Do words have a gender?
In the 18th century, there was no doubt about it.
And more particularly in the world of letters.
Writing is a masculine exercise.
If one is qualified as an author, this is not a woman of letters, but a prostitute.
“For a woman, becoming an author, being read, means facing contempt, sarcasm, laughter and insults.
It’s being marginalized.”
If it is only up to men to see their texts published, the letter, which is not intended for publication, is unisex.
It is even characteristic of woman, her
“space of freedom”
, the antechamber of love, the exercise of power.
To discover
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It is this art of feminine correspondence that Cécile Berly tells us about in
Elles write
.
A year after her fascinating
Guillotinées
, in which she retraced the sacrifice of political muses on the altar of the Revolution, the author is interested in the destiny of nine letter-writers: Mme du Deffand, Mme de Pompadour, Catherine II, Julie de Lespinasse, Isabelle de Bourbon-Parme, Marie-Thérèse…
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