Damned women : lesbians in French novels, 1796-1996 / Jennifer Waelti-Walters.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Waelti-Walters, Jennifer R.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lesbians in literature.

French fiction--History and criticism.

French fiction.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (282 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, c2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: PART ONE: THE MALE GAZE, 1796-929

1 Damned Women: The Prototypes

2 Contrasting Attitudes: Male and Female Writers 49

PART TWO: THROUGH WOMEN'S EYES, 1929-1968

3 Constrained Desires 97

4 Contrasting Generations: Leduc and Beauvoir, Wittig and Cixous I27

PART THREE: SPECIFICALLY FRENCH LESBIANS,

1968-I996

5 Exploring Lesbian Identity 151

6 Contrasting perspectives: Francois, Best, and Monferrand 187.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [253]-265) and index.

ISBN:

1-282-85876-9

9786612858765

0-7735-6857-3

OCLC:

180773090