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Libertinage et feminisme dans les lettres du colonel talbert de francoise-albine puzin de la martiniere benoist
- Date Issued:
- 2014
- Summary:
- In 1767, Mme Benoist published an epistolary libertine novel entitled Lettres du Colonel Talbert. Although she has received little critical attention to date, she was a prolific author who appeared with great regularity at minor literary salons. Her presence at these salons is well-established in personal memoirs and correspondences, and actively remarked upon by other authors—men and women—of the period, including Mme Roland and Choderlos de Laclos. Mme Benoist’s preferred genre was the novel with its explicit blend of high and low literary cultures, its melding of the philosophical and the sentimental, its pursuit of formal innovation, and its deliberate marketing in multiple formats and for multiple audiences, including publication through the mainstream book market, and serial publication in revues and journals with a large female readership, such as the Journal des Dames. This study focuses on Lettres du Colonel Talbert (1767) as both a paradigmatic and privileged text inside Mme Benoist’s larger corpus, and one which explicitly engages many of the most pressing moral and philosophical debates of the period, including the legal status of women. To do so, Mme Benoist appropriates the libertine novel as specific novelistic subtype. In Les Lettres du Colonel Talbert, Mme Benoist parodies the libertine novel and in doing so, converts the libertine textual economy to one in which well-established narrative codes of femininity and masculinity are inverted. Although her depiction of the heroine, Hélène—an exceptional and courageous young woman who resists the predatory advances of a man through sheer strength of moral character—is not in itself unusual, Mme Benoist’s choice to frame her heroine’s moral struggle in a narrative epistolary exchange between two diametrically opposed male “types” in enlightenment thought—the libertine and the honnête homme— Mme Benoist effectively subverts masculine textual dynamics at the level of plot and character. More importantly, she also subverts the libertine novel’s traditional identification with masculine authorship.
Title: | Libertinage et feminisme dans les lettres du colonel talbert de francoise-albine puzin de la martiniere benoist. |
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Name(s): |
Montonen, Jane M., author Munson, Marcella L., Thesis advisor Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters Department of Languages, Lingustics and Comparative Literature |
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Type of Resource: | text | |
Genre: | Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation | |
Date Created: | 2014 | |
Date Issued: | 2014 | |
Publisher: | Florida Atlantic University | |
Place of Publication: | Boca Raton, Fla. | |
Physical Form: | application/pdf | |
Extent: | 347 p. | |
Language(s): | English | |
Summary: | In 1767, Mme Benoist published an epistolary libertine novel entitled Lettres du Colonel Talbert. Although she has received little critical attention to date, she was a prolific author who appeared with great regularity at minor literary salons. Her presence at these salons is well-established in personal memoirs and correspondences, and actively remarked upon by other authors—men and women—of the period, including Mme Roland and Choderlos de Laclos. Mme Benoist’s preferred genre was the novel with its explicit blend of high and low literary cultures, its melding of the philosophical and the sentimental, its pursuit of formal innovation, and its deliberate marketing in multiple formats and for multiple audiences, including publication through the mainstream book market, and serial publication in revues and journals with a large female readership, such as the Journal des Dames. This study focuses on Lettres du Colonel Talbert (1767) as both a paradigmatic and privileged text inside Mme Benoist’s larger corpus, and one which explicitly engages many of the most pressing moral and philosophical debates of the period, including the legal status of women. To do so, Mme Benoist appropriates the libertine novel as specific novelistic subtype. In Les Lettres du Colonel Talbert, Mme Benoist parodies the libertine novel and in doing so, converts the libertine textual economy to one in which well-established narrative codes of femininity and masculinity are inverted. Although her depiction of the heroine, Hélène—an exceptional and courageous young woman who resists the predatory advances of a man through sheer strength of moral character—is not in itself unusual, Mme Benoist’s choice to frame her heroine’s moral struggle in a narrative epistolary exchange between two diametrically opposed male “types” in enlightenment thought—the libertine and the honnête homme— Mme Benoist effectively subverts masculine textual dynamics at the level of plot and character. More importantly, she also subverts the libertine novel’s traditional identification with masculine authorship. | |
Identifier: | FA00004141 (IID) | |
Degree granted: | Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. | |
Collection: | FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection | |
Note(s): | Includes bibliography. | |
Subject(s): |
Benoist, Françoise Albine Puzin de La Martinière -- 1724-1809 -- Lettres du Colonel Talbert -- Criticism and interpretation Feminism in literature Libertinism in literature Revolutionary literature, French -- 18th century -- Criticism and interpretation Women and literature -- France -- 18th century |
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Held by: | Florida Atlantic University Libraries | |
Sublocation: | Digital Library | |
Links: | http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004141 | |
Persistent Link to This Record: | http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004141 | |
Use and Reproduction: | Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder. | |
Use and Reproduction: | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | |
Host Institution: | FAU | |
Is Part of Series: | Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections. |