Thesis working title: Eighteenth-Century Professional Women: Writing her Space
Supervisor: Associate Professor Síofra Pierse
I am a first year PhD student in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at University College of Dublin (UCD). I obtained a Master’s degree in Modern Languages at the Université Lyon 3, also called Jean Moulin.
My research interests include French literature and art of the Eighteenth-Century, in particular “Great” Women, professional women like authors, artists and scientist as Émilie Du Châtelet and Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun.
Thesis: My thesis examines the specificity of the eighteenth-century francophone female voice within a variety of different genres: Correspondences of Isabelle de Bourbon-Parme (1741-1763) and Émilie Du Châtelet (1706-1749); Souvenirs of Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842) and Marie-Victoire Monnard (1777-1869); Memoirs of Mlle Clairon (1723-1803) and Henriette-Lucy de La Tour du Pin (1770-1853); and diaries. Each of them worked in areas which can be characterized as masculine fields, such as Science, Art and Literature, and they had significant influence on men. This thesis aims to analyse how women can express their voice and fight against the hegemony of men.