Tuesday 11th May 2021, 5:15-6:30pm
Online
Claire Jeantils (CNRS-Sorbonne Nouvelle-Maison Française d'Oxford) - From the Arts: On the Theatrical Motif in Contemporary Epilepsy Narratives
Samantha Seto (King's College, London) - The Female Role in Fin-de-Siècle Fiction: French Stories by Guy de Maupassant and a British-American Novel by Henry James
The French and British-American authors, Guy de Maupassant and Henry James, establish a revolutionary portrayal of female characters at the turn of the century. In a close reading of Maupassant’s “A Parisian Affair” (1881) and “A Woman’s Confession” (1882) in addition to James’s The Portrait of a Lady (1881), my research focuses that my analysis of the female character provides a lens through which to study the female gaze and social class. heroines are constructed with avant-garde attributes that reveal a nuanced progressive nature in their character that indicates that they are ahead of their time. I analyse narrative themes of marriage, the female desire for liberation from conventional position, and modern elements in addition to the representation of aristocratic women during the historical period of the nineteenth century. The novels illustrate women within a historical context who challenge living according to the social conventions. My thesis aims to study the author’s creation of the female role via narratology and portrayal of the unconventional heroine. I propose that the heroines in Maupassant's stories and James's novel emphasise a shift from the present historical period toward modernity. The authors pioneer the unveiling of a unique female character with French and American origins. The divide between the three countries, France, England, and America, during the historical past is critical to the portrayal of the female character rooted in transnational identity and a traditional cultural setting in the literature. My character analysis extends to Maupassant’s “La Maison Tellier” (1881) and “Rosalie Prudent” (1886) in addition to James’s What Maisie Knew (1897), Daisy Miller (1879), and The Wings of the Dove (1902). Furthermore, I compare Maupassant’s and Jamesian fiction to French literature such as Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (1859), Émile Zola’s Au Bonheur des Dames (1883), and George Sand’s Elle et Lui (1859) as well as American literature including Kate Chopin’s The Awakening (1899), Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper (1892), Edith Wharton's The Custom of the Country (1913) and The Reef (1912), and other forms of literary criticism and scholarship to reflect on Wharton’s genesis of the bohemian female character. The female character in Maupassant’s and Jamesian fiction exemplifies a revolutionary portrayal of women, gender role via the progression towards liberating women from their conventional position, and power relations through the empowerment of women in nineteenth century American and French literature.
The French and British-American authors, Guy de Maupassant and Henry James, establish a revolutionary portrayal of female characters at the turn of the century. In a close reading of Maupassant’s “A Parisian Affair” (1881) and “A Woman’s Confession” (1882) in addition to James’s The Portrait of a Lady (1881), my research focuses that my analysis of the female character provides a lens through which to study the female gaze and social class. heroines are constructed with avant-garde attributes that reveal a nuanced progressive nature in their character that indicates that they are ahead of their time. I analyse narrative themes of marriage, the female desire for liberation from conventional position, and modern elements in addition to the representation of aristocratic women during the historical period of the nineteenth century. The novels illustrate women within a historical context who challenge living according to the social conventions. My thesis aims to study the author’s creation of the female role via narratology and portrayal of the unconventional heroine. I propose that the heroines in Maupassant's stories and James's novel emphasise a shift from the present historical period toward modernity. The authors pioneer the unveiling of a unique female character with French and American origins. The divide between the three countries, France, England, and America, during the historical past is critical to the portrayal of the female character rooted in transnational identity and a traditional cultural setting in the literature. My character analysis extends to Maupassant’s “La Maison Tellier” (1881) and “Rosalie Prudent” (1886) in addition to James’s What Maisie Knew (1897), Daisy Miller (1879), and The Wings of the Dove (1902). Furthermore, I compare Maupassant’s and Jamesian fiction to French literature such as Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (1859), Émile Zola’s Au Bonheur des Dames (1883), and George Sand’s Elle et Lui (1859) as well as American literature including Kate Chopin’s The Awakening (1899), Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper (1892), Edith Wharton's The Custom of the Country (1913) and The Reef (1912), and other forms of literary criticism and scholarship to reflect on Wharton’s genesis of the bohemian female character. The female character in Maupassant’s and Jamesian fiction exemplifies a revolutionary portrayal of women, gender role via the progression towards liberating women from their conventional position, and power relations through the empowerment of women in nineteenth century American and French literature.
