The Dynamics of Gender in Early Modern France: Women Writ, Women Writing

266 Pages·2014·2.78 MB·English

by  Domna C. Stanton

The Dynamics of GenDer in
early moDern france
Women and Gender in the
early modern World
Series Editors:
allyson Poska, The University of mary Washington, Usa
abby Zanger
The study of women and gender offers some of the most vital and innovative
challenges to current scholarship on the early modern period. for more than a
decade now, “Women and Gender in the early modern World” has served
as a forum for presenting fresh ideas and original approaches to the field.
interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary in scope, this ashgate book series
strives to reach beyond geographical limitations to explore the experiences of
early modern women and the nature of gender in europe, the americas, asia,
and africa. We welcome proposals for both single-author volumes and edited
collections which expand and develop this continually evolving field of study.
Titles in the series include:
Representing Judith in Early Modern French Literature
Kathleen m. llewellyn
Imagining Women’s Conventual Spaces in France, 1600–1800
The Cloister Disclosed
Barbara r. Woshinsky
Publishing Women’s Life Stories in France, 1647–1720
From Voice to Print
elizabeth c. Goldsmith
Salons, History, and the Creation of Seventeenth-Century France
Mastering Memory
faith e. Beasley
The Ideas of Man and Woman in Renaissance France
Print, Rhetoric, and Law
lyndan Warner
The Dynamics of Gender in
early modern france
Women Writ, Women Writing
Domna c. sTanTon
The Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA
© Domna c. stanton 2014
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Domna c. stanton has asserted her right under the copyright, Designs and Patents act,
1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
Published by
ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing company
Wey court east 110 cherry street
Union road suite 3-1
farnham Burlington, VT 05401-3818
surrey, GU9 7PT Usa
england
www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
a catalogue record for this book is available from the British library
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
stanton, Domna c., author.
The Dynamics of Gender in early modern france: Women Writ, Women Writing / by
Domna c. stanton.
pages cm. — (Women and Gender in the early modern World)
includes bibliographical references and index.
isBn 978-1-4724-4201-7 (hardcover: alk. paper)—isBn 978-1-4724-4202-4 (ebook)—
isBn 978-1-4724-4203-1 (epub)
1. french literature—16th century—history and criticism 2. french literature—17th
century—history and criticism 3. Gender identity in literature. 4. Women and literature—
france—history—16th century. i. Title.
PQ239.s73 2015
840.9’003—dc22
2014012049
isBn: 9781472442017 (hbk)
isBn: 9781472442024 (ebk – PDf)
isBn: 9781472442031 (ebk – ePUB)
V
Printed in the United Kingdom by henry ling limited,
at the Dorset Press, Dorchester, DT1 1hD
contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments x
introduction 1
Part I Women Writ
1 recuperating Women and the man Behind the screen: (Un)classical
Bodies in Les caquets de l’accouchée (1622)? 37
2 The Daughters’ Sacrifice and the Paternal Order in Racine’s Iphigénie
en Aulide 63
3 The Female Mind Reformed:Pedagogical Counter-Discourses,
Radical and Regressive, Under Louis XIV 89
Part II Women Writing
4 The Heroine at War: Self-Divisions in La Guette’s “Extraordinary”
memoirs 123
5 From the Maternal Metaphor to Metonymy and History:
Seventeenth-Century Discourses of Maternity and the Passion of
Mme de Sévigné 149
6 Overreading, Without Doubt:Ambiguity and Irony in La Princesse
de Montpensier 179
Afterword 207
Bibliography 215
Index 245
This page has been left blank intentionally
list of illustrations
cover abraham Bosse, Les femmes à table en l’absence de leurs maris
(Women at Table when Their Husbands Are Absent), c. 1635–1636.
museum of fine arts, Boston. legend: While our husbands go off
and give themselves free rein / and take their pleasure in town or in
the fields, My Ladies, let’s have our banquet (Tandis que nos Maris
s’en vont donner carrière / Et prendre leurs plaisirs à la ville ou
au champs, / Mes Dames, banquetons)
i.1 Peter Paul rubens, Le bonheur de la Régence (The Happiness
of Regency). scala / art resource, ny. 8
i.2 abraham Bosse, La vraye femme (The Real Woman).
Bibliothèque Nationale de France. 15
i.3 abraham Bosse, Contentement d’une dame noble (Contentment
of a Noble Lady). Bibliothèque Nationale de France. 20
1.1 abraham Bosse, Visite à l’accouchée (Visit to the Woman
Lying-in), 1633. museum of fine arts, Boston. 43
1.2 Charles Estienne,“La partie interieure de l’arrierefaiz …” (“The
Interior Part of the Afterbirth …”). From La dissection des
parties du corps humain divisé en trois livres (The Dissection
of the Parts of the Human Body, Divided into Three Books)
(Paris: Simon de Colines, 1546). New York Academy of
Medicine Library, Rare Book Room. 47
2.1 illustration from Jean racine, Oeuvres (Paris: Thierry, 1679),
reprint of (Paris: Barbin, 1676), opposite p. 232. Book Division,
the New York Public Library. 66
3.1 abraham Bosse, La maîtresse d’école (The School Mistress),
1638(?). Snark / Art Resource, NY. 95
3.2 Jean sauvé, after Pierre Brissart, frontispiece to Les femmes
savantes (The Learned Women), from Les oeuvres de monsieur
de Molière (Paris: Thierry, Barbin & Trabouillet, 1682). In the
Rare Books and Manuscripts Library of the Ohio State University
Libraries. 97
viii The Dynamics of Gender in Early Modern France
4.1 Frontispiece of La Gallerie des Femmes Fortes (The Gallery of
Strong Women) by Pierre Le Moyne, published in Paris, 1647
(engraving), Cortona, Pietro da (Berrettini) (1596–1669)
(after). Bibliothèque de L’Arsenal, Paris, France / The
Bridgeman Art Library. 127
4.2 Claude Deruet, Portrait equestre d’ Alberte Barbe Ernecourt,
Dame de Saint Balmont (Equestrian Portrait of Alberte Beard
Ernecourt, Lady Saint Balmont), 1640(?).© RMN-Grand Palais /
Art Resource, NY. 129
5.1 Frontispiece to Helkiah Crooke, Mikrokosmographia (London:
T. and R. Cotes, 1631). Huntington Library, San Marino
California. 154
5.2 Adrian van der Spieghel, Pregnant Woman with Fetus and
Placenta Displayed in De formato foetu, 1626. Legend: “Femme
enceinte dans un paysage [planche anatomique d’une femme
gravide, écorché] (“Pregnant Woman in a Landscape [anatomical
plate of a pregnant woman, écorché].”) New York Academy of
Medicine Library. 155
5.3 Louis le Nain, Le repos de la sainte famille (The Rest of the
Holy Family). From Tout l’oeuvre peint des Le Nain, edited by
Pierre Rosenberg. Paris: Flammarion, 1993. 156
5.4 Louis le Nain, La famille heureuse (The Happy Family, or the
Return Following the Baptism), 1642. © RMN-Grand Palais /
Art Resource, NY. 157
5.5 Louis le Nain, Intérieur paysan au vieux joueur de flageolet
(Peasant Interior with an Old Flute Player), c. 1642. Kimball
Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas / Art Resource, NY. 158
5.6 Georges de la Tour, Le nouveau-né (The Newborn Child)
[Nativity], c. 1645. Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY. 159
5.7 Pierre Mignard, La famille de Louis de France, fils de Louis XIV,
dit “le Grand Dauphin” (The Family of Louis de France, the Son
of Louis XIV, Called “le Grand Dauphin”), 1687. © RMN-Grand
Palais / Art Resource, NY. 160
List of Illustrations ix
5.8 Louis Ferdinand (The Younger) Elle, Portrait de Françoise
d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon avec sa nièce
Françoise-Amable d’Aubigné, future Duchesse de Noailles
(Portrait of Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon with
Her Niece Françoise-Amable d’Aubigné, the Future Duchesse de
Noailles), c. 1688. © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY. 161
6.1 Final page of La Princesse de Montpensier. Bibliothèque
Nationale de France, MS 1561. 196
6.2 La Princesse de Montpensier (Paris: T. Jolly, 1662) (first
published edition), p. 142. Book Division, the New York Public
Library. 197