A WOMAN’S MEMOIRS: ḎIKRAYĀT WA-MUḎAKKIRĀT OF WADĪʿA QADDŪRA ḪARṬABĪL

Do Arabic autobiographical writings, especially those written by women, have their own specificity? Are they different from those of other Arabic authors? Taking my cue from these questions regarding the na-ture of the autobiographical genre, I examine, in this contribution, the memoirs of the Lebanese writer Wadīʿa Qaddūra Ḫarṭabīl who, like her aunt (Ibtihāǧ Qaddūra, one of the pioneers of Arabic feminism), played a significant role within the Union of Palestinian and Arabic Women and took part in the Palestinian nation struggle to which she was totally committed as she herself affirmed. The memoirs written by women, un-like those written by men, are still scarcely considered by critics, despite the fact that they hold a fundamental place in Palestine’s collective memory.