Improvising Improperly

Chapter 8 is attentive to the innovation that women writers from around the world are introducing into their work in French. It explores how certain books depict inappropriate behavior in inventive textual turns that are transgressive but also transformative, ultimately allowing for the complex formulation of truths that are so often elided in euphemistic writings. Many of the writers who have come to France have encountered prejudice in various forms that they address in their work. They portray racial discrimination and gender bias, and they contemplate the plight of migrants in Europe at a time of political change. Theatrical metaphors frequently emerge in the work of authors who describe encounters in performative terms, emphasizing how the script their characters are assigned appears to preclude all forms of improvisation. Despite the difficulties of this vocation, many women writers describe a compulsion to compose literary works, an irresistible pressure to take up the pen that propels them to write, even when their texts meet with criticism and misunderstandings. The role of generic categorizations often predetermines textual interpretations in ways that mirror the confining societal categorizations these authors represent in their writing. The fictional space of literary creations nonetheless allows for the creative staging of unacceptable actions in which characters from elsewhere who have experienced trauma effectively act out, demonstrating the pent-up frustration and releasing the tension that has accumulated in a setting where they are often not afforded the opportunity to express themselves verbally.