''The Words to Say It'' is an autobiographical novel by

Marie Cardinal Marie Cardinal (born Simone Odette Marie-Thérèse Cardinal; 9 March 1929 – 9 May 2001) was a French novelist and occasional actress. Life and career Cardinal was born in French Algeria and was the sister of the film director Pierre Cardinal ...

, first published in

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

as ''Les Mots pour le dire'' in 1976. The novel deals with Cardinal's childhood in

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, her sense of loss on leaving, her relationship with her mother, mental illness, and recovery through

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...

.'The Words to Say It', in Barbara Fister, ''Third World Women's Literature: a dictionary and guide to materials in English'', Greenwood Press, 1995.

References

* Dammann, Hiltrud. ''Marie Cardinals "Les mots pour le dire": Autobiographisches weibliches Schreiben im Kontext der 68er Bewegung'', C. Winter, 1994 * * Hoft-March, Eilene
Cardinal's The Words to Say it: The Words to Reproduce Mother
''Studies in 20th Century Literature'' 21:2 (1997), pp. 4 * Martin, Elaine, 'Mother, Madness, and the Middle Class in ''The Bell Jar'' and ''Les Mots pour le dire, ''The French-American Review'' 5:1 (Spring 1981), pp. 24–47 * Powrie, Phil. 'Reading for Pleasure: Marie Cardinal's ''Les Mots pour le dire'' and the Text as (Re)play of Oedipal Configurations', in Margaret Atack and Phil Powrie, eds., ''Contemporary French Fiction by Women: Feminist Perspectives'', Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1990. * Robson, Kathryn. 'The Hysterical Body in ''La Souricière'' and ''Les Mots pour le dire, in Emma Webb, ed., ''Marie Cardinal: New Perspectives'', Peter Lang, 2005, pp. 93–106 * Wagner, Walter. Les Mots pour le dire'' ou la dialectique de l'aveu', in Emma Webb, ed., ''Marie Cardinal: New Perspectives'', Peter Lang, 2005, pp. 171–186 Algerian novels 1976 novels 1976 in Algeria Autobiographical novels French-language novels {{Algeria-novel-stub

References

Further reading