Ananda Devi: Feminism, Narration and Polyphony <i>Ananda Devi: Feminism, Narration and Polyphony</i> . By R <scp>itu</scp> T <scp>yagi</scp> . (Chiasma, 32.) Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2013. 196 pp.

In this first book-length critical study of the prose of Ananda Devi, one of the most eminent francophone writers of the Indian Ocean, Ritu Tyagi explores Devi's multi-faceted approach to narrative. At the core of Tyagi's work is the notion that Devi offers readers a variety of narrative strategies, while resisting ‘the dominant, androcentric narrative’ (p. 173), and consequently creates a notion of identity that is multiple and free of insularity: ‘a rich array of possibilities for feminine silence to voice itself’ (ibid.). Tyagi, a specialist of identity construction and feminist theory as related to Mauritian literature and culture, supports her study with references to foundational works on Devi from Françoise Lionnet to Patrick Sultan, and provides a crucial examination of what is an area of growing interest. Organized into three chapters, the book offers readers a broad overview of the varying degrees of emotion that we see in Devi's work — from suffering and pain to optimism and emancipation. In her first chapter, and with reference to theorist Susan Lanser, Tyagi reads Devi's married narrators as liberated women freeing themselves from their conjugal plots, aligning themselves with ‘plotlessness’. Via this plotlessness, which ‘allows the narratee to contribute in the construction of the narrative’ (p. 24), Devi's texts are revealed to be ‘characterized by a “feminine” desire to communicate’ (p. 80). Chapter 2 goes on to discuss the concept of the cyclical, and thus a deviation from a linear progression of narrative, and the ‘influence of Indian epics and folktales’ (p. 81), demonstrating a pluritemporality, according to Tyagi, that allows Devi to bring ‘multiple voices to join in the art of narration, which facilitates the expression of marginalized voices through multisubjectivity’ (pp. 117–18). In her final chapter, Tyagi interprets Devi's non-Western writing techniques, which merge ‘Western reality with the magic of the Orient and [allow] her characters accessibility to extra-real and magical spaces’ (p. 24). Devi allows ‘feminine potential [to be] excavated from the patriarchal myths that have limited women to restricted roles for ages’ (p. 171). Chapter 3 examines the evolution of Devi's œuvre over the course of forty years, and underscores Devi's take on excessive violence in her novel Le Sari vert (Paris: Gallimard, 2009). In short, Tyagi's book contributes significantly to the field of francophone studies, and is to be recommended for scholars of francophone culture and literature, in particular those in the emerging field of feminist narratology.

Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.