Ne vous effrayez point du costume bizarre dans laquel vous me voyez': The Maidservant Disguise in Stendhal's Mina de Vanghel and Barbey d'Aurevilly's 'Le Bonheur dans le crime

Rushton, Jessica

Abstract

This article analyses how the nineteenth-century fictional heroines in Stendhal's Mina de Vanghel and Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly's `Le Bonheur dans le crime' don a maidservant disguise in order to revolt against their society's oppressive mores and subsequently reverse the power dynamics between men and women, as well as servants and their masters and mistresses. By drawing on the period's non-literary discourses that likewise depicted a fascination with the servant's appearance, this article argues that Stendhal and Barbey were creating, as well as feeding into, a particular nineteenth-century socio-cultural construct of the female servant as a rebellious, sexually promiscuous figure.

Citation

Rushton, J. (2023). Ne vous effrayez point du costume bizarre dans laquel vous me voyez': The Maidservant Disguise in Stendhal's Mina de Vanghel and Barbey d'Aurevilly's 'Le Bonheur dans le crime. Dix-Neuf: New Directions in Nineteenth-Century French Studies, 27(4), 302-332. https://doi.org/10.1080/14787318.2023.2229117

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 17, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jul 27, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: Jul 3, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 23, 2024
• Journal: Dix-Neuf
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 302-332
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14787318.2023.2229117
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1170027
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/YDIX