Abstract
This dissertation explores intersectional sensitivity in female-authored early modern French literature. I develop an intersectional reading of the interactions between gender, ethnicity, and religion, which as a combination of identity factors have received surprisingly sparse attention in studies to date, despite these being key to understanding the characters’ experiences, behaviour, and agency. My research brings together literary and sociological scholarship to inform my close textual analysis of the three novels. I look at how, and why, these women writers use multiply othered heroines, and the implications they have for their writing on the condition of women in early modern France.Marie de Gournay’s Le Proumenoir de Monsieur de Montaigne, Mme de Lafayette’s Zayde, and Françoise de Graffigny’s Lettres d’une Péruvienne each combine these identity markers within their novels’ protagonists. They are all non-French women, pursuing different faiths, removed from their homeland and brought into a space where they are othered. This marginalisation is examined in the context of France’s nascent interest in the Orient as international trade and religious mission developed, as well as evolving immigration laws and notions of foreignness. These forms of otherness are central to the authors’ ability to highlight constraints on women, as the treatment of the protagonists as foreign individuals magnifies women’s treatment in early modern French society. They each write different endings for their protagonists, respectively highlighting patriarchal abuse of power, inequality in marriage, and women’s lack of access to education. The experiences of the protagonists are surprisingly varied, as the foreign status of the women is used to excuse them from certain social customs. Not only does intersectionality produce new readings of the texts, but the texts themselves also bring greater nuance to the theory as the significance of historical context and the implications of fictional literature are brought into the discussion.
Date of Award | 21 Jun 2022 |
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Original language | English |
Awarding Institution |
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Supervisor | Rowan C Tomlinson (Supervisor) & Bradley Stephens (Supervisor) |
Keywords
- Early modern
- French literature
- Intersectionality