%0 Journal Article
%T Silence and anguish: Muting the feminine voice in ¨¦liette Ab¨¦cassis¡¯s La R¨¦pudi¨¦e
%A Nancy Arenberg
%J French Cultural Studies
%@ 1740-2352
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/0957155818775287
%X As a seminal French-Jewish author, ¨¦liette Ab¨¦cassis frequently focuses on Jewish issues pertaining to the feminine condition, with emphasis on women¡¯s rights and liberties. In La R¨¦pudi¨¦e (first published 2000), she invites the reader to discover the mysterious, hermetic world of Hasidic Jews residing in the sacred city of Jerusalem. Within this patriarchal community, the locus of the narrative concentrates on the plight of the protagonist, Rachel, a young woman married to Nathan. This essay examines the imposed silence that oppresses the voice of the Hasidic wife Rachel, who is struggling with the unspeakable crisis of infertility in her marriage. This analysis will also study Ab¨¦cassis¡¯s revision of her biblical ¡®sister¡¯, Rachel, as a quintessential figure of suffering and valiant self-sacrifice
%K desire
%K oppression
%K patriarchy
%K procreation
%K sexuality
%K silence
%K suffering
%K tradition
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0957155818775287