La femme diabolique dans la prose francaise du dix-neuvieme siecle.
Item
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Title
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La femme diabolique dans la prose francaise du dix-neuvieme siecle.
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Identifier
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AAI9417461
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identifier
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9417461
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Creator
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Galica, Kinga Eminowicz.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Bettina L. Knapp
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Date
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1994
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Language
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French
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, Romance | Literature, Slavic and East European
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Abstract
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One of the most popular, richest, and complex characters in nineteenth century French literature is a she-devil. Woman has been often linked to the forces of evil, in spite of the fact that the devil is male. In the nineteenth-century, however, we witness a sudden increase in the devil/woman identification. The romantic figure of the rebel male-Satan gives way to femmes fatales and female vampires in the decadent literature of the second half of the nineteenth-century.;Examples of various aspects of diabolical women are analyzed chronologically in four novels. The Polish author, Jean Potocki, writing exclusively in French, in his Manuscrit trouve a Saragosse (Manuscript found in Saragossa, 1805) describes woman as possessing special seductive powers resulting from her intimate contacts with the underworld. Despite the destructive happenings narrated by Potocki a positive side may be appreciated: the young hero's view of life is broadened and his outlook deepened, thereby enriching what had been superficial. In Prosper Merimee's Carmen (1845), woman is presented as a destructive force in man's life. The heroine represents the autonomous woman, whose strong personality destroys her much weaker lover. Carmen is described as a witch, using supernatural powers to control her male-victims, she is a collective figure, a projection of a patriarchal society. In Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly collection of short stories, Les Diaboliques (She-devils, 1874) the problem of feminine evil is discussed in purely moral terms. The underlying notion of these stories is that women who do not fulfill the gender stereotype are moral monsters. The study closes with Joris-Karl Huysmans' 1891 novel La-Bas (Down there) an exposition of "modern satanism" where diabolical women, supposedly, play an important role. The novel, although written in keeping with the techniques of the naturalistic school, stresses the spiritual element. All four novels discussed in this study, despite their subject-matter, do not belong to the ecole fantastique. They pride themselves with an "objective" study of a "real" social phenomenon. Although no supernatural forces are present, all four authors describe an imaginary, mythical being--a diabolical woman.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
