On May 26, 2023, a workshop entitled “Genre(s) et Sexualité(s) dans la littérature de langue française (17e – 21e siècles)” (Gender and Sexuality in French Literature, from the 17th to 21st Century) was held at the Department of French Language and Literature, Graduate School and Faculty of Letters, Kyoto University. In addition to project members BEAUVIEUX Marie-Noëlle (Meiji Gakuin University) and Toriyama Teiji (Kyoto University), we invited VINCENT Charles (Université de Valenciennes) and BRIN Raphaëlle (École Normale Supérieure de Lyon) from France, and LE FLOC’H Justine (Kyoto University) from Japan. Each participant presented their research and engaged in discussions and exchanges of ideas.
Dr. LE FLOC’H presented her research entitled “La représentation des femmes dans L’Histoire de Sapho de Madeleine de Scudéry” (The Representation of Women in L’Histoire de Sapho by Madeleine de Scudéry), in which she introduced the views of the 17th-century French female writer Madeleine de Scudéry on women’s education and conduct, as reflected through the depiction of Sappho in her work
Dr. Brun, in presenting “Différentes pistes pour une exploration de la question de la différence des genres au 18e siècle”(Different Approaches to Exploring the Question of Gender Difference in the 18th Century), introduced a variety of research perspectives: the discourse during the French Revolution that criticized the “femininity” of the French language and argued for the restoration of its “masculinity”; the problem of language and gender in Casanova’s works; and utopian literature (androgyny, worlds without gender difference), among others.
From the perspective of “Relire Diderot, Thomas et Madame d’Épinay après Élisabeth Badinter” (Rereading Diderot, Thomas, and Madame d’Épinay after Élisabeth Badinter) Dr. Vincent critically examined the works of Élisabeth Badinter, a contemporary French philosopher and feminist. He emphasized the necessity of rereading 18th-century writers such as Diderot, Thomas, and Madame d’Épinay with full consideration of the social and cultural contexts of the 18th century.
Dr. BEAUVIEUX addressed the issue of “La rhétorique de la concision au service de la discrimination : l’exemple de la discrimination de genre” (the rhetoric of conciseness and sexism), presenting the contemporary French movement of “feminist collage” and showing how the rhetoric of conciseness is connected to the problem of gender discrimination.
Toriyama discussed “Genre et sexualité dans la poésie française” (Gender and Sexuality in French Poetry), presenting how linguistic gender, as seen in features such as rhyme, relates to the sexuality of writers, and introducing how descriptions in dictionaries and poetics from the sixteenth century reflect the gender views of their times.
After that, we held a Q&A session and a general discussion, where we talked about the possibility of connecting research in the humanities with other fields (especially biology, ethology, evolutionary psychology, and psychoanalysis)—for example, by examining the historical development of discourses and terminology concerning “androgyny.” We also discussed the possibility of collaborating with researchers overseas.
(Authorship: Toriyama and BEAUVIEUX)