Introduction. Scope, rationale and aims ; Research and methodological contexts ; Organization of the book -- The triumph of the muzzled. Introduction ; A mirror of mutations and syncretisms ; Denouncing the postcolonial socio-political malaise ; The female character as an "agent de rupture" -- The representation of the subaltern and importance of community : Leila Abouzeid's Year of the elephant. Introduction ; Naissance of Year of the elephant ; The representation of the subaltern ; Leila Abouzeid's sense of identity ; The community's restorative potential ; Conclusion -- Is every woman's name "Wound" : resistance and self-fulfilment in Assia Djebar's A sister to Scheherazade. Introduction ; Oppression in A sister to Scheherazade ; Is every woman's name "wound" : defiance and self-affirmation ; Conclusion -- Women's life-writing : the sense of geographic, cultural and social displacement in Souad Guellouz's La vie simple. Introduction ; Place and displacement ; Maternal linkages and female solidarity ; Class, society and archaism ; The difficulty of developing a positive self-image ; Expressing the self ; Conclusion
