Du roman libertin au roman féminin érotique et sentimental 181 views

This dissertation unveils a particular moment in the history of the French novel, between the 1790s and 1820s, when women writers openly authored and published erotic fiction under their own names. It focuses on the works of three largely forgotten women authors: Suzanne Giroust de Morency, Marie/Elisabeth Guénard de Méré, and Félicité de Choiseul-Meuse, and challenges the long-standing assumption in French literary history that women did not author erotic fiction before the late nineteenth century. Studying these authors together allows the author to propose that they can be grouped under a single generic category, called the “érotico-sentimental". When mentioned at all, Giroust de Morency, Choiseul-Meuse, and Guénard de Méré have often been studied primarily for their gender rather than for the literary qualities of their texts – that is, for being women who wrote erotic fiction. This dissertation offers not only a close reading of their novels for their aesthetic and thematic value but also extends beyond the few works that are habitually cited. Examining their complete corpus – many of which required rediscovery, as the novels are rare and difficult to access – reveals that all three wrote erotic, sentimental, and moralistic fiction. These genres should not be viewed as contradictory but rather as a necessary blending that allowed women writers to maintain respectability. The clear evolution in tone, from the explicit eroticism of the late 1790s and early 1800s to increasingly veiled expressions of sexuality (particularly in depictions of lesbian desire), reflects both the rise of Napoleonic moral values and the broader backlash against women as political actors and literary figures.

PHD (Doctor of Philosophy)

libertine novel; women's writings; eroticism; eighteenth century; nineteenth century; sentimental novel

French

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2026-01-29