Rachilde and French women's authorship from decadence to modernism / Melanie C. Hawthorne.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hawthorne, Melanie.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women and literature--France.

Women and literature.

Authors, French--20th century--Biography.

Authors, French.

Authors, French--19th century--Biography.

Rachilde, 1860-1953.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 304 p. ) ill. ;

Manufacture:

Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2012

Place of Publication:

Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Under the assumed name Rachilde, Marguerite Eymery (1860-1953) wrote over sixty works of fiction, drama, poetry, memoir, and criticism, including Monsieur Vénus, one of the most famous examples of decadent fiction. She was closely associated with the literary journal Mercure de France, inspired parts of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, and mingled with all the literary lights of the day. Yet for all that, very little has been written about her. Melanie C. Hawthorne corrects this oversight and counters the traditional approach to Rachilde by persuasively portraying this "eccentric" as patently representative of the French women writers of her time and of the social and literary issues they faced. Seen in this light, Rachilde's writing clearly illustrates important questions in feminist literary theory as well as significant features of turn-of-the-century French society. Hawthorne arranges her approach to Rachilde around several defining events in the author's life, including the controversial publication of Monsieur Vénus, with its presentation of sex reversals. Weaving back and forth in time, she is able to depict these moments in relation to Rachilde's life, work, and times and to illuminate nineteenth-century publishing practices and rivalries, including authorial manipulations of the market for sexually suggestive literature. The most complete and accurate account yet written of this emblematic author, Hawthorne's work is also the first to situate Rachilde in the broader social contexts and literary currents of her time and of our own.

Contents:

Introduction: On Writing Biography: In which the author pays a visit to Perigueux and makes a detour to Galveston

1860, February 11, Women as Outsiders: In which Marguerite Eymery (Rachilde) is born, a werewolf appears, and traps are both set and sprung

1870, October 29, The Ambivalence of the Paternal: In which Captain Eymery is taken prisoner

1875, January or Early February, The Cultural Injunction to Silence: In which Rachilde is engaged, appears to attempt suicide, and meets a ghost who delivers an important message

1876, March 1, Woman as Medium: In which seances are held, Madame Eymery meets "Rachilde," and doubles mysteriously appear.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [261]-286) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780803200821

080320082X

OCLC:

50744992