The Disillusionment of "Home" in Abla Farhoud's Au grand soleil cachez vos filles

Abstract

"Born in Lebanon, Abla Farhoud is recognized as a prolific author who, at the young age of five, immigrated to Quebec with her family in the early 1950s.  Over the years, she has attracted considerable critical attention as a successful playwright but is also celebrated for her prose works in which she explores the plight of migrants, often women, who find themselves opposed to traditional cultures and values in Canada.... At a later stage of her career, Farhoud published Toutes celles que j’étais (2015), an autofictional work in which the author’s avatar, Aablè, moves to Montreal with her family as a young girl.  But after fourteen years in Quebec, Aablè’s family travels to Lebanon, which sets the stage for the second novel in this projected trilogy.  Farhoud’s Au grand soleil cachez vos filles (2017) reprises some key immigrant issues seen in the previous text, mainly the themes of disenfranchisement, nostalgic longing, and exile."