L'espace identitaire dans le roman féminin : à propos de quelques romancières belges

The space in literature, tangible or spiritual, imagined or directly experienced, creating a feeling of safety or overwhelming, internal or external, is always mythical, and it creates, as Ernst Cassirer wants it, certain value or sense. Space defines every human being and in case of feminine characters in literature portrayed by women, it outlines advantages and disadvantages of woman's condition. Using examples of several novels by Belgian female writers – Bordouxhe, Gevers, Harpman, Rolin – I am trying to describe certain space type to be defined as proper for feminine literature, specifically in its identity aspect. Husband's house (Bourdouxhe), garden in family estate (Gevers), heroine's flat becoming a place of metamorphosis (harpman) and finally restaurant constituting the framework of the whole story on family ties – there are so many ways to present multilayer space in feminine literature, so many places and "non-places" characteristic for female characters.