Abstract (eng)
This paper proposes an analysis of the representation of female friendship in contemporary francophone literature, ranging from /Pour mourir en février/ (Anne-Lise Grobéty, 1970), „Femmes d'Alger dans leur appartement“ (Assia Djebar, 1980), /Baise-moi/ (Virginie Despentes, 1993) to /Respire/ (Anne-Sophie Brasme, 2001). Based on the feminist claim that potential for social change is inherent in female friendship, this paper explores how
these literary texts represent a variety of ties among women. To contextualise them, the paper draws on classic texts on friendship (Platon, Aristoteles, Montaigne, Kracauer) by
revisiting them in the light of contemporary and feminist critique (by Jacques Derrida, Harald Lemke, Janice Raymond, Arno Böhler and Hanna Hacker, among others). Based on this theoretical framework, the literary analysis explores whether a 'language of friendship' is enacted and a feminist ethics of friendship is mirrored on both, a content as well as a structural level. To conjoin the political and poetological aspects implied in these
questions, the approach of culturally oriented feminist narratology (Mieke Bal, Susan Lanser, Birgit Wagner) is employed. Based on the concept of reciprocity inherent in
friendship, the narratological approach proposed in this paper examines whether and how the literary texts develop a 'narration of friendship', exploring their use of voice and
focalisation.