Research Catalog

Fictions of pleasure : the putain memoirs of prerevolutionary France

Title
Fictions of pleasure : the putain memoirs of prerevolutionary France / Alistaire Tallent.
Author
Tallent, Alistaire
Publication
Newark : University of Delaware Press, [2024]

Details

Description
ix, 215 pages; 24 cm.
Summary
"Out of the libertine literary tradition of eighteenth-century France emerged over a dozen memoir novels of female libertines who eagerly take up sex work as a means of escape from the patriarchal control of fathers and husbands to pursue pleasure, wealth, and personal independence outside the private, domestic sphere. In these anonymously published novels, the heroines proudly declare themselves prostitutes, or putains, and use the desire they arouse, the professional skills they develop, and the network of female friends they create to exploit, humiliate, and financially ruin wealthy and powerful men. In pursuing their desires, the putains challenge contemporary notions of womanhood and expose the injustices of ancien-régime France. Until the French Revolution spelled the end of the genre, these novels proposed not only an appealing libertine utopia in which libertine women enjoy the same benefits as their male counterparts, but also entirely new ways of looking at systems of power, gender, and sexuality"--
Series Statement
Early modern feminisms
Uniform Title
Early modern feminisms.
Subject
  • 1700-1799
  • Autobiographical fiction, French > History and criticism
  • French fiction > 18th century > History and criticism
  • Prostitutes in literature
  • Libertines in literature
  • Women in literature
  • Roman français > 18e siècle > Histoire et critique
  • Prostituées dans la littérature
  • Libertins dans la littérature
  • Femmes dans la littérature
  • Autobiographical fiction, French
  • French fiction
  • Libertines in literature
  • Prostitutes in literature
  • Women in literature
Genre/Form
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
  • 9781644533239
  • 1644533235
  • 9781644533246
  • 1644533243
  • 9781644533253 (canceled/invalid)
  • 9781644533260 (canceled/invalid)
LCCN
2023018910
OCLC
YBP 2023018910
Author
Tallent, Alistaire, author.
Title
Fictions of pleasure : the putain memoirs of prerevolutionary France / Alistaire Tallent.
Publisher
Newark : University of Delaware Press, [2024]
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Series
Early modern feminisms
Early modern feminisms.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Chronological Term
1700-1799
View in Legacy Catalog