Rappresentare l’eccentrico: scritture femminili nel mondo arabo contemporaneo

The first part of the article is devoted to the comparison between the different positions that animate the Euro-American and Arab feminist criticism about the definition of “women’s writing”. The second part shows some examples of women’s literary production in Arab countries from the fifties to today, with the aim of shedding light on the specificity of the female gaze, not in its essentialist meaning, but considering women’s special standpoint during history. Although the various national literatures of the Arab countries show some specificities related to local history, women’s writings – from the second half of the twentieth century to today – present a particular interest towards marginality. It is precisely the attention to difference, to the marginal members of society, that constitutes the transversal feature of women’s writings in Arab countries.