Chantal Chawaf 20100329 Salon du livre de Paris 1

Chantal Chawaf (born 1943) is a French writer.

Biography

Chawaf was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

during World War II. After studying art and literature at l'

École du Louvre The École du Louvre () is a selective institution of higher education and prestigious ''grande école'' located in the Aile de Flore of the Louvre Palace in Paris, France. It is dedicated to the study of archaeology, art history, anthropology ...

, she married and lived in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

for seven years where she had two children. She also traveled and lived for some years in Europe and North America. In 1974, she published, her first book, with Editions des Femmes, the feminist press created by activists in the MLF ( Mouvement de Liberation des Femmes) centered around

French feminist Feminism in France is the history of feminist thought and movements in France. Feminism in France can be roughly divided into three waves: First-wave feminism from the French Revolution through the Third Republic which was concerned chiefly wi ...

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. Chawaf’s first book, ''Retable, la rêverie,'' started what critics called " Écriture féminine", along with the works of

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Catherine Clément Catherine Clément (; born 10 February 1939) is a French philosopher, novelist, feminist, and literary critic, born in Boulogne-Billancourt. She received a degree in philosophy from the École Normale Supérieure, and studied under its faculty Cla ...

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, and

Luce Irigaray Luce Irigaray (; born 3 May 1930) is a Belgian-born French feminist, philosopher, linguist, psycholinguist, psychoanalyst, and cultural theorist who examines the uses and misuses of language in relation to women. Irigaray's first and most ...

. Other key texts by Chawaf include ''Cercoeur'' (1975) and ''Maternité'' (1979). In her books, Chawaf explores the mother-daughter relationship and attempts to realize the potential of words to free the female unconscious, to de-intellectualize the body and to give voice to an inner experience. Chantal Chawaf's work on birth and life-giving leads, in her last decade books, to an eco-critique of contemporary society (''Melusine des détritus''). She has traveled frequently in the United States where her work has been translated and studied. She also edited a collection at a publishing house in Paris from 2000 to 2010.

Bibliography

*''Retable. La rêverie'', 1974, Editions des femmes *''Cercœur'', 1975, Mercure de France *''Chair chaude'' (théâtre, essay), 1976, Mercure de France *''Blé de semence'', 1976, Mercure de France *''Le Soleil et la Terre'', 1977, Editions Jean-Jacques Pauvert *''Rougeâtre'', 1978, Editions Jean-Jacques Pauvert *''Maternité'', 1979, Editions Stock *''Landes'', 1980, Editions Stock *''Crépusculaires'', 1981, Editions Ramsay *''Les Surfaces de l'orage'', 1982, Editions Ramsay *''La Vallée incarnate'', 1984, Editions Flammarion *''Elwina, le roman fée'', 1985, Editions Flammarion *''Fées de toujours'' (with Jinane Chawaf), 1987, Editions Plon *''L'intérieur des heures'', 1987, Editions des femmes *''Rédemption'', 1988, Editions Flammarion *''L'éclaircie'', 1990, Editions Flammarion *''Vers la lumière'', 1994, Editions des femmes *''Le Manteau noir'', 1998, Editions Flammarion, republished as ''Je suis née'', 2010, Editions des femmes *''Issa'', 1999, Editions Flammarion * Under the pseudonym Marie de la Montluel : ''Mélusine des détritus'', 2002, Editions du Rocher *''L'Ombre'', 2004, Editions du Rocher *''La Sanction'', 2004, Editions des Femmes *''Sable noir'', 2005, Editions du Rocher *''Infra- monde'', 2005, Editions des Femmes * ''Les Obscures'', 2008, Editions des Femmes * ''Je suis née'', 2010, Editions des Femmes, augmented republishing of ''le Manteau noir'' * ''Syria, le désert d'une passion'', 2012, Editions Ixcea * ''Délivrance brisée'', 2013, Éditions de la Grande Ourse * ''Ne quitte pas les vivants'', 2015, Éditions Des femmes -Antoinette Fouque * ''L'inconnue du désir'', 2017, Éditions de la Grande Ourse *''Relégation'', Éditions Des femmes - Antoinette Fouque, 2019

Non fictional writings

*''Le corps et le verbe, la langue en sens inverse'' (

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

), 1992, Presses de la Renaissance *''L'Erotique des mots'', with

Régine Deforges Régine Deforges (15 August 1935 – 3 April 2014) was a French author, editor, director, and playwright. Her book ''La Bicyclette bleue'' was the most popular book in France in 2000 and it was known by some to be offensive and to others for i ...

, 2004, Editions du Rocher *''L'identité inachevée'', with

Adonis In Greek mythology, Adonis (; ) was the mortal lover of the goddesses Aphrodite and Persephone. He was considered to be the ideal of male beauty in classical antiquity. The myth goes that Adonis was gored by a wild boar during a hunting trip ...

, 2004, Editions du Rocher

Translated books

*''Redemption'', translated by Monique F. Nagem, 1992, Dalkey Archive Press *'' Mother Love, Mother Earth'', translated by M. F. Nagem, 1993, Garland Publishing *'' Warmth: a bloodsong in "Plays by French and Francophone Women"'', translated by par C.P. Makward et J.G. Miller, 1994, University of Michigan Press: 233-246 *'' Fées de Toujours'', with Jinane Chawaf ; translated in Arabic by Samia Esber, 2000, Ministère de la Culture de Syrie, Damas

References

External links