The Three Female Storytellers of Le Nouveau Décaméron

Abstract

This article is a modest comparative study of the tales by the only three women of letters who contributed to Le Nouveau Décaméron: Jeanne Thilda, Georges de Peyrebrune and Judith Gautier. We trace briefly the career and literary path of each of these authors, who all who knew one other. The structure of these short stories is studied in order to reveal how these women took hold of the narrative constraints related to gender, including the spatio-temporal framework, whilst our analysis focuses on showing how men and women are represented in the face of love. It is clear that, underneath their apparent modernity, these tales are of one with traditional tales, since the traditional roles of the sexes are still observed. Subject to morality, ready for all sacrifices, the woman denies her desire, and if she claims to be in love, it is for purely physiological reasons.