This rich anthology of writings in French by twentieth-century women presents a dazzling array of literary treasures. The editors, all distinguished specialists in French studies, have expanded the boundaries of French literary terrain beyond France, Belgium, and Switzerland to North and sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, and French Canada. These compelling poems, short stories, essays, memoirs, and novels (some complete and others excerpts), represent thirty-one contemporary authors, including Colette, Mariama Bâ, Maryse Condé, Joyce Mansour, Renée Vivien, Nathalie Sarraute, and Anne Hébert.

Exploring issues and experiences of universal interest from women's perspectives, this collection focuses first on themes of relationships (both personal and political) and how violence breaks them apart, and second on the ways in which identity is influenced by race, language, nationality, and sexuality. The book, which is entirely in French, includes biographical sketches of each author as well as a critical introduction to each section that invites comparisons among the writers' diverse views on such themes as parenting, love, marriage, political and interpersonal power, existence, the process of becoming a writer, and the formation of an identity in a polyphonic and pluralistic world.