Writers and Heroines: Essays on Women in French Literature Book

These nine essays examine the image of women in French literature from the early fifteenth century of Christine de Pizan to the late eighteenth century of Isabelle de Charriere. While the seminal importance of "La Princesse de Cleves" in the canon of women's writing is indicated by its being discussed in three of the articles, the interactive nature of men's and women's writing is revealed in the remarkable literary heroines created by Guilleragues and Crebillon fils. The aim of the volume is to open doors of discussion, not only on to periods of literature where the woman writer remains a shadowy figure, but also between different periods of literature and different critical approaches to the question of women as writers and heroines."