Francophone women writers and their naratives on the origins of humanity

Poised at the intersection of myth, folktales, history and novels, several francophone women writers proceed to rewrite narratives on the origins of humanity or certain communities thereby inventing a new world of imagination where woman is the source of social renewal rather than original sin. Thus, in the novel of Calixthe Beyala, the woman, whose ancestor is the star that strives in vain to save man from self-destruction, prefers to remain aloof from a too intense "sun." Likewise, the women characters created by Simone Schwarz-Bart sidestep the path of man to avoid being pulled along on his endless route of misery. Observing that the "war of the sexes" inhabits the most ancient empires of the Berbers, the Phoenicians and the Romans in search of the lost language of dialogue between "enemies." In a similar manner, Marie-Celie Agnant questions history (in this case that of slavery) to locate the point of rupture and to renew the dialogue with the other who has inspired mistrust since the very beginning. These rewritings trace out an imaginary world of re (birth) where the lost language of the heart emerges from the verbal language of the body.