Conclusion

Abstract

This study has shown how women’s representations of the war years in post-′68 France provide a rich corpus of texts which allows us as readers to understand more about the changing configurations of France’s wartime heritage. As a body of writing which has hitherto received very little critical attention, books by both an older generation of women resisters and a younger generation of daughters of the Occupation show how gendered rereadings of the period yield up fruitful and stimulating perspectives on les années noires. In many cases, it is necessary to follow a gender-conscious interpretation of largely autobiographical texts in order to grasp the impact of the war years on the women writers’ development. Both those who were adult women during the Occupation and those who were children born just before or after the war years have to contend with post-war memories and wartime narratives which have often ignored their perspective on events on the grounds of gender.