Writing the landscape : exposing nature in French women's fiction 1789-1815 /
Margrave, Christieauthor.
Modern Humanities Research Associationsponsoring body.
"Women novelists were among the most popular authors of the First Republic and First Empire, yet they are frequently overlooked in favor of their canonical male counterparts. Their penchant for sentimental novels has led some later critics to take their writing at face value as apolitical and domestic, at odds with France's violent convulsions. Futhermore, their carefully crafted presentation of natural settings has, thus far, been dismissed completely. Yet, as Christie Margrave shows, the natural landscape was far from being a casually chosen backdrop for writers such as Cottin, Genlis, Krüdener, Souza, and Staël. Rather, the 'escape into nature' given to their female protagonists was a means to expose and confront the everyday reality and emotional suffering faced by women in the Revolutionary decade and Napoleonic Empire. By highlighting self-expression, and by celebrating the figure of the melancholic wanderer, the social misfit, or the visionary, in the setting of an often tempestuous Nature, they also exerted substancial influence on the literary Romanticism which was soon to capture the European imagination"--Back cover.
Based on author's thesis (doctoral-University of St Andrews, 2014) issued under title: Women and nature in the works of French female novelists, 1789-1815.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-282) and index.
Introduction : A landscape of one's own -- Landscapes of love and liberty : debates regarding marriage -- Landscapes of loss : communicating maternal grief and guilt -- Landscapes of rebellion : natural madhouses -- Landscapes of autonomy and escape : female power in death -- Writing the landscape : the Ossianic north and the debate over women's writing and education -- Conclusion : Reclaiming a space for women's writing.
"Women novelists were among the most popular authors of the First Republic and First Empire, yet they are frequently overlooked in favor of their canonical male counterparts. Their penchant for sentimental novels has led some later critics to take their writing at face value as apolitical and domestic, at odds with France's violent convulsions. Futhermore, their carefully crafted presentation of natural settings has, thus far, been dismissed completely. Yet, as Christie Margrave shows, the natural landscape was far from being a casually chosen backdrop for writers such as Cottin, Genlis, Krüdener, Souza, and Staël. Rather, the 'escape into nature' given to their female protagonists was a means to expose and confront the everyday reality and emotional suffering faced by women in the Revolutionary decade and Napoleonic Empire. By highlighting self-expression, and by celebrating the figure of the melancholic wanderer, the social misfit, or the visionary, in the setting of an often tempestuous Nature, they also exerted substancial influence on the literary Romanticism which was soon to capture the European imagination"--Back cover.
French fiction
French fiction
French fiction
French fiction
French fiction
Nature in literature
French fiction
French fiction
French fiction
Nature in literature