Scholars of French literature at US and Irish universities explore writing about the female body by women across the French- speaking world since the beginning of the 20th century. The emphasis is on how the authors portray tensions between visibility and invisibility, public and private, presence and absence, and excess and restraint. They discuss corporeal performance and visible gender position in Colette's The Pure and the Impure; after-images of Muslim women: vision, voice, and resistance in the work of Assia Djeber; the gaze beneath the veil: a portrait of women in Algeria and Morocco; vision, voice, and the female body: Nina Bouraoui's sites/sights of resistance; the Métix body: double mirror; and the body, sexuality, and the photo in L'Usage de la photo. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)