Fairy Tales, Sexuality, and Gender in France, 1690-1715: Nostalgic Utopias

by Lewis C. Seifert

Overview

Between 1690 and 1715, well over one hundred literary fairy tales appeared in France, two-thirds of them written by women. The first part of this book situates the rise of this genre within the literary and historical context of late-seventeenth-century France, and the second part examines the representation of sexuality, masculinity and femininity within selected groups of tales. The book proposes a new model for the application of feminist and gender theory to the literary fairy tale, from whatever national tradition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521550055
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/13/1996
Series:	Cambridge Studies in French , #55
Pages:	292
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.83(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; Introduction; Part I. Marvelous Storytelling: 1. Marvelous realities: toward an understanding of the merveilleux; 2. Reading (and) the ironies of the marvelous; 3. The marvelous in context: the place of the contes de fées in late seventeenth-century France; Part II. Marvelous Desires: 4. Quests for love: visions of sexuality; 5. (De)mystifications of masculinity: fictios of transcendence; 6. Imagining femininity: binarity and beyond; Afterword; Notes, Selected bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"This is in many ways an outstanding scholarly achievement." Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy-Tale Studies, Vol. 11,Nos. 1-2

"This impressive study provides great insight into not only the Marvellous and the conte de fées, but also issues of sexuality and gender under the ancien régime and at times of cultural transition and unease in general. It is a compelling tale, well told." Mererid Puw Davies, Eighteenth Century Fiction

"Seifert provides us with a solid and learned study of French fairy tale in its beginnings. He has much to tell us, and he shows us that we have much to learn." Modern Philology

From the Publisher