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French Erotic Fiction: Women's Desiring Writing: 188-199

(Paperback)


Publishing Details

Full Title:

French Erotic Fiction: Women's Desiring Writing: 188-199

Contributors:

By (Author) Alex Hughes
Edited by Kate Ince

ISBN:

9781859730492

Publisher:

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Imprint:

Berg Publishers

Publication Date:

1st September 2010

Country:

United Kingdom

Classifications

Readership:

General

Fiction/Non-fiction:

Non Fiction

Other Subjects:

Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000
Gender studies: women and girls

Dewey:

843.912093538

Physical Properties

Physical Format:

Paperback

Number of Pages:

191

Dimensions:

Width 138mm, Height 216mm, Spine 10mm

Description

This fascinating study explores the pleasures and torments of love and sexuality as depicted in the works of six important French women writers: Rachilde, Colette, Leduc, Wittig, Cixous and Duras. Historically, erotic literature has been dominated by male writers. Feminist critics have argued that its central motifs of voyeurism, sadomasochism, incest and violence to women's bodies are governed by the unconscious fantasies and prejudices of a patriarchal sociocultural order. The contributors question how this sociocultural order has affected the erotic writing of the women writers studied. They explore the opportunities for, and constraints on, women's erotic writing in the early to mid-twentieth century through the works of Rachilde, Colette and Leduc. This is contrasted with the writing of prominent contemporary authors -- Wittig, Cixous and Duras -- to reveal new developments and diversification within the genre. The focus throughout is on how these writers deal with erotic language and rhetoric, their treatment of traditional themes of eroticism, and -- most vital to recent feminist criticism and theory -- their vision of the female body and women's sexual pleasure. The book provides key insights into the development of women's erotic discourse throughout this century and the diversity that characterizes it.

Reviews

"In this very timely work that will further significant debates in feminist and French studies, the reader is pushed to answer some difficult questions for herself." New Zealand Journal of French Studies

Author Bio

Alex Hughes Professor in French Studies,University of Birmingham Kate Ince Lecturer in French Studies, University of Birmingham

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