Marie Jeanne Riccoboni’s Original Abeille: Gender in Early Modern Journalism

Marie Jeanne Riccoboni (1713–92) published her arguably most explicitly feminist text, L’Abeille, in the bi-monthly 1761 periodical Le Monde, edited by Jean- François de Bastide, who included the letters he exchanged with Riccoboni alongside her text. While demonstrating her feminist philosophy more pointedly than L’Abeille, their correspondence— removed from all later versions of the text—also reveals a fascinating querelle centered on issues of gender and genre that illustrates the obstacles faced by early modern women wishing to practice the journalistic genre.