Gender and Voice in the French Novel, 1730–1782

Aurora Wolfgang is a Professor of French and Director of Women's Studies at California State University, San Bernardino, USA.

• Contents: Introduction; Write for success: feminine-voice narratives in the literary field; The novelist turned 'furiously female': Marivaux's La Vie de Marianne; Words and worlds of difference: Graffigny's Lettres d'une Péruvienne; The discourse of authenticity in Riccoboni's Lettres de Mistriss Fanni Butlerd; Embodying the female voice: Laclos's Les Liaisons dangereuses; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index.

'Wolfgang's feminist readings of four major French novels are firmly grounded in cultural history and theory. A major contribution to our understanding of the history of the novel and the history of women, and a powerful intervention in continuing debates about the place of women and the role of gender in an emerging public sphere.' Dena Goodman, Professor of History and Women's Studies University of Michigan 'Wolfgang's evaluation provides exceptional character analyses, especially in the fresh and witty readings of Cécile and the Marquise de Merteuil.' Eighteenth-Century Studies 'This is a probing and finely researched study of four well-known novels that use a female style: two by male authors, and two by women writers... Wolfgang's work looks at often discussed aspects of the four novels and casts them into a new light. Her study, including an extensive bibliography, is an important addition to criticism ont the eighteenth-century French novel.' New Perspectives on the Eighteenth Century 'This is an important study of the engendering of literary style during the eighteenth century... this volume will quickly become required reading for scholars of the period and also for students on modules covering the literature of the eighteenth century.' Modern Language Review ’...a valuable contribution...well documented...very persuasive.’ French Studies