A study of contemporary French representations of women at work.
‘Taking Up Space’ explores representations of women in contemporary French film, literature, television, magazines, and visual art. In particular, contributors reflect on how these images present women at work in various spaces—professional, reproductive, domestic, illegal, and activist alike.
‘Taking Up Space’ explores representations of women in contemporary French film, literature, television, magazines, and visual art. In particular, contributors reflect on how these images present women at work in various spaces—professional, reproductive, domestic, illegal, and activist alike.
264 pages | 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 | © 2022
French and Francophone Studies
Literature and Literary Criticism: Romance Languages
Sociology: Occupations, Professions, Work
Reviews
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments iii
Notes on Contributors iv
Introduction
Siham Bouamer and Sonja Stojanovic 1
PART I Behind Closed Doors: Work and Intimate Spaces
A Transmedial and Transtemporal Reading of Labour on the Run in Albertine Sarrazin’s L’Astragale
Polly Galis 20
Good Housekeeping: Domestic Noir and Domestic Work in Leïla Slimani’s Chanson douce
Ciara Gorman 45
A Woman’s Huis clos: Exhausted Feminism in Paule Constant’s Confidence pour confidence
Jennifer Willging 66
A Life’s Work: Accounting for Birth in Naissances
Amaleena Damlé 91
Sexual Identity as Work in Mireille Best’s Il n’y a pas d’hommes au paradis
Blase A. Provitola 116
Psychoanalytical Work in Chahdortt Djavann’s Je ne suis pas celle que je suis
Rebecca Rosenberg 142
PART II Revolving Doors: Liminal and Precarious Spaces
‘Be proud of all the Fatimas’: From Alienated Labour to Poetic Consciousness in Philippe Faucon’s Fatima
Siham Bouamer 164
Chimerical Cashiers: Exposure, Ableism and the Foreign Body in Marie-Hélène Lafon’s Gordana and Nos vies
Sonja Stojanovic 190
Subterranean Space and Subjugation: ‘Being Below’ in Delphine de Vigan’s Les Heures souterraines
Dorthea Fronsman-Cecil 215
In Concrete Terms: Gendering Labour in Anne Garréta’s Dans l’béton
Jennifer Carr 238
Woman at Sea? Space and Work in Catherine Poulain’s Le grand marin
Amy Wigelsworth 260
From Cabaret to the Classroom: Bambi’s Professional Transition
Maxime Foerster 286
PART III From Opening a Few Doors to Blowing Them Off
Women’s Bénévolat militant at the Beginning of the MLF
Sandra Daroczi 308
Women Working – Women Rebelling. Female Community and Gender Relations in Ah!Nana
Valentina Denzel 332
‘Putting Us Back in Our Place’: #MeToo, Women and the Literary/Cultural Establishment
Mercédès Baillargeon 355
Breaking Down Barriers and Advocating for Change in the French Film Industry: The Career and Activism of Actress Aïssa Maïga
Leslie Kealhofer-Kemp 384
Unapologetically Visible? Representing and Reassessing Contemporary French Womanhood in Dix Pour Cent
Loïc Bourdeau 412
Tracées to Black Excellence? Black Women at Work in Mariannes Noires by Mame-Fatou Niang and Kaytie Nielsen
Johanna Montlouis-Gabriel 440
Conclusion
Siham Bouamer and Sonja Stojanovic 4
Notes on Contributors iv
Introduction
Siham Bouamer and Sonja Stojanovic 1
PART I Behind Closed Doors: Work and Intimate Spaces
A Transmedial and Transtemporal Reading of Labour on the Run in Albertine Sarrazin’s L’Astragale
Polly Galis 20
Good Housekeeping: Domestic Noir and Domestic Work in Leïla Slimani’s Chanson douce
Ciara Gorman 45
A Woman’s Huis clos: Exhausted Feminism in Paule Constant’s Confidence pour confidence
Jennifer Willging 66
A Life’s Work: Accounting for Birth in Naissances
Amaleena Damlé 91
Sexual Identity as Work in Mireille Best’s Il n’y a pas d’hommes au paradis
Blase A. Provitola 116
Psychoanalytical Work in Chahdortt Djavann’s Je ne suis pas celle que je suis
Rebecca Rosenberg 142
PART II Revolving Doors: Liminal and Precarious Spaces
‘Be proud of all the Fatimas’: From Alienated Labour to Poetic Consciousness in Philippe Faucon’s Fatima
Siham Bouamer 164
Chimerical Cashiers: Exposure, Ableism and the Foreign Body in Marie-Hélène Lafon’s Gordana and Nos vies
Sonja Stojanovic 190
Subterranean Space and Subjugation: ‘Being Below’ in Delphine de Vigan’s Les Heures souterraines
Dorthea Fronsman-Cecil 215
In Concrete Terms: Gendering Labour in Anne Garréta’s Dans l’béton
Jennifer Carr 238
Woman at Sea? Space and Work in Catherine Poulain’s Le grand marin
Amy Wigelsworth 260
From Cabaret to the Classroom: Bambi’s Professional Transition
Maxime Foerster 286
PART III From Opening a Few Doors to Blowing Them Off
Women’s Bénévolat militant at the Beginning of the MLF
Sandra Daroczi 308
Women Working – Women Rebelling. Female Community and Gender Relations in Ah!Nana
Valentina Denzel 332
‘Putting Us Back in Our Place’: #MeToo, Women and the Literary/Cultural Establishment
Mercédès Baillargeon 355
Breaking Down Barriers and Advocating for Change in the French Film Industry: The Career and Activism of Actress Aïssa Maïga
Leslie Kealhofer-Kemp 384
Unapologetically Visible? Representing and Reassessing Contemporary French Womanhood in Dix Pour Cent
Loïc Bourdeau 412
Tracées to Black Excellence? Black Women at Work in Mariannes Noires by Mame-Fatou Niang and Kaytie Nielsen
Johanna Montlouis-Gabriel 440
Conclusion
Siham Bouamer and Sonja Stojanovic 4