Description: Examining literary discourses on female intimacy in seventeenth-century France, this study explores the effect of a homosocial and homopriviledged heritage on the deployment and constructions of female friendship and homoerotic relationships as thematic narratives in works by male and female writers. It reveals a new literary genealogy of female intimate bonds and adds to the research in lesbian and queer studies, fields in which pre-eighteenth-century French literary texts are rare.
Review Quotes: 'Marianne Legault's new study makes a significant contribution to scholarship on early modern French women and early modern French sexuality. It is certainly the first book-length study devoted to intimacy among women in seventeenth-century France, and is a welcome addition to a field that has been largely neglected far too long.' Lewis Seifert, Brown University, USA 'The wealth of material in this book, and the way in which all the pieces of the argument fit together, make it well worth consulting for anyone interested in early modern women, sexuality, and friendship.' Renaissance Quarterly 'This well-written and engaging study... makes a significant contribution to the growing critical literature on women's writing in early modern Europe and to gender debates that remain alive today.' Barbara Woshinsky, University of Miami, USA 'With its careful attention to scholarship and contextualization of each work of literature within early modern literary history, this book would be a welcome addition to any library.' French Review