«Les livres qu’elles dévorent». Romanzi erotici e letture delle donne nella Francia di Napoleone

Abstract

Starting from the analysis of the documents produced by the Napoleonic censorship, the article examines the word of women readers end women writers and his representation in nineteenth-century France. Through the literary production of two women novelists of the time, Mme Félicité de Choiseul-Meuse and Mme Elisabeth Guénard Brossin de Méré, both in balance between pedagogy and transgression, between morality and eroticism, the article deals with the theme of literature’s influence on the habits, the intellectual formation and the emotional sphere of post-revolutionary women.