Rage Remembered: Courtship, Marriage, and the Feminine Self in Early Women's Autobiographies
Abstract
Applying Foucault's perception that autobiography constitutes a "technology of the self," this essay addresses the question of whether a feminine sense of self is constructed in early women's life stories. It examines the rage that pervades narratives of puberty, courtship, and marriage in the autobiographies of Marguerite de Valois, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, and Madame Guyon. Each of these women writes of these transformative moments as identity crises that resulted in the loss of a former self. They tell of feeling diminished because of the role assigned to women in their society. Their helpless anger is eventually channeled, however, into the texts that restage their oppression.Metrics
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