Les femmes qui écrivent: A Visual Album on Women Writers

Published by Flammarion, this album profiles celebrated female novelists and poets from the Middle Ages to the present, including Hildegard of Bingen, Marguerite Duras, Simone de Beauvoir, Françoise Sagan, and Arundhati Roy. Stefan Bollmann provides dictionary-like biographical entries, while Laure Adler contributes a critical preface that explores the paradox of writing as both a curse and a blessing. Adler argues that these women never formed a collective but pursued solitary, individual adventures. The book is noted for omissions such as Violette Leduc and for Bollmann's occasional critical remarks, e.g., questioning Anaïs Nin's authenticity. The volume is described as a useful but incomplete popularization, elevated by Adler's insightful analysis.