Genre and Literature in the Seventeenth Century: The “Princesse de Clèves” and its Political Stakes

Pierre Zoberman

Abstract


This article explores the political implications, both at the time and for present-day readers, of the way La Princesse de Clèves calls into question gender norms/roles. Analyzing plots and characters in Lafayette’s text and readers/critics’ reactions in various contexts, it foregrounds the unsettling potential of a text that paradoxically moved from the position of hapax-cum- media-sensation to that of a paradigm of the early-modern novel. By focusing on its continued efficacy in disturbing heteronormative stereotypes, it sheds light on the way literature from before the modern era can contribute to identifying and analyzing queerness and gender dissidence in past historical contexts.


Keywords


Gender, heteronormativity, Lafayette, queer theory, women writers

References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/lsmll.2019.43.1.5-14
Date of publication: 2019-04-30 09:43:22
Date of submission: 2018-10-30 18:29:55


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