Contenu du sommaire : Femmes écrivains au tournant du siècle.

This article attempts to unearth those elements which bind the character of the Old Woman, more than that of any other figure in African-American theater, to the half-human, half-divine mythical Trickster. The essay examines the Old Woman's flair, her ambivalent personality, her mastery of language, exageration and humour and, above all, her eagerness to lead others into situations of conflict. It is based on plays by Georgia D. Johnson, Marita Bonner, Louis Feterson, Abram Hill, Theodore ward, Loften Mitchell, Lorraine Hansberry, Ted Shine, Gayl Jones, Dianne Houston, Leslie Lee, Robert Alexander, Elizabeth Brown Guillory and August Wilson.

The aim of this paper is to study the professional relationship between French American Studies specialists with their American colleagues and to analyze the specific contributions they, along with many other non-Americans, make to the field. As outsiders the French may have to overcome a geographic and cultural handicap but they also provide their American colleagues with fresh view-points and angles to tackle the many facets of American life. The relationship between insiders and outsiders is often central to a mutual widening of perceptions. America itself is made up of a collection of outsider groups, and the marginalized and forgotten within American society are in a similar position vis-à-vis mainstream society as foreign analysts are in relation to America. Their perceptions of America enrich the whole culture of the United States which, probably more than other countries, has a "common culture that is multicultural." Foreign observers, who work with Americans and in American institutions, often prove to be a boon to Americans themselves who might be too immersed in their cultural milieu to perceive what they take for granted. In the same way as Americanists the world over obviously benefit from the work of their American counterparts, the field of American Studies can only be enriched by transnational observation and cooperation.