Katherine Astbury: "La femme amoureuse et le conte moral des femmes écrivains : vers un conte moral "féminin"?"

Abstract:

The moral tale, so often based on the topoi of CORRECT_VICES and PARENT_REFUSE_MARRIAGE, was a form of short fiction practised by many women writers of the second half of the eighteenth century, including Madame Riccoboni, Madame Le Prince de Beaumont and Madame de Genlis. In the prefaces to their collections, they make a dear distinction between their contes and those written by male authors such as Marmontel. The study of topoi can help to identify the specific characteristics of tales by women. Using three topoi (*PUT_SENTIMENT_TO_TEST, *TAKE_UNEXPECTED_INITIATIVE and *EDUCATION_CAUSE_UNHAPPINESS), this article will compare the tales of women writers to those of their male counterparts to conclude that when studying these topoi, a female form of the moral tale does indeed distinguish itself from the tales written by men of the same period.

AsK, jan 2011

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