Nicolas Edme Rétif de la Bretonne's Ingénue Saxancour
Edited by Mary S. Trouille
Click cover to enlarge Buy paperback at: Booksellers & libraries: | Modern Humanities Research Association 1 May 2014 • 274pp ISBN: 978-1-907322-47-1 (paperback) • RRP £14.99, $19.99, €17.99 Sample: Google Books Set in Paris in the 1780s, Rétif de la Bretonne's Ingénue Saxancour is a thinly veiled account of his daughter's disastrous marriage to an abusive husband. From the time of her marriage in January, 1780, until she left her husband in July, 1785, Agnès Rétif suffered continually from severe physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Published in 1789, Rétif's novel scandalized the public with its graphic descriptions of his son-in-law's sexual perversity and brutal violence. Rétif's novel remains shocking more than two centuries later and continues to raise disturbing questions about power relations within abusive relationships. Perhaps most disturbing of all are the accusations leveled against Rétif himself concerning his motives for writing and publishing this account: Was he, as some charged, a shameless exhibitionist willing to reveal his family's darkest secrets merely to attract attention and broaden his readership? Was he an unscrupulous opportunist willing to capitalize on his daughter's misfortunes and risk her reputation simply to pay his debts? Or was he, as he himself claimed, trying to warn young women about the dangers of marrying men of dubious backgrounds against their parents' wishes? Rétif was all this and more: a reform-minded pioneer far in advance of his time with his graphic portrayal of spousal abuse, his call for greater public awareness of this perennial problem, and his crusade for liberal divorce laws that would allow women to escape from abusive relationships and to remarry. This, in fact, is what Agnès Rétif was able to do after passage of the divorce law passed by France's revolutionary government in 1792. Reviews:
Bibliography entry: Trouille, Mary S. (ed.), Nicolas Edme Rétif de la Bretonne's Ingénue Saxancour, Critical Texts, 33 (MHRA, 2014) First footnote reference: 35 Nicolas Edme Rétif de la Bretonne's Ingénue Saxancour, ed. by Mary S. Trouille, Critical Texts, 33 (MHRA, 2014), p. 21. Subsequent footnote reference: 37 Trouille, p. 47. (To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.) Bibliography entry: Trouille, Mary S. (ed.). 2014. Nicolas Edme Rétif de la Bretonne's Ingénue Saxancour, Critical Texts, 33 (MHRA) Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Trouille 2014: 21). Example footnote reference: 35 Trouille 2014: 21. (To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.) This title is distributed on behalf of MHRA by Ingram’s. Booksellers and libraries can order direct from Ingram by setting up an ipage Account: click here for more. Permanent link to this title: www.mhra.org.uk/publications/Nicolas-Edme-Rétif-de-la-Bretonnes-Ingénue-Saxancour www.mhra.org.uk/publications/ct-33 |
