Fairy tales, sexuality, and gender in France, 1690-1715 :
[Book]
nostalgic utopias /
Lewis C. Seifert.
New York, N.Y. :
Cambridge University Press,
1996.
xii, 276 pages ;
22 cm.
Cambridge studies in French ;
55
Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-270) and index.
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 fees in late seventeenth-century France -- 4. Quests for love: visions of sexuality -- 5. (De)mystifications of masculinity: fictions of transcendence -- 6. Imagining femininity: binarity and beyond.
0
Between 1690 and 1715, well over one hundred literary fairy tales appeared in France, two-thirds of them written by women. This book explores why fashionable adults were attracted to this new literary genre and considers how it became a medium for reconceiving literary and historical discourses of sexuality and gender. Integrating socio-historical, structuralist, and post-structuralist approaches, Seifert argues that these fairy tales use the "marvelous" (or supernatural) to mediate between conflicting cultural desires, particularly between nostalgia and utopian longings.
Fairy tales-- France-- History and criticism.
French fiction-- 17th century-- History and criticism.
French fiction-- 18th century-- History and criticism.
Gender identity in literature.
Marvelous, The, in literature.
Sex in literature.
Utopias in literature.
Contes de fées-- France-- Histoire et critique.
Identité sexuelle dans la littérature.
Merveilleux dans la littérature.
Roman français-- 17e siècle-- Histoire et critique.
Roman français-- 18e siècle-- Histoire et critique.
Sexualité dans la littérature.
18.25 French literature.
Amour-- Dans la littérature.
Contes de fées-- France-- Histoire.
Contes français-- 17e siècle-- Histoire et critique.
Contes français-- 18e siècle-- Histoire et critique.
Fairy tales-- France-- History and criticism.
Fairy tales.
Frans.
Französisch
French fiction-- 17th century-- History and criticism.
French fiction-- 18th century-- History and criticism.
French fiction.
Gender identity in literature.
Gender identity in literature.
Geschlechterrolle
Kunstmärchen
Kunstsprookjes.
Littérature française-- 17e siècle-- Thèmes, motifs.
Littérature française-- 18e siècle-- Thèmes, motifs.