Isabelle de Charrière Criticism
Isabelle de Charrière (1740-1805) was a Dutch-born Swiss novelist and a significant figure in the French literary tradition alongside Marie de Sévigné and Germaine de Staël. Known for her innovative themes and forms, Charrière challenged the gender norms of the eighteenth century and advocated for gender equality. Her work reflects a deep engagement with the social and political issues of her time, using her literary talents to critique societal norms and explore feminist themes, as highlighted by Susan K. Jackson.
Born into nobility, Charrière was educated in Geneva and Paris, which shaped her intellectual independence. Her literary career began with the controversial novel Le Noble, a satire on the aristocracy. Despite an early scandal, she continued writing, particularly in the epistolary form. Her novels, such as Lettres neuchâteloises and Mistriss Henley, critically examine societal roles and the constraints of marriage, often employing ambiguous endings to provoke thought, as noted by Marie-Paule Laden.
Throughout her career, Charrière engaged with political and philosophical themes, producing a body of work that includes novels, essays, and plays. Her writings during the French Revolution reflect her political insights, while her later works explored educational philosophies. Critically, her works have been seen as both biographical and innovative in literary form. Despite early criticism that underplayed her literary skill in favor of biographical interpretations, later scholars like Joan Hinde Stewart and Susan S. Lanser have recognized her contributions to feminist literature and her ability to weave complex narratives from subtle events.
Charrière's legacy lies in her bold narrative style and her challenge to traditional female roles, making her an enduring figure in the study of feminist literature, as argued by critics such as Kathleen M. Jaeger and Jenene J. Allison. Her work stands as a testament to the ongoing exploration of gender and identity in literature.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Essays
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An Introduction to Four Tales
(summary)
In the following essay—a 1970 reprint of a work originally published in 1926—Scott connects numerous events in the author's life to those which appear in her fiction.
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The Novels of Isabelle de Charrière, or, A Woman's Work is Never Done
(summary)
In the following essay, Jackson discusses the theme of women's work in Charrière's novels, noting that her conveying of "Everywoman's experience of everyday life . . . provides a shining example of feminist revisionism already at work in the eighteenth century."
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'Quel Aimable et Cruel Petit Livre': Madame de Charrière's Mistriss Henley
(summary)
In the essay that follows, Laden discusses Mistriss Henley as an epistolary autobiography in which Charrière provides a detailed account of living in a male-dominated society.
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Mme de Charrière: Travel and Uprooting
(summary)
In the essay below, Deguise traces the themes of travel and displacement—important literary devices for the epistolary novel—throughout Charrière's oeuvre.
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Courting Death: Roman, romantisme, and Mistress Henley's Narrative Practices
(summary)
In the following essay, Lanser discusses Mistriss Henley in relation to Samuel de Constant's novel of 1783, Le Mari sentimental, contrasting the triviality of Charrière's domestic detail with the larger questions of adultery and death found in Constant's work.
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Isabelle de Charrière Publishes Caliste
(summary)
In the essay below, Stewart lauds Charrière's form and style, and observes specifically that her novel Caliste glosses the most urgent concerns of the female novel of the late 18th century.
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From Clarens to Hollow Park, Isabelle de Charrière's Quiet Revolution
(summary)
In the following essay, Bérenguier compares Mistriss Henley with Jean-Jacques Rousseau's 1761 work Julie; ou la Nouvelle Héloïse, contrasting Charrière's narrative innovation with Rousseau's more traditional approach.
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Charriére and the Androgynous Ideal
(summary)
In the essay below, Jaeger argues that Charriére strives for the equality of male and female voices in her work, rejecting the notion of sex-based difference, and advocating instead the full development of androgynous individual potential.
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New Heroines: Countering Women's Fiction(s)
(summary)
In the following essay, Allison compares Charrière's work to other eighteenth-century fiction, noting that she not only condemns the existing stereotypes of women but also challenges the very force of stereotyping itself.
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An Introduction to Four Tales
(summary)
- Further Reading