SOURCE: "Monsieur Venus: A Critique of Gender Roles," in Nineteenth-Century French Studies, Vol. XVI, Nos. 1 & 2, Fall, 1987 & Winter, 1988, pp. 162-79.

In the following essay, Hawthorne argues that Rachilde 's literary portrayal of gender roles lends her works a greater interest and relevance than they are usually accorded.

A review of recent Modern Language Association Bibliographies reveals that most nineteenth-century French women prose fiction writers have received little critical attention. (The exceptions are, of course, Madame de Staël and George Sand.) Those who have been considered (Hortense Allait and Louise Colet, for example) have not been validated as writers, but rather considered in the context of their relationships with important men. This dearth of information may seem surprising to those familiar with the Anglo-American tradition, marked by the time and effort invested in the researching and recovery of a lost tradition of female writers.

This archaeological phase of feminist...