Les modèles féminins dans les romans pour filles de l'Amérique victorienne
Institution:
Bordeaux 3Disciplines:
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Abstract EN:
So as to appreciate the degree of realism of the characters, the study of the novels comes within the scope of a social and cultural context, presented in a first part highlighting the condition of life and the specific environment in which women and children were confined (home), as well as the educational theories of the time, and the place granted to children's literature in victorian american families. The analysis of the novels tries then to bring out the representations of the feminine "nature" and roles ; it first studies characterization, that of the heroines, who serve as models to the girl readers, but also that of the other feminine characters, who are models for the heroines ; then, the situation of these feminine characters, the roles assigned to the heroines, are examined, as they reveal what place women wished, in real life, to occupy. These novels written by women for future women inform us about women's conception of their own "nature", and show us to what extent they accepted to spread the theories defined by their society. As cultural documents, these novels are evidence of the changes in mentalities between 1850 and 1900, which gave women and children more self-assurance and freedom of action. But considering these texts only as reflections of their time would limit their significance, as they also have a didactic function. The blending of realism and idealism found in the feminine models proposed as examples to the girl readers echoes the double function of these novels, both descriptive and propagating a "feminine", but not "feminist", ideology, which remains victorian in its attachment to traditional values, and in its trust in woman's moral superiority.
Abstract FR:
Afin d'apprecier le degre de realite des personnages fictifs, notre etude des romans s'inscrit dans un contexte socioculturel presente en premiere partie, soulignant les conditions de vie et le milieu particulier dans lequel les femmes et les enfants etaient confines (le foyer familial), ainsi que les theories pedagogiques de l'epoque, la place accordee a la litterature de jeunesse dans ces familles "victoriennes". L'analyse des romans s'attache, quant a elle, a faire ressortir les representations de la "nature" feminine et des roles feminins, en etudiant tout d'abord la caracterisation, celle des heroines qui servent de modeles directs aux lectrices, mais aussi celle des autres personnages feminins, qui servent de modeles aux heroines. La mise en situation de ces personnages, le role qui est attribue a l'heroine, traduisent la place que les femmes souhaitaient occuper dans la societe. Ces romans ecrits par des femmes pour de futures femmes nous renseignent ainsi sur l'idee que celles-ci se faisaient de leur "nature" et nous montrent dans quelle mesure elles accepterent de diffuser elles-memes des theories definies par leur societe, en les corrigeant eventuellement. En tant que documents culturels, ils se font les temoins du changement des mentalites qui, entre 1850 et le debut du 20ieme siecle, permit aux femmes, mais egalement aux enfants, de gagner en assurance et en liberte d'action. Mais ce serait limiter leur portee, et oublier leur fonction pedagogique, que de considerer ces textes seulement comme des reflets de leur epoque; le melange de realisme et d'idealisme rencontre dans les modeles feminins proposes en exemples aux jeunes lectrices se fait l'echo de la double fonction de ces romans, a la fois descriptifs et propagateurs d'une certaine ideologie "feminine", mais non "feministe", qui demeure victorienne dans son attachement aux valeurs traditionnelles et dans sa foi en la superiorite morale des femmes.