Baroque Fictions: Revisioning the Classical in Marguerite Yourcenar by Margaret Elizabeth Colvin (review)

1 36 Women in French Studies selected works by Germaine de Staël, Claire de Duras, Marceline DesbordesValmore , Flora Tristan and George Sand, each ofwhom merits a separate chapter in the book, as well as a chapter entitled «De quelques romans 'sentimentaux'» that includes a more cursory analysis ofnovels by Stéphanie Félicité de Genlis, Sophie Cottin, Julia de Krüdener, Sophie Gay, Hortense Allart de Méritens and Marie d'Agoult. Although each ofthese authors, particularly the more canonical ones, has been discussed previously by other feminist critics, Bertrand-Jennings' parallel analyses have the advantage of calling attention to trends in women's writings that might not otherwise come to light. Previously known for her work on Claire de Duras and Zola among others, Bertrand-Jennings has with this book succeeded in situatingDuras andotherlesser-known female authors bothintheirhistorical and literary context and in a sisterhood ofwriters and intellectuals such as Staël and Sand, the two token nineteenth-century women ofthe typical literary anthology. The drawback inherent in such a broad survey of texts, however, is that each analysis must ofnecessity be somewhat briefand in some cases may leave the reader wanting more. The analysis of Desbordes-Valmore's prose seemed somewhat lacking, for example, taking on too many disparate works (novels and short stories) in too few pages to treat each one in sufficient depth. On the other hand, I found the author's analysis of Sand's Gabriel much more satisfying. Bertrand-Jennings' methodical examination of Sand's deconstruction of gender in Gabriel, a semi-theatrical gender-bending text that has attracted the notice ofa few other critics in recent years, is original, elegant and extremely useful both in understanding the work itselfand in teaching it. Similarly, the chapter on Claire de Duras gives the reader both a substantial taste ofthe power ofDuras' fiction and a longing to go and read it, which should, after all, be the aim ofany literary critic. Just as it does in the works of Jane Austen and her female contemporaries across the channel, the critique of arranged marriages seems universal among these works, as Bertrand-Jennings points out. Such trends are a product not of the authors' biological sex, but ofthe specific socio-historical context in which they find themselves and oftheir status as women within that social framework, a status they share despite their class, national or even racial differences. There are many lessons to be learned from such a thoughtful look at gender through literary production, and Bertrand-Jennings does an admirable job of helping us discover them. In short, I recommend this book to any reader with an interest in the lives and works ofwomen writers in the Romantic period. Lisa G. AlgaziHood College Colvin, Margaret Elizabeth. Baroque Fictions: Revisioning the Classicalin Marguerite Yourcenar. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2005. Pp 177. ISBN 90-4201838 -0. $43.00. Colvin opens Baroque Fictions with a brief section entitled "A Frontispiece," in which she analyzes "Pierrot pendu," a sketch by Marguerite Yourcenar showing Pierrot hanging himself, apparently as self-inflicted punishment for failing Book Reviews137 to create. This drawing lends insight into the author's relationship to her art and paves the way for what follows. The "Frontispiece" precedes an extensive introduction , which offers a biography, as well as a chronology of works and potential connections between the two. Colvin defines the terms neoclassical and neobaroque, and explains why Yourcenar is often classified amongst the former. Her primary assertion is that while Yourcenar's writing clearly has many neoclassical aspects, this label may be too restrictive. She shows that Yourcenar's prewar works certainly have neobaroque qualities, but unlike other scholars, she contends that Yourcenar's postwar works also exhibit neobaroque style and themes. These include disorder, death, ambivalent sexuality, passionate bodies, transgression , violence and revolt. The first chapter examines Anna, Soror . . . , a story told in a refined, "classical " style whose subject matter, incest, lends itself to the neobaroque, as this highly transgressive theme conflicts with classical views of nature and bienséance. The story is set in the historical baroque period and contains baroque themes such as extravagant passion and bodily decay. This last culminates in death; Colvin points out that...