Women’s Stories in Le Mercure Galant (1672-1710)

Deborah Steinberger

Women’s Stories in Le Mercure Galant (1672-1710)

Feminine Fictions in an Early French Periodical

What do women want to read? Jean Donneau de Visé, the founder and editor in chief of Le Mercure Galant, one of France’s first newspapers, was arguably the first journalist to ask this question and to recognize and capitalize upon the influence of female readers and their social networks. By including “custom content” and performing the act of listening to women, Le Mercure Galant situates itself as an intermediary, using the nouvelle as a vehicle to amplify women’s voices. These fictions, presented as true stories, depict incidents and situations that women often bore silently in real life: domestic violence, romantic betrayal, dishonor, or simply loneliness. By publishing these stories alongside its chronicle of historic events, the Mercure lends credence and prestige to depictions of the private life of anonymous individuals, exploiting the ostensibly anodyne genre of “women’s fiction” to disseminate modern ideas about women’s agency.
Author

Deborah Steinberger

Deborah Steinberger is Associate Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Delaware. She specializes in French seventeenth-century literature. Her previous publications include critical editions of epistolary and dramatic works by Françoise Pascal, as well as articles on Molière, Donneau de Visé, and Le Mercure Galant.
Title
Women’s Stories in Le Mercure Galant (1672-1710)
Subtitle
Feminine Fictions in an Early French Periodical
Author
Price
€ 122,00 excl. VAT
ISBN
9789463726184
Format
Hardback
Number of pages
222
Language
English
Publication date
Dimensions
15.6 x 23.4 cm
Series
Gendering the Late Medieval and Early Modern World
Categories
Early Modern Studies
Gender and Sexuality Studies
Literary Theory, Criticism, and History
Discipline
History, Art History, and Archaeology
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Table of Contents
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List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Galanterieand the Art of Listening
Chapter 1: What Women Want
Chapter 2: Befriending the Female Reader: Tales of Female Friendship in Le Mercure Galant
Chapter 3: Girls with Guns: Women Soldiers’ Stories in Le Mercure Galant
Chapter 4: True Crime? Women and Violence in Le Mercure Galant
Chapter 5: Obstinate Women and Sleeping Beauties in the Kingdom of Miracles: Conversion Stories in Le Mercure Galant’s Anti-Protestant Propaganda
Epilogue: Buying In or Selling Out? Reading Le Mercure Galant Today
Bibliography
Index