Damned Women: Lesbians in French Novels, 1796-1996McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 2000 - 270 pages Damned Women charts the previously unexplored literary territory of the place of lesbians in the French novel. Beginning with the early depictions of lesbians as "decadent monsters" by nineteenth-century male authors such as Diderot, Balzac, and Gautier, Jennifer Waelti-Walters shows how later, little-known female writers struggled to free lesbian characters from imposed stereotypes. While homosexual men are legion in the history of French literature and criticism, until now no critic writing in French or English has given the same sort of attention to lesbians. Waelti-Walters covers two hundred years of fiction, beginning with the publication of Diderot's The Nun in 1796 and ending with present-day lesbian writers Jocelyne François, Mireille Best, Hélène de Monferrand, and the authors connected to Geneviève Pastre's lesbian publishing house. While she deals with renowned authors such as Violette Leduc and Monique Wittig, including their respective literary and personal relationships with Simone de Beauvoir and Hélène Cixous, many of the writers discussed will be unknown to most readers. Their novels vary from the extraordinarily powerful to the utterly trite; by providing the first comprehensive guide to this body of work Waelti-Walters sheds light on French literary and cultural history. Waelti-Walters shows how the lesbian authors of this literature had little or no contact with each other, let alone with lesbians outside France. She describes their world and its effects on their work, showing how their situation differs from that of British and North American lesbians. Damned Women tells a story of alienation, persecution, and isolation within a culture. It is a cultural and literary commentary full of new information, forgotten or little known authors, poignant surprises, and unexpected interrelationships. Jennifer Waelti-Walters is retired from the Department of Women's Studies, University of Victoria. |
Table des matières
The Prototypes II | 11 |
Male and Female Writers | 49 |
Constrained Desires | 97 |
Leduc and Beauvoir Wittig | 127 |
Exploring Lesbian Identity | 151 |
François Best and Monferrand | 187 |
Conclusion | 211 |
French Quotations | 225 |
Bibliography | 253 |
267 | |
Autres éditions - Tout afficher
Expressions et termes fréquents
adolescent Adrienne Althia Amédée amour Annhine attitudes avait Balzac Beauvoir behaviour body Bonheurs Bonifas c'est Camille caresses Catherine Cécile Cixous Claudine Colette context created d'une daughter desire Diderot elle Emmeline emotional father feelings female feminine feminist femmes Fille aux yeux French novel Gallimard Galzy gender girl Hélène Hélène Cixous Héloïse Henri heterosexual homophobia homosexuality husband Ibid Irène Isabelle Jocelyne François Josèphe Julienne kiss l'amour La Religieuse lesbian characters lesbian love Lesbos Liane de Pougy literary literature living lovemaking lover Madame Dolls Madame XXX Madeleine Mademoiselle Mademoiselle de Maupin male gaze Marie Maupin Mila Mireille Mireille Best Monési Monferrand Monique Wittig mother narrator novelists Paquita Paris passion Paul Pauline qu'elle reader relationship Religieuse Renaud Rézi Rosette Saint-Agen Sarah scene sensuality sexual Simone de Beauvoir social Sophie story Suzanne Sylvie Théodore Thérèse tion tout trans Violette Leduc voluptuousness woman women writing yeux d'or young
Références à ce livre
Historia y análisis político del lesbianismo: la liberación de una generación Beatriz Gimeno Affichage d'extraits - 2005 |