Spaces of the Feminine in the 18th-Century French Novel - Novel and Narrative Prose

French Literature Reviews - 2026

Spaces of the Feminine in the 18th-Century French Novel
Novel and Narrative Prose

Spaces of the Feminine in the 18th-Century French Novel

Christophe Martin

From the gardens of Félonde in Marivaux's Pharsamon to Julie’s Elysium in La Nouvelle Héloïse, the 18th-century novel appears to grant a prominent place to locations closely tied to the feminine—so much so that two of them have become true emblems of the century: the seraglio and the boudoir. Drawing on a corpus of over seventy novels, this study seeks to understand the persistence of feminine spaces in the Enlightenment imaginary, positing that they reflect a society grappling with the discovery of the domestic sphere.

The study begins by outlining the boundaries of this fictional geography of the feminine. Examining the various connections between the female body and its settings leads to a typology of the sites within this territory, followed by an analysis of the metaphors that turn the female body into a site of exploration. This is followed by a political approach to these spaces as arenas of power dynamics, which essentially take two forms: the fantasy of intrusion into female privacy and that of the confinement of the female body. This drive is scarcely conceivable without a secret anxiety that Rousseau’s texts bring to light: the fear of a female empire posing a threat of feminization to men. Hence the need for a new economy of relations between the sexes. The work concludes on this economic perspective: the domestic economy advocated by Rousseau stands in opposition to the erotic economies of plurality (the libertine world, the despotic seraglio). At their margins, these two antagonistic models give rise to parallel economies that reactivate the fantasy of a self-sufficient female sphere. Thus, through the spaces of the feminine in the Enlightenment novel, it is the very principle of sexual difference that is at stake.

The 18th-century French novel often utilized specific settings to negotiate the evolving social perception of the domestic sphere. By focusing on locations such as the boudoir and the seraglio, this study situates itself within the broader scholarly tradition of analyzing Enlightenment geography and fictional space. Readers interested in the history of the novel and the development of gendered representations in literature may find this analysis of 18th-century tropes particularly relevant to their research.

This investigation examines the political dimensions of private spaces, specifically the themes of confinement and intrusion as they relate to gender roles. By contrasting the libertine eroticism of the period with the domestic ideals championed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the study highlights a tension between competing social models. The analysis explores how these fictional spaces functioned as sites where the principle of sexual difference was constructed and contested, utilizing spatial metaphors to navigate the perceived threat of a female-dominated sphere.

SVEC 2004:01

STUDIES ON VOLTAIRE AND THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

ISBN 0 7294 0834 5, ISSN 0435-2866, viii.527 pages, £69 / 110 / $120

http://www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk
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