Poignant Relations

To trace the origins of feminist consciousness in France, the author explores the lives and words of three 19th-century women: Marie-Sophie Leroyer, Genevieve Breton-Vaudoyer and Celine Renooz-Muro. Each wrote extensively on feminist issues and they are representative of a generation's thought.

---

To trace the origins of feminist consciousness in France, James Smith Allen explores the lives and words of three 19th-century women: Marie-Sophie Leroyer, Genevieve Breton-Vaudoyer and Celine Renooz-Muro. Though not identifying themselves with any specific group of feminists - indeed, even rejecting the label "feminist" - the women wrote extensively about important feminist issues: marriage, sexuality, education, religion and politics. Theirs was a discreet, relational feminism that they expressed by considering their relationships to themselves and to others. Because they were less political (and thus less well known) than other feminists, these three women have been neglected by historians and literary theorists. They are therefore regarded by the author as more representative of a generation of women who often wrote about, but did not necessarily act on, their independent ideas. For them, writing was transgression enough. Marie-Sophie Leroyer, a novelist and literary critic, actively corresponded with George Sand and Gustave Flaubert.
The descendant of an aristocratic family, she inherited enough property to allow herself to devote her life to writing: in her novels and letters we encounter narratives of personal sacrifice, and learn of a life filled with emotional and spiritual pain. Genevieve Breton-Vaudoyer, most well known as the mother and mentor of author Jean-Louis Vaudoyer, wrote extensive and revealing diaries that helped her cope with personal tragedies - the death of loved ones in war, her relationship with a difficult husband. Her writing was an emotional necessity, a kind of "prison," as she often called it. Celine Renooz-Muro, a scientist, historian and journalist, published over a dozen books and founded the Societe Neosophique. By examining the writings of these three figures, including many unpublished diaries, letters and memorabilia, Allen documents the deliberate efforts of modern French women to construct a stable, reliable, discursive self.