Transregional Mediterranean Feminisms: Gendered Memories and Creative Narrative Futures

This thesis investigates how contemporary female novelists, including French-Moroccan Leila Slimani, Lebanese Hanan al-Shaykh, Italian Elena Ferrante, and Syrian Samar Yazbek, reclaim gendered storytelling's power to challenge patriarchy, reimagine female identity, and sense of Mediterranean belonging within a comparative framework.

Overall, the study aims to bridge the gap between a collective Mediterranean identity and the specificities of each region.

This dual focus is achieved through a combined approach of transcultural analysis and studies of how forms of trauma and memory are embedded in their specific cultural contexts, facilitating a comprehensive exploration of how these feminine narrations both converge and diverge.