French Literature Reviews - 2026

B. Jandey, Écrire l'indicible. Écriture subversive, écriture affective, écriture du corps: les facettes de l'écriture féminine
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics

Brigitte Jandey, Écrire l'indicible. Écriture subversive, écriture affective, écriture du corps : les facettes de l'écriture féminine

Köln: LAP (Lambert Academic Publishing), 2009, 284 p.

• ISBN-10: 3838317920
• ISBN-13: 978-3838317922

Publisher's description:
Women have always used writing to explore their own specificity, regularly pioneering literary innovations. One such innovation has been termed *écriture féminine* or body-writing (*écriture du corps*), as it is anchored in the one domain that escapes patriarchal structures: women's internal experience of themselves and their bodies. This book proposes two methods for exploring *écriture féminine*. The first helps to identify this type of writing—which defies precise definition—and to distinguish it from women's writing in general. The second is an analytical methodology ideally suited to *écriture féminine*: textual genetics, which makes it possible to compare the "first draft" to the finished product. Both methods reveal an essential dimension of *écriture féminine*: its process as an isomorphic trace of women's affects and bodies. For while logocentric linearity symbolizes the structure of male expression, *écriture féminine* serves as a true structural representation of the feminine. Contrary to what has sometimes been claimed, it is not simply the product of theories of sexual difference—vital though they are to its comprehension—but exists independently of them.
Dr. Brigitte Jandey lectures at Macquarie University, Sydney. Her literary research focuses on women innovators in French literature and on textual genetics. She is also interested in French identity, ranging from its cultural construction to its management in intercultural business environments.

The concept of women finding a distinct literary voice through bodily experience and affective expression has a rich history within literary criticism and feminist theory. Scholars have long examined how women writers navigate traditional literary forms and how internal experiences might shape distinct textual structures. Such approaches often intersect with broader discussions regarding gender, representation, and the ways in which language itself has historically been theorized through various cultural and philosophical frameworks. Within these ongoing intellectual traditions, questions concerning the relationship between physical experience and literary form remain central to feminist literary studies.

Brigitte Jandey examines these dynamics by focusing on methods to identify this specific form of writing and applying textual genetics to compare early drafts with finished works. Readers interested in feminist literary criticism, French literature, and textual analysis may find this study relevant to their pursuits. The volume addresses how writing by women explores internal experiences and considers the ways texts reflect affective dimensions. Jandey approaches these topics from her research background in French literature and textual genetics at Macquarie University, contributing to ongoing academic discussions surrounding women's literary innovations.