Figurations of the feminine in the early French women's Press, 1758-1848 / / Siobhán McIlvanney.

• Superior document: Eighteenth-century worlds
• VerfasserIn: McIlvanney, Siobhán,
• Place / Publishing House: Liverpool : : Liverpool University Press,, 2019.
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Eighteenth-century worlds.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (vii, 270 pages) :; digital, PDF file(s).
• Notes: Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 07 Jul 2020).

In this original study, Siobhán McIlvanney examines the beginnings of the women's press in France. <i> Figurations of the Feminine</i> is the first work in English to assess the most significant publications which make up this diverse, yet critically neglected, medium. It traces the evolving representations of womanhood that appear over the first ninety years of women's journals in France. McIlvanney's insightful readings demonstrate that these journals are often characterised by a remarkable degree of 'feminist' content. This refutes the general conception of the women's press as an idealised, hyper-feminised space inhabited by the intellectually idle - whether in the form of readers or writers - disseminating and legitimating a limited range of patriarchal stereotypes and <i>idées reçues</i>. Through textual analyses of different 'generic' subsections, whether the literary journal, the fashion magazine, the domestic press or more explicitly politicised outputs, <i>Figurations of the Feminine</i> challenges the critical commonplaces which have been applied to the women's press since its genesis, both in France and elsewhere. It demonstrates the political richness of this medium and the privileged perspectives it gives us on female self-expression and on the everyday lives of French women from across the class spectrum during this key historical period.

Table of Contents

Introduction. General Trends ; Figurations of the Feminine -- 1. Women's Roles, Rights and Representations in France, 1758-1848. The Changing Political Climate in France, 1758-1848 ; Early Journalistic Perspectives on the Feminine -- 2. Women Writers and Readers: The Beginnings of French Women's Journals and Le Journal des dames (1759-1778). The Earliest Women's Journals ; Le Journal des dames (1759-1778) ; Women Writers and Readers ; Promoting the Peripheral -- 3. Educating the Female Consumer: Early Fashion Journals. Education ; Early Fashion Features ; Le Cabinet des modes (1785-1793) ; Le Journal des dames et des modes (1797-1839) ; 'Des Modes' ; 'Des Dames' -- 4. A Woman's Place: Marriage and Homemaking in the Early Domestic Press. Marriage and Motherhood ; Le Courier de l'hymen ou journal les dames (1791) ; Le Journal des femmes (1832-1837) ; Le Conseiller des dames (1847-1892) -- 5. Reforming the Feminine: Early Feminist Journals. Employment ; Les Étrennes nationales des dames (1789) ; L'Athénée des dames (1808) ; La Femme libre (1832-1834) ; La Voix des femmes (1848) -- Conclusion.