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E-book
Author Waelti-Walters, Jennifer, 1942-

Title Damned women : lesbians in French novels, 1796-1996 / Jennifer Waelti-Walters
Published Montreal, Que. : McGill-Queen's University Press, ©2000

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Description 1 online resource (270 pages)
Contents Acknowledgments -- A note on translations and sources -- Introduction -- pt. 1. The male gaze, 1796-1929. 1. Damned women: the prototypes ; 2. Contrasting attitudes: male and female writers -- pt. 2. Through women's eyes, 1929-1968. 3. Constrained desires ; 4. Contrasting generations: Leduc and Beauvoir, Wittig and Cixous -- pt. 3. Specifically French lesbians, 1968-1996. 5. Exporing lesbian identity ; 6. Contrasting perspectives: François, Best, and Monferrand -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Appendix: French quotations -- Bibliography. A. French lesbian novels ; B. Works cited and general works on lesbianism in France ; C. Sources of French medical attitudes to lesbianism, 1870-1960 ; D. Bibliographies of lesbian fiction -- Index
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
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Lesbians in literature.
French fiction -- History and criticism
Lesbians' writings, French -- History and criticism
French fiction -- Women authors -- History and criticism
LITERARY CRITICISM -- Gay & Lesbian.
French fiction
French fiction -- Women authors
Lesbians in literature
Lesbians' writings, French
Lesbische Orientierung
Roman
Romans.
Frans.
Lesbiennes.
Geschichte 1796-1996.
Französisch.
Genre/Form Electronic books
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780773568570
0773568573