This thesis examines the shape and significance of different narrative and discursive treatments of the couple in contemporary French and Francophone Women’s Writing. It undertakes an imbricated reading of literary texts, sociological discourse and the feminist scholarship which emerged in the 1960s and 70s and has continued to develop since. This was a moment in which the institution of the heterosexual couple was challenged, in France, both by the women's and the gay and lesbian liberation movements. The aim of this thesis is to understand how literary texts written by women both question and work with the norm that is the couple, texts which draw attention to a female (or homosexual, or transsexual) perspective and texts which tell the story of couples who do not conform to the norm. The analysis which follows is divided into five chapters, which examine: (1) narrative perspective and the myth of the ‘modern’ woman (La Femme gelée (1981) by Annie Ernaux, and Insurrections ! en territoire sexuel (2009) by Wendy Delorme); (2) the lexical and narrative inscription of male violence against women (Le Noir est une couleur (1974) by Grisélidis Réal and Apocalypse bébé (2010) by Virginie Despentes); (3) écriture féminine and its contemporary reinterpretations (La Maladie de la mort (1982) by Marguerite Duras and Pornocratie (2001) by Catherine Breillat); (4) the uses of stereotype (Les Mouflettes d’Atropos (2000) by Chloé Delaume and Boys, boys, boys (2005) by Joy Sorman) and (5) the significance of grammatical issues and masculine/feminine genders in the narrative of the couple (Sphinx (1986) by Anne Garréta and Les Adolescents troglodytes (2007) by Emmanuelle Pagano).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:582241 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Sauzon, Virginie |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/56242/ |
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