In this chapter, I examine the omniscience as a narrative technique employed in Andrée Chedid's La Maison sans racines and Le Message and Evelyne Accad's Coquelicot du massacre. My claim is that these women writers tell war stories through the voice of a humanist omniscient narrator who attempts to illustrate the goodness in all human beings and to emphasise their commonalities. The omniscient narrator's humanity is reflected through a technical ability to show multiple points of view including the views of the combatants during the civil war.

I should point out that the notion of omniscient narrator has in fact raised a lot of questions. How does one label a novel told by an omniscient narrator? Are there minimal requirements? And what if the omniscient narrator only has limited omniscience? (Dawson 2013: 32–3). These ques-tions are mostly motivated by the fear of turning the omniscient narrator into a ‘dumping-ground filled with a wide range of distinct narrative techniques’ (Martin 1986: 146; Dawson 2013: 33). These concerns are certainly legitimate. However, as Meir Sternberg argues, theorists should be more concerned with the where, the how and the why all this privileging has happened. He says:

As such, and in keeping with Sternberg's questions, I will examine the where, the how and the why the omniscient narrator appears in these novels. I will start by reviewing the definition of the omniscient narrator as it is essential to properly understand its role in war narratives. I will then move to examine the reasons that may explain the writers’ decision to use the omniscient narrator and the limitations imposed by that decision. Finally, I will examine the role of the omniscient voice and its effects in La Maison sans racines, Le Message and Coquelicot du massacre.