Le Manteau noir is a great success in France and the publisher has already made a re-print. Dr. Monique Saigal (Pomona College, USA) gave a paper entitled, "La récupération de la mère chez Jeanne Hyvrard et Chantal Chawaf," and Dr. Metka Zupancic (University of Guelph, Canada) gave a paper, "L'au-delá irrésistible: Chantal Chawaf, Le Manteau noir," at the Colloque International sur la littérature fançaise contemporaine dans les années 1990" at Dalhousie University, Canada, on September 24-26, 1998. In November 1998, Chantal Chawaf participated in a Paris colloquium of major writers addressing the question, "Que veut la femme?" ("What does woman want?"). In early 1999 a new book, Chantal Chawaf, by Dr. Marianne Bosshard (US Naval Academy, USA) will appear in the "Collection Monographique Rodopi en Litterature Française Contemporaine," from Editions Rodopi, Amsterdam/Atlanta. The chapter titles are:

1. Esquisse d'une éthique littéraire
2. Vers une poetique fusionnelle
3. La symbolique du maternel comme cheminement de la "régression" vers la "rédemption"
4. L'Autre et la problematique de l'identité; les modalites du couple
5. Utopies et transformations de mythes.

This text will also include an extensive Bibliography, and the text discusses all of Chawaf's works, from Rétable through Le Manteau noir.