: Bugul, Ken (1948 - ) [Mariétou M'Baye] Le Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, 1975. A Dakar Baobab fou. Dakar: Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, Childhood. Trans. Dorothy S. Blair. Harlow, Gt 1984. The Abandoned Baobab: The Autobiography Brit.: Longman, 1982. of a Senegalese Woman. Trans. Maljolign de Jager. In this sentimental retelling of her !ife, Diallo New York: Lawrence Hill Books, 1991. focuses on the importance of family, recalling with A poignant warning against the assimilation of nostalgia the father and grandmother who shaped false values, this autobiographical novel poses the her childhood and the values of solidarity, respect problem of multicultural identity. Under the pseu­ and piety which they incarnated. Spanning a peri­ donym Ken Bugul (a pejorative Wolof expression oct from the author's birth in 1941 until her depar­ meaning ''the person no one wants"), the narrator ture for France with her husband in 1967, the text depicts her "descente aux enfers" when she goes to centers on everyday life in a traditional Islamic Brussels ti> study. The alienation that she experi­ household, while at the same time revealing the enced as a child after having been abandoned by spirited, often mischievous, child whom Diallo her mother becomes the symbol of the alienation of once was. A thoroughly enjoyable text to read in its Africa from its traditional values. Ken becomes entirety, this autobiography also contains numerous estranged from her roots and takes refuge in vignettes which could be excerpted to provide Occidentalization. Her stay in Belgium, which rep­ interesting reading passages on a variety of topics. resented a "terre promisc,"leads her to drugs, alco­ (JS) hol, and prostitution. She fmally fmds sorne kind -. Le Fort maudit. Paris: Hatier, 1980. of peace when she goes back to Africa. As the first Set in the nineteenth century, Diallo 's novel tells African novel to break scxual taboos, it may not be the story of Thiane, favorite daughter of Ibra appropriate for the classrooom but should be of Deguène Fall, grandson of the founder of Keur

WIF • FALL 1995 • Page 6 Fallène, a village in Cayor. The first section high­ sion to place him, at the age of five, as a talibé (or lights scenes of daily !ife, often involving rivalries disciple) under the tutelage of the family's between her father's co-wives. Submission to marabout The text raises questions about the prac­ patriarchal authority maintains an atmosphere of tice of entrusting young boys to Koranic schools calm wlùch is shattered in the second section when where they are oftcn neglected and mistreated. an invading army from neighboring Baol destroys When Mademba escapes to the streets of Dakar, the village. After witnessing the rape of her moth­ both the power!essness and the resourcefu!ness of er and the murder of many family members, the clù!d mirror that of the women who involve Thiane, herself a prisoner, determines to avenge themselves in lùs !ife so that their stories become their deaths. (JS) intertwined with lùs. (JS) -. Awa la petite marchande. Dakar: Nouvelles Senteurs d'hivernage. Paris: L'Harmattan, Éditions Africaines/EDICEF, 1981. 1993. Written as part of a collection which targets young A fifty-five-year-old lawyer, Anita Tembi readers (eleven years and older), tlùs short novel Mkwanazi, remembers her clùldhood in South recounts the clùldhood of Awa, a young Senegalese Africa and the circumstances wlùch brought her to girl from Rufisque. Because her father refused the Dakar. Having escaped apartheid in her native fisherman 's !ife traditiona! in lùs family, Awa expe­ country, she remains an outsider in Senegalesc riences the alienation of an outcast at the fishmar­ society where her foreign birth makes her an unac­ ket, at school and even in the family compound. ceptable first wife for the man she loves. The novel Given its didactic nature and the age ofits proposed explores the consequences of polygamous mar­ audience, tlùs text is probably of limited value for liages for women and the tensions they experience the language classroom although severa! chapters as they confront- and, at times, defy- tradition­ offer useful insights into the caste system and pas­ al expectations and values in a rapidly evolving sages describing the fish market or Muslim cere­ society. (JS) monies provide informative and easily accessible reading. (JS) , Fall, Kiné Kirama. Chants dç la rivière fraîche: -. La Princesse de Tiali. Dakar: Nouvelles Edi­ poèmes. Dakar: Nouvelles Editions Africaines, tions Africaines, 1987. Fary, Princess of Tiali. 1975. Trans. Ann Woolcombe. Waslùngton, DC: Three The poet, writing under the pseudonym of Kiné Continents, 1987. Kirama Fall, was born in Rufisque, a town whose Born into the griot caste, Fary becomes the fourth name derives from the Portuguese "rio fresco" or wife of Bocar, the Prince of Tiali, in defiance of "rivière fraîche," th us explaining the tille. In lùs customs forbidding such misalliances. Although preface, Léopold Senghor suggests that, because the misshapen grotesque features ofFary's husband Fallleft school at age fourteen, she was little influ­ repulsc her, she accepts the marriage, using her enced by European literature or culture and that she new-found power as princess to right injustices therefore presents an authentically Senegalese done to her caste and particu!arly, to overturn the voice as she writes about nature, God and human practice of burying griots in the trunks of baobabs experience. As Senghor remarks, no matter what in violation of Islamic precepts. Interwoven theme she treats, "Tout est amour dans ces poèmes, throughout the story of segregation and inequality tout, objet d'amour." (JS) of a caste, observations of women's lives suggest -. Les Elans de grdce. Yaoundé: Clé, 1979. another group wlùch suffers unequal treatment in a In tlùs collection of lyric - and often mystical - patriarchal and lùerarclùcal society. (JS) poetry, love of nature and of humanity u!timately lead to communion with God. (JS) :ç>iam, Arssatou. M élissa mon amour. Dakar: Africa Edition, 1991. Ka, Aminata Maiga (1940 - ). La Voie du salut, suivi de Le Miroir de la vie. Paris: Présence Diouri, Archa. La Mauvaise passe. Dakar: Africaine, 1985. Khoudia, 1990. These two short texts are rich in details on the dif­ ficult lives of women. Both contain suicides, for Dogbe, Anne. Afi à la campagne. Dakar: Nouvelles example. The plots focus on marriage - Éditions Africaines, 1976. polygamy, marriage allowing social and material promotion, the dangers of misalliance, male free­ Fall, Khadi. (1948 - ) Mademba. Paris: dom/women 's housebound state, the need to pro­ L'Harmattan, 1989. duce children. Ka also analyzes various African Awaiting an operation which may permanently rob traditions, including ceremonies and excessive gift­ hlm of lùs voice, Mademba records the events of giving. A former midwife and a doctor criticize lùs life on cassettes, starting with lùs father's dcci- organized medicine and the tradition of female cir-

WIF • FALL 1995 • Page 7 cumcision. A member of a political opposition The story of Tante Lika exposes the . reader to party points out socio-economic inequities and the numerous Senegalese and West African traditions. need to change mentalities in order to change soci­ The author details many aspects of daily !ife, ety. Strongly recommended, despite certain weak­ including the art of food preparation, the importance nesses (in character development, for example), if of dress and hair styles for different occasions, and not to teach, at !east as excellent background read­ the role of the family in a maniage proposai and ing. (AMR) ceremony. Lika, Pa Idrissa, MamadJu, Rokhaya, -,-. En Votre nom et au mien. Abidjan: Nouvelles Alphonse, Jean and the others serve as pretexts and Editions Africaines, 1989. create an environment which enables the author to Centered around the question of maniage and its take the reader on a voyage through Senegalese cul­ effect on both extended familles, the text continues ture. (DBH) and expands many of the ideas of the two earlier narratives. 1t illustrates the pressures on men as N'Diaye, Catherine. (1952- ) Gens de sable. Paris: weil as women to marry, and to re-marry after the P.O.L., 1984. shame of divorce. The primary theme, "Qu'il est An analysis of various components of Senegalese difficile d'être Africain, car il faut savoir jongler cultural identity by a well-read and sensitive insid­ entre la tradition et la modernité," is further under­ er/outsider (insider by her family ioots, outsider by scored by a sub-plot concerning drug use. (AMR) ber country of residence and ber poor command of Wolof). In brief vignettes, the author brushes por­ Mandeleau, Tita. (1937 - ) [Danièle Saint-Prix] traitS - such as that of a spiritual guide, or (Sénégal/Martinique) Signare Anna ou le voyage marabout - and describes places - a night club, aux escales. Dakar: Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, "le summum de la grégarité vitale" and a place of 1991. collective freedom "où tout est pennis sous le The !ife and times of a Signare, those nob1ewomen regard des autres." Sbe also examines, for example, of Saint-Louis who married Europeans, at the time the body, the gaze, and the re-importation of African of the English invasion of French-mn West Africa in traditions from North America and the Caribbean. the eighteenth century. Because the range of char­ However much one might wonder about the acters includes people from various classes and author's ability to analyze something like Wolof nationalities, we get a broad panorama of the soci­ rhetoric, this is, nonetheless, an exciting and ety of the time. The style is easily accessible and the thought-provoking study. (AMR) characters often compelling, so the book lends itself to undergraduate assignments. (FN) NDiaye, Marie (1967 - )(Sénégal/France). Quant au riche avenir. Paris: Minuit, 1985. Mbacke, Marne Seck. Le Froid et le piment. Dakar: A non-African novel written by an African woman. Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, 1983. In very classical French (lots of impaifaits du sub­ jonctif), this novel is the journal of the coming of MBaye, Annette d'Emeville (1926 - ). Poèmes age of a young Frenchman. As an mphan raised by africains. Dakar: Centre d'Art National Français, his aunt (a situation perhaps symbolic of the 1965. author's own alienation from ber roots), he reflects -. Kaddu. Dakar: A. Diop, 1966. , on his future and his relationships with other people: -. Chansons pour Laïty. Dakar: Nouvelles Edi- his girl-friend, his aunt and his schoolmates. tions Africaines, 1976. Unable to be close to anyone, he writes his journal This beautifullittle book of nursery rllymes show­ in the third person. The analysis of his own feelings ing Africa as "le coeur du monde" might be used and his états d'ame sometimes bas a Proustian fla­ with language students. The lovely illustrations, by vor. (TOC) -. Comédie classique. Paris: P.O.L., 1986. Paris: Cheikh Ndime, and the text present a tender side of Gallimard, 1988. Senegalese !ife: love of family, school, nature and This "comédie" defies genre classification. It is traditions. (AMR) made up of one long, rambling sentence, without -,-.Le Noël du vieux chasseur. Dakar: Nouvelles any dialogue, in a style again reminiscent of Proust Editions Africaines, 1983. The language is brilliant, the plot (the imminent --. La Bpgue de cuivre et d'argent. Dakar: visit of a cousin, a visit that will end tragically), Nouvelles Editions Africaines, 1983. extremely difficult to follow because of the Jack of formai structure. Un exercice de style. (TOC) Mordasini, Diana (Sénégal/Suisse). Le Botillon -. La Femme changée en bache. Paris: Minuit, perdu. Dakar: Nouvelles Editions Africaines, 1990. 1989. "Le Diable rn' avait, autrefois, promis son aide. N dia xe. Adja Ndeye Boury. (1936 - ) Collier de cheville. Dakar: Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, L'heure venue, j'allai le trouver, ayant puni mon 1984. mari d'une tenible façon, et définitivement perdue WIF • FALL 1995 • Page 8 pour le monde.": a modem version of the pact­ old VieUlamese woman who married a Senegalese with-the-devil. A stream-of-consciousness novel serving in the French arm y during the war in where language becomes the plot The thoughts of Indochina. After the French defeat at Diên Biên the woman who burns her child to punish her hus­ Phu, the narrator, ber husband and their eight chil­ band for his supposed infidelities (but are they per­ dren !cave Saigon for Dakar where she will spend the rest of her !ife. The text raises questions about haps hers?) become more irrational as the story the possibility of cultural assimilation, the complic­ unfolds. In the end, the narrative reaches the point ity of colonized people in the French colonial pro­ of self-destruction, as chronology, events, and even ject and the intervention of History in the daily the roles and the essence of the various characters lives of ordinary men and women .. (Although the mix and tangle. In this novel, the author definitely other short stories in this collection lie outside the finds her own style. A c!everly brilliant text that parameters of this bibliography in that they are by should be of more interest for those studying the non-Senegalese male and female writers, many theory of the novel than for people concemed with treat themes which could lead to interesting c!ass African studies. (TOC) discussion.) (JS) -. En famille. Paris: Minuit, 1990. -. Un Temps de saison. Paris: Minuit, 1994. Sow, Amina Mbaye fl937 - ). Mademoiselle. Abidjan: Nouvelles Editions Africaines/EDICEF, Ndiaye Sow, Fatou. Takam-Takam. Dakar: 1984. Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, 1981. As a novel for older adolescents, the text is partic­ -. Fleurs du Sahel. Dakar: Nouvelles Éditions ularly interesting for the message it conveys to Africaines, 1990. young people: women can succeed in their studies, play sports, perform in the theatre. Mentalities can Ndoye Mbengue, Mariama. (1953 " ) Soeurs dans be transformed. Unlike many others, the story le souvenir. Dakar: Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, takes place in a sleepy small town, not the heroine's 1984. native village, nor a major city. The book provides -. De Vous à moi. Paris: Présence Africaine, insight into ordinary meals, daily school routine, as 1990. well as the challenges of educators. It also contains The sixteen texts in this collection reveal the com­ humorous incidents, a rarity among works in this p1exity of contemporary Senegalese society with its bibliography. A fascinating example of African multiplicity of languages, ethnie groups and cul­ heroinism, because the eighteen-year-old protago­ tures. By p1acing modem and traditional perspec­ nist embarking upon a teaching career is presented tives in juxtaposition with one another, the author as a young "Superwoman." (AMR) questions "notre avancée suicidaire, à pas de géants, vers la Civilisation." In the struggle born of Sow Fall, Aminata (1941- ). Le Revenant. Dakar: conflicting values in European and African cul­ Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, 1976. tures, these texts suggest the importance of being Senegalese tradition dictates that Bakar Diop, an grounded in one 's heritage as "le salut des nou­ ordinary civil servant, has certain social and mone­ velles générations." Written with grace and tary obligations !hat he must fulfùl. Marriage, humour, severa! of the shortest texts would be Death, Baptism, and varions other ceremonies accessible to intermediate students while at the demand that moncy be given and received, regard­ same time providing interesting material for dis­ Jess of one 's income. For Bakar this obligation cussion and reflection. (JS) · leads to corruption. He is arrested and sentenced to -. Sur des chemins pavoisés. Abidjan: CEDA, five years in jail for embezzlement. During his 1993. imprisonment, sorne stand by him, while others, When Yaye Gnagna gives birth to twin daughters, such as his sister and wife, abandon him. Once out fa the red by a French soldier whom she is prevent­ of jail, Bakar realizes that his crime will not be for- · ed from marrying, they decide that one infant, Awa gotten, thus preventing him from leading an honest or Eve Ursule, will go to France with her father !ife. (DBH) while the other, Ada, will remain in Senegal with -. La Grève des Battù ou les Déchets humains. ber mother. Their parallellives permit a sustained Dakar: Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, 1979. The comparison of European and Senegalese culture Beggars' Strike, or the Dregs of Society. Trans. which focuses on the roles and expectations of Dorothy S. Blair. London: Longman; Washington, women in each society. (JS) DC: Three Continents, 1981. Without hesitation, Director of Public Health Mour Niane, Anne-Marie (1950- ) (Sénégal/VieUlam) et Ndiaye orders that the streets be cleared of beggars. al. L' Etrangère et douze autres nouvelles. Paris: Fearing for their lives, the beggars organize them­ Hatier, 1985. selves and decide to strike. Later, when Mour is The foreigner in this short story is a sixty-six-year- WIF • FALL 1995 • Page 9 instructed by lùs marabout to make a sacrifice to Sylla, Khady. Le Jeu de la mer. Paris: tbe striking beggars, he begins to understand tbe L'Harmattan, 1993. problematic situation he has created. As tbe lives of Mour Ndiaye and tbe beggars become interwo­ Thiam, Awa. La Parole aux négresses. Paris: ven, Sow Fall invites tbe reader to imagine tbe pos­ Denoëi/Gontlùer, 1978. Speak Out, Black Sisters: sible outcomes. Altbough tbe feminine condition is Feminism and Oppression in Black Africa. Trans. not a central tbeme in tbe works of Aminata Sow Dorotby S. Blair. London: Pluto, 1986. Fall, here she does approach tbe question tbrough A militant presentation whose purpose is to tbree female characters: Salla Niang, leader of tbe "dénoncer les crimes dont les femmes sont l'objet." strike, Lolli, obedient, submissive victim of Thiam interviews primarily women, but also sorne polygamy, and, finally, Raabi, a new generation men, in botb French- and English-speaking African feminist It is interesting to compare tbese tbree countries, about polygamy, tbe dowry system, women to tbose found in tbe worl<: of Mariama Bâ. forced marriage, economie dependency, divorce, (DBH) skin wlùtening, and, especially, female citcmnci­ -. L'Appel des arènes. Dakar: Nouvelles Éditions sion. The autbor/interviewer sees improving Africaines, 1982. women's lot as requiring changes in tbe structure of N alla, who isn 't doing weil in school, fmds himself society. She envisions tbese changes as collective trapped between modem and traditional education. and international but, neCI)ssarily, not as a simple When given tbe choice, he seems to excel in tbe tra­ copy of European feminist proposais. An important ditional educational setting. As tbe book progress­ book, even if one might suspect Thiam of editing es, tbe symbolic dichotomy between traditional and tbe interviews to support her platform. (AMR) modem becomes tbe central tberne. Ali of tbe pri­ -. Continents noirs. Paris: [Deuxtemps] Tierce, mary characters take sides. Nalla 's parents have 1987. chosen to abandon tbeir community and origins, This plùlosophy tbesis offers reflections on Blacks, wlùle Marna Fari, Malaw Lô, André and Niang Black women and "Black Africa." Thiam exam­ struggle to keep traditional culture alive. This book ines many docmnents, including Greco-Roman lit­ could weil be considered for an introductory erature, French texts from colonial and neo-colo­ course. (DBH) nial racist to abolitionist, French feminism, reli­ -. L'Ex-père de la nation. Paris: L'Harmattan, gious texts, works of tbe négritude movement, as 1987. weil as of Cheikh Anta Diop and Frantz Fanon. Aminata Sow Fall encourages tbe reader to look Thiam analyzes tbe universalizing tendency of psy­ beyond govemment as a whole in order to witness choanalysis and shows how African cultures, witb tbe trials and tribulations of one politician. tbeir extended families and arranged marriages, do · Madiama becomes president of an unnamed inde­ not fit into Freudian paradigms - she sees Freud pendent African nation and writes about it in lùs as a mutilator of women: "Freud n'était-il pas un journal. lbrough flashbacks, we learn about lùs 'exciseur'?" Thiam concludes tbat anti-White past, including lùs origins, his loves, lùs career, racism is an inappropriate response to anti-Black and, in tbe end, wc understand lùs fall from power. ideology. She proposes instead a broadened inter­ He has succumbed to lùs own power and autbority. national cultural understanding as tbe only possible As tbe situation deteriorates, it quickly becomes solution. Altbough tbe book attempts to cover too too late for lùm to escape. Madiama begins to fal­ much and important rugum.ents are underdevel­ ter and tben struggles to maintain lùs dignity, in oped, nonetbeless Thiam warns of applying one spite of tbe turmoil surrounding lùmself and lùs culture's analytical tools to anotber's issues, gives family. (DBH) useful background for tbe study of African litera­ -. Le Jujubier du patriarche. Dakar: Khoudia, ture and culture, and stimulates further tlùnking on 1993. tbe questions she raises. (AMR) Family structure and its relationship to tbe caste system are the focus of tlùs book. The autbor uses Turpin, Marie-Rose. (1957- ) H.LM.IP. Dakar: a married couple, Yelli and Tacko, to illustrate tbe Nouvelles Éditions Africaines, 1982. complexifies of life in a community-based society. Their story points out tbe mutations tbat have Wamer Vleyra, Myriam (1939- ) (Sénégal/Guadeloupe). occurred in tbe caste system and tbe difficulties Le Quimboiseur l'avait dit. Paris: Présence faced by tbe characters who must bridge the past Africaine, 1980. As the Sorcerer Said. Trans. and present. The style of writing reflects tbe oral Dorotby S. Blair. London: Longman, 1982. tradition and includes a nmnber of epie poems Zétou, raised in Cocotier (Antilles), finds herself in wlùch recount tbe family lùstory. This book should a Paris mental hospital for "maladaptation." be reserved for more advanced students who have Condemned tbere by her motber, who had long ago sorne background in African Studies. (DBH) abandoned tbe family to live witb tbe mysterious Roger in Paris, Zétou mixes accounts of her allen- WIF • FALL 1995 • Page 10 ation in France with flashbacks to happier times in Juletane, where the masculine point of view is her native land. She thus reveals the familial and entirely absent; and (3) Mariama Bâ 's Une si cultural disasters that have brought her to her hos­ longue lettre, which gives us the most direct access pital bed. (FN) to the female voice via the technique of indirect -. Juletane. Paris: Présence Africaine, 1982. free discourse. In the final section, Borgomano Juletane. Trans. Betty Wilson. Oxford: Heinemann, looks at portraits of women by age. An excellent 1987. introduction to the subject. (AMR) The diary of one woman's despair over the limits placed on her as a co-wife to a westernized Afriean, Bruner, Charlotte. Unwinding Threads: Writing by as read by a self-controlied fortyish psychologist Women inA/rica. London: Heinemann, 1983. hesitant to risk marriage but wanting a child of her own. This journal raises questions about cross-cul­ Chemain-Degrange, Arlette. Émancipation fémi­ tural understanding, dreams and madness. (FN) nine et roman africain. Dakar: Nouvelles Éditions Femmes échouées. Paris: Présence Africaine, Africaines, 1980. 1988. An interesting study of the image of women in A series of nine nouvelles, about the disappoint­ Francophone African literature, but the book is ments and hidden strengths in the lives of women seriously outdated because it makes no mention of from various cultures and social classes. Offers women writers. According to the author, "li n'e­ ~ choices for accessible ciassroom reading. xiste pas de femme, à l'heure actuelle, qui ait pensé sa propre condition et donné à sa réflexion la forme d'une fiction romanesque ou poétique." (fOC) Selected Secondary Sources Coquery-Vidrovitch, Catherine. Les Africaines: Assiba d'Almeida, Irène, Francophone African Histoire des femmes d'Afrique noire. Paris: Women Writers: Destroying the Emptiness of Desjonquières, 1994. Silence. Gainesville: Florida UP, 1994. The first in-depth study in English devoted to Davies, Carole Boyce and Anne Adams Graves, Francophone African women, the book examines eds. Ngambika. Studies of Women in African novels and autobiographies of nine writers pub­ Literature~ Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1986. lished afrer 1975. Among them are works of four Senegalese women: De Tïlène au Plateau: Une Diop, Abdoulaye-Bara. La Société wolof Paris: Enfance dakaroise by Nafissatou Diallo, Le Karthala, 1981. Baobab fou by Ken Bugul, Un Chant écarlate by The author shows that traditional society had a dou­ Mariama Bâ, and L'Ex-père de la nation by ble hierarchical system: one based on castes, deter­ Aminata Sow Fall. In the words of Mariama Bâ, mined by function (blacksmith, griot, etc.) and one "Books are a weapon, a peaceful weapon perhaps, based on orders (i.e. political power). With the but they are a weapon." Ford' Almeida, while using destruction of traditional monarchical powers by ti writing to criticize the patriarchal order, women colonialism, a new hierarchy has appeared, based 1 on ideological values, mainly those of religion, as ' aiso use it to preserve positive aspects of tradition. A must for anyone interested in African literature, manifested by the influence of the marabouts and w~~n from an "insider-outsider'' position by a religious confréries. Although the author focuses cnttc born and raised in Africa and now living in on Wolof society, this worlc allows the reader to the United States. (fOC) understand many facets of African culture in gener­ al since Wolof culture has been assimilated by Borgomano, Madeleine. Voù et visages de femmes many other ethnie groups. A thorough study that dans les livres écrits par des femmes en Afrique should be read by any serious scholar of African francophone. Abidjan: CEDA, 1989. culture; (fOC) Borgomano has authored a very useful survey of -. La Famille wolof Paris: Karthala, 1985. African women writers in which Senegalese The Wolof family is hierarchical while retaining a women play a dominant role. She analyzes what great sense .of the importance of community. The she terms the "surprising number'' of autobiogra­ system of filiation and relationship in an extended phies, which, in their African variant, stress family family is extremely complex and follows very intri­ and communal !ife rather than individual actions. · cate rules. This in-depth study examines in partic­ She examines three categories of the realistic ular the traditions regarding the choice of a spouse, novel, the most characteristic form of the writers: the relationships among the various members of the (1) those that present no direct women's voices, no family, polygamy, and divorce. A very objective women as major characters, such as Aminata Sow study. For anyone wanting to understand the Fall's; (2) others, like Myriam Warner Vieyra's rationale behind traditions that keep recurring in Francophone African novels. (TOC) WIF • FALL 1995 • Page 11 Milolo, Kembe. L' l11Ulge de la femme chez les -. "La Littérature sénégalaise." 81 (Oct.-Dec. romancières de }'Afrique noire francophone. 1985). Fribourg, Switz.: Editions Universitaires, 1986. Numerous essays on writers and language, orality, This dissertation offers essential background read­ the major genres, and literary and publishing cul­ ing on Francophone African women writers, espe­ ture in Senegal. Includes an article on Mariama cially the Senegalese, who dominate the volume. Bâ's worlcs and interviews with Aminata Sow Fall Milolo situates the women withln the history of ali and Ken Bugul, in the specifie items devoted to African oral and written literature (and sheincludes women authors. Yet much of the rest of the collec­ severa! interviews with male and female writers tion is also of interest for the sense of Senegalese that show, for example, the Cameroonian Mongo culture and writers' preoccupations that it gives us. Beti as considerably more feminist than Aminata (FN) Sow Fall). She does no formai, stylistic analysis, -. "Aminata Sow Fall/' 82. limiting her remarks to thematic issues. Through her years of experience in Africa (she was born and Nouvelles Ecritures Féminines: "La Parole aux raised in Zaïre), Milolo provides much insight into femmes." 117 (1992). "Femmes d'ici et d'ailleurs: the process of female socialization through tales le monde postcolonial." 118 ( 1993). about marriage told to adolescent girls. She also Essays on history, such themes as the body, lime applies her expertise to the dowry system, the role and space, and relations between women and men, of in-laws, and prostitution. (AMR) in addition to articles and interviews with individ­ ual writers. While Senegalese women do not have Mortimer, Mildred, J ourneys Through the French individual articles devoted to them, perhaps African Novel. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1990. because the series focuses on Jess well-known fig­ Ndiaye, Raphael. La Place de la femme qans les ures, these two volumes are useful for understand­ rites au Sénégal. Dakar: Nouvelles Editions ing the general context of women's writing today. Africaines, 1986. (FN) Based on data gathered in the Archives Culturelles "Senegalese Women by the Year 2015." Ed. Fatou du Sénégal, thls study encompasses various ethnie Sow. Dakar: 1993. groups, mainly in rural areas. 1t goes weil beyond Outlines women's current condition, with emphasis rites and describes many facets of traditional rural on the large numbers who receive linle schooling life, following women through the various periods and the poor health care available, especially in of their lives marked by specifie events, as weil as rural areas. At the same lime, thls report calls the daily tasks that .they accomplish. Although thls attention to the changes in women 's status, their study is non-exhaustive and one wishes at times increasing public roles while they maintain their that it showed more rigor and used a more scientif­ family connections. This is the abridged translation ic approach, it is nonetheless a fascinating source of of the French document, written largely by Fatou information on traditionallife. (TOC) Sow of !FAN, Senegal 's first woman sociologist to receive a doctorate. (FN) Ormerod, Beverley and Jean-Marie Volet. Ro11Ulncières africaines d'expression française: Le Sud du Sahara. Paris: L'Harmattan, 1994. An interesting survey that gives a short biography Forthcoming Bibliographies of the writers, a list (often annotated) of the ir works, and not only their novels, despite what the title indicates. Includes answers to interview ques­ Spring 1996: Québec Women tions and references to published interviews. An Novelists of the Quiet Revolution excellent place to begin one's study of these writ­ (1960-1970) by Anne Brown, ers. (TOC) Université du Nouveau-Brunswick. La Femme africaine et malgache: éléments biblio­ Falll996: Swiss Women Writers graphiques. Paris: Centre de Documentation du by Françoise Fomerod, Université de Ministère de la Coopération, 1978. Limsanne, editor of the JOurnal Littérature féminine francophone, numéro spécial de Présence Francophone: 36 (1990). Écriture.

Notre Librairie. Paris: C.L.E.F. Don 't forget to renew your member­ -."Femmes africaines: Femmes et société." Ed. ship! Annette MBaye d'Emeville, 1981.

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