A revision of the author's thesis, Oxford. / "Choix de lettres de Madame Cottin et de ses correspondents": p. [267]-403. Bibliography: p. [412]-423.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Leipzig. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. [5]-6).

No description available.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

<p>"Sentimental Manipulations: Duty and Desire in the Novels of Sophie Cottin" examines four novels by Sophie Cottin, from 1798 until 1806. A forgotten but once-popular novelist, Cottin used the theme of motherhood to develop the relationship between women and desire and duty. These novels use the sentimental novel in different ways that challenge the limits of genre and confront social perceptions of motherhood. The generic transitions reveal subversive representations of women's sexuality and choice. The author's rewriting of motherhood and genre thus plays a crucial role in understanding the complex and developing notion of the sentimental novel in a period of transition after the Revolution. The eighteenth century gave rise to more structured gender divisions in society that provided little space for women's freedom outside of the patriarchal dictates of the family and motherhood. Jean-Jacques Rousseau's 1761 publication of <italic> Julie; ou la Nouvelle Héloïse</italic> and his 1762 publication of <italic> Emile; ou de l'éducation</italic> are thought to have defined social roles for women in relation to their reproductive abilities. The novel, as a site of social production, was understood to have influential moral implications and was used to confront and maintain socially accepted behavior. Mother-child depictions in literature, therefore, reveal socially acceptable behavior for women. My first chapter examines the development of motherhood as a form of social duty imposed on women. I explore the Rousseauian themes in Cottin's first sentimental epistolary novel, <italic> Claire d'Albe</italic>, published in 1978. The representation of adultery reveals the complex relationship between women's duty, virtue, and sexuality. In my second chapter, I analyze how Cottin manipulates the epistolary sentimental genre in <italic> Amélie Mansfield</italic>, published in 1802. Cottin creates narrative spaces that privilege women's expression and redefine women's choice through a violent and controversial depiction of the protagonist's suicide. I explore the social implications of the removal of the suicide scene from all publications of the novel after 1805. My third chapter examines the incorporation of elements of the travel narrative into the sentimental genre in <italic> Malvina </italic>, published in 1800, and <italic>Elisabeth; ou les exilés de Sibérie</italic>, published in 1805. Through the description of travel, I explore Cottin's representations of duty and women's education at two distinct moments in her publishing career.</p> / Dissertation

Les romancières du XVIIIe siècle ont rencontré – en leur temps – un succès réel et vif à l’échelle européenne. Elles ont pourtant été écartées de la transmission du patrimoine littéraire. Il importe d’élucider les causes et les circonstances de cette mise à l’écart. Elles bousculent, avec une rare insolence, les présupposés liés à l’auctorialité, au genre romanesque et à l’écriture des femmes. Ce travail explore les destinées de quelques-unes de ces romancières – Mme Riccoboni, Mme de Tencin, Mme d’Epinay – et de leurs textes afin de prendre la mesure des représentations imaginaires qui ont façonné leur réception. Il s’agit par conséquent de renouveler la lecture de ces textes que, peut-être, nous ne savons pas, ou plus, lire. C’est ce que permet la notion de décalage. Par le jeu des discours, les romans de Mme de Tencin et de Mme de Fontaines subvertissent l’ordre symbolique de la société patriarcale. De ces romans se dégagent les spécificités d’une position féminine. Ces textes ont tendance, pourtant, à figer in fine les termes du discours romanesque. L’ironie aux multiples usages est le discours qui permet de sortir des impasses discursives rencontrées dans cette étude. Dans sa diversité, l’ironie est la plus à même de maintenir, pour les personnages féminins de Mme de Souza, de Mme Cottin ou dans les romans de Mme de Charrière, l’ouverture du décalage, l’insolence du questionnement, véritable condition du littéraire et du féminin. / 18th century female novelists enjoyed, in their time, strong and vibrant acclaim throughout Europe. Their work nonetheless did not become part of the literary heritage. It is important to analyse the circumstances and reasons for this exclusion.They irreverently question the codes and conventions of authorship, as well as fiction and women’s writing. This work explores the fate of some of these writers – Mme Riccoboni, Mme de Tencin, Mme d’Epinay – and their work, so as to understand the full extent of the collective projections that explain how they have been perceived.Hence, we need to go back on these novels which, maybe, we no longer know how to read. This is made possible by the notion of distance, incongruence or discrepancy. Through the play of different discourses, Mme de Tencin’s and Mme de Fontaines’ novels subvert the symbolic order of patriarchal society. Their novels set out the contours and specifics for the position of women. Yet, they tend to overly constrain the rules of fictional discourse.Irony, in its multiple shapes, is the discourse that allows to circumvent the discursive traps encountered in this study. In its diversity, irony is best suited to sustain – for the female characters of Mme de Souza, Mme Cottin or those in Mme de Charrière’s novels – the opening brought about by distance, the irreverence of questioning – true requirement for literature as well as for all that is feminine.