Genre et littérature au xviie siècle : La Princesse de Clèves et ses enjeux politiques
Genre and Literature in the Seventeenth Century: The “Princesse de Clèves” and its Political Stakes

Summary/Abstract: This article explores the political implications, both at the time and for present-dayreaders, of the way La Princesse de Clèves calls into question gender norms/roles.Analyzing plots and characters in Lafayette’s text and readers/critics’ reactions in variouscontexts, it foregrounds the unsettling potential of a text that paradoxically moved fromthe position of hapax-cum- media-sensation to that of a paradigm of the early-modernnovel. By focusing on its continued efficacy in disturbing heteronormative stereotypes,itsheds light on the way literature from before the modern era can contribute to identifyingand analyzing queerness and gender dissidence in past historical contexts.

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