Attitudes toward Women in Two Eighteenth-Century French Periodicals

A ttitudes tow ard W om en in Tw oqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDC Eighteenth-Century French Periodicals K A Y W IL K IN S Re se arch d e aling spe cifically with the stud y of wome n in eighteenth-century France (whether from an historical, sociologi­ cal, or literary viewpoint) is of relatively recent vintage.1 In the past an occasional female scholar would turn her attention to a woman author—Emily Crosby’s U ne Rom anciere oubliee: M adam e Riccoboni (1924) is a case in point. But with the growth of women’s studies, a fresh enthusiasm and realization of the paucity of our knowledge about this area has led to such works as Pierre Fauchery’s monumental study of literary portrayals of women in the eighteenth-century European novel, La D estinee fem inine dans le rom an europeen du X V IIIe siecle: Essai de gynecom ythie rom anesque, 1713-1807 (1972), to the four-volume H istoire m ondiale de la fem m e (1965-66), to Bardeche’s two-volume H istoire des fem m es (1968), and to such related studies as Philip Stewart’s Le M asque et la parole: Le Langage de Vam our au X V IIIe siecle (1973). Two recent American Ph. D. dissertations have dealt with Diderot and women, another with Voltaire and women, and three more with a reappraisal of the fortunate Madame Riccoboni.2 My own attempt is limited in scope but 393 3 9 4 cbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA / K A Y W IL K IN SqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA ne ve rthe le ss y ie ld s some inte re stingconclusions. I have e xamine d two runs of d iffe re nt pe riod icals,the M ercure de France (1720-25) and the Journal encyclopedique (1780-83), and have analyzed the depiction of women in them. Although I am aware that the periodicals are of different types and that any conclusions repre­ sent only a small insight into a vast area of study, it is apparent that attitudes changed to some degree in the sixty-year period separating the two series I examined. The M ercure de France was a highly successful periodical which made sufficient profit to be able to provide substantial pensions to men of letters. It aimed at a sophisticated audience interested in court affairs, social and foreign events, and the latest cultural activities in Paris. A typical number (Jan. 1720) included an article analyzing the attribution of the title “tres chretien” to the king, a letter about America, a harangue to the king by a missionary to the Algonquins, a list of royal edicts and laws, some very mediocre verse, a short story, reviews of the latest French and English theater presentations, an historical account of the Compagnie des Indes de France, some enigmas and songs, details of notable births, marriages, and deaths, foreign news, the Paris journal, and some advertizements, such as news of a powder which causes a nursing mother to lose her milk within forty-eight hours (a product that will not be advertized in the post-Rousseau climate of the Journal encyclopedique). The qualities of the ideal woman for the editors and contribu­ tors to the M ercure de France seem to be summed up in the funeral eulogy of a royal princess: “Epouse, elle fut fidele; mere, elle fut tendre; Princesse, elle sacrifia tout aux interets de l’Etat; veuve, elle ne songea plus a plaire; chretienne, elle remplit les devoirs de la Religion” (Jan. 1723, p. 97). Constancy and strength in the face of adversity are also desirable qualities—in a rare moment of praise for the female sex, the editors include a letter from the French envoy to Algeria relating the courage of one Miss Bourk (of Irish family) who coped bravely with capture and imprisonment by barbarians (March 1720, pp. 84-92). Above all, Attitudes toward W om en in Two Periodicals IYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA 3 9 5 qponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQ howe ve r, woman is value d for he r re prod uctiveand nourishing faculties; the Jan. 1722 M ercure includes a letter praising the king’s nurse for her fine body and good health, which have...