Discursive Matrixes of Motherhood : Cultivating Decency and Emotion in Finnish and French Mother-talk

Discursive Matrixes of Motherhood examines women's discourse on their experiences of new motherhood in Finland and France. It sets out from two culturally prevalent turns of speech observed in different social forums: in conversations amongst mothers with tertiary education and in the print media. The pool of data includes: 30 interviews, 8 autobiographically inspired novels and 80 items from women's magazines. With instruments loaned from the toolbox of rhetorical analysis, the recurrence of certain expressions or clichés is analyzed with regard to the national, cultural, biographical, political and daily contexts and settings in which the speaking subjects are immersed. "Staying at home is such a short and special time", the first expression under scrutiny, caught the sociological eye because of its salience in Finland and because it appeared as contradictory with a core characteristic of the Finnish context:long family leave. The cliché was found to function as a discursive micromechanism which swept mothers' 'complaints' under the proverbial carpet. Proper emotions and decency in mother-talk thereby appear as collective achievements. An opposite phenomenon - that of the scaling up of rewards procured by children - was also discerned in the data. Indeed, the French expression "Profiter de mon enfant" ["making the most of my child"/"enjoying my child"] is interpreted as a crystallization of a hedonist ethos of motherhood in everyday language. Secondly, the recurrence of this utterance is analyzed in the light of a requisite located in child-rearing expert literature: that of pleasure that women should take in mothering. Hence, one of the rules found to structure the discursive matrixes of motherhood is the laudability and audibility of enjoyment and conversely the discretion and discouragement of 'complaints'. The cultivation of decent matches between certain categories of emotions and certain categories of individuals also appears as a characteristic of discursive matrixes. One of the methodological findings relates to the fact that such matches may be constituted as sociological objects through the identification of recurrent discursive crystallizations in a given culture. Ideal matches may crystallize in turns of speech and mismatches can be managed through clichés. Becoming a mother entails an immersion in such a particular economy of speech. Key words: mothers, motherhood, transition to parenthood, family, emotions, morality, bonds, rhetorical analysis, discourse analysis, media analysis, France, Finland, comparative sociology

Ying Chen and the ‘‘Non-Lieu’’

The French-language prose works of Ying Chen re-examine the idea of absolute cultural cores of being and belonging which has traditionally been associated with Chinese overseas literature. Her concept of identity, constantly in the process of becoming, can be understood through the various ways in which her own, and her characters', ‘between-world’ consciousness is expressed, namely through the portrayal of migration, the metaphors of shores and bridges, the themes of attachment and detachment, and the discussion of physical displacement and inner exile. The author's theories on literary language, too, focus on in-between spaces, such as that between the real and the probable.

Authorizing a tradition: Theory, criticism and (self-) canonization in French Caribbean writing

As critics have noted, Antillean literature has developed in tandem with a strong (self-) critical and theoretical body of work. The various attempts to theorize Antillean identity (négritude, antillanité, créolité) have been controversial and divisive, and the literary scene has been characterized as explosive, incestuous and self-referential. Yet writers aligned with, or opposed to, a given theory often have superior visibility. Meanwhile writers who claim to operate outside the boundaries of theory, such as Maryse Condé, are often canny theoretical operators who, from prestigious academic or cultural positions, manipulate readers’ responses and their own self-image through criticism. While recent polemics have helped to raise the critical stock of the islands generally, they have particularly enhanced the cultural capital of Chamoiseau and Condé, whose literary antagonism is in fact mutually sustaining. Both writers, through a strong awareness of (and contribution to) the critical field in which their work is read, position themselves as canonical authors.

Crowd Control? Depictions of the Many in Anglo-Saxon Literature, with Particular Reference to the Old English Legend of the Seven Sleepers

This article argues for the distinctiveness of the presentation of crowds in the Old English version of the Legend of the Seven Sleepers . In traditional Old English poetry, crowds are mostly conspicuous by their absence, since the social groupings portrayed are typically those ofthe lord's retinue and the fellowship of the hall. In writings deriving from Latin traditions (in Anglo-Latin, Old English prose and strands of Old English poetry) such as historiography andhagiography, crowds are presented in highly conventional terms based on literary models. The crowd scenes in the Legend of the Seven Sleepers , on the other hand, have an immediacy and urgency that seem based on real-life experience of Anglo-Saxon England rather than simply imitative of the work's Latin (ultimately Greek) source or of other literary models. Drawing upon crowd theory and historical studies, the article demonstrates that the crowds in this text are presented in “domesticated” Anglo-Saxon terms and may be seen as reflective of growing urbanization in late Anglo-Saxon England. “Real” crowds are glimpsed elsewhere in Anglo-Saxon literature but in the Legend of the Seven Sleepers they are particularly foregrounded; this text also presents the literature's liveliest picture of town life more generally.

French Autopathography

Reacting against the assumption that ill people ‘surrender’ their bodies to medicine, first-person illness narratives attempt to restore the patient’s voice to an often dehumanizing and bewildering medical experience. This special issue complements recent medical humanities scholarship on English-language illness narratives by investigating a distinctly rich tradition of French autopathography. Diverse approaches and methodologies will be used to consider first-person perspectives on a range of illnesses, disabilities and disorders, including AIDS, cancer, physical pain, mental health issues, anorexia, and locked-in syndrome. The issue aims to promote interdisciplinary dialogue across genres (literature, film, philosophy) and examine the creative potential that lies at the interface of medicine and the arts.

The Invention of Hebrew Prose: Literary Language and the Dilemmas of Mimesis, pt. 3, sect. 1

DIscussion of how the Hebrew literary language developed and how it is used to create a reality.

The Invention of Hebrew Prose: Literary Language and the Dilemmas of Mimesis, pt. 3, sect. 2

DIscussion of how the Hebrew literary language developed and how it is used to create a reality

The Invention of Hebrew Prose: Literary Language and the Dilemmas of Mimesis, pt. 2

DIscussion of how the Hebrew literary language developed and how it is used to create a reality.

The Invention of Hebrew Prose: Literary Language and the Dilemmas of Mimesis, pt. 1

DIscussion of how the Hebrew literary language developed and how it is used to create a reality

Réécriture des récits bibliques dans les proses du Graal au XIIIe siècle

Ce mémoire présente les résultats et la réflexion d’une recherche qui avait pour but d’analyser les liens entre la Bible médiévale et les romans du Graal écrits au XIIIe siècle. À cet effet, nous avons eu recours aux paraphrases et aux traductions bibliques en prose écrites en ancien français afin de montrer comment les romans à l’étude réécrivaient l’héritage biblique qu’ils comportaient. Le mémoire s’articule en trois chapitres. Le premier chapitre présente les corpus principal et secondaire et en les mettant en contexte. Ce chapitre traite également de la Bible au Moyen Âge, c’est-à-dire de son statut et de sa diffusion dans la société. Le deuxième chapitre s’attache à l’analyse des réécritures bibliques présentes dans le corpus principal en traitant les questions de l’allégorie et de l’exégèse et en analysant la Légende de l’Arbre de Vie. Enfin, le troisième chapitre étudie la mise en récit du rêve comme processus d’écriture commun à la Bible et aux romans du Graal. Cette recherche montre comment les auteurs médiévaux reprennent non seulement les récits de la Bible, mais aussi ses procédés d’écriture. Cette dynamique de reprise permet également de voir comment les textes traitent la matière biblique dans le développement spécifique du roman du Graal, en s’intéressant particulièrement au phénomène de christianisation du roman.