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Maria, ou Le Malheur d'être femme : Translating M ary W ollstonecraft in Revolutionary F rance
Author(s) -
Kirkley Laura
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal for eighteenth‐century studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.129
H-Index - 11
eISSN - 1754-0208
pISSN - 1754-0194
DOI - 10.1111/1754-0208.12206
Subject(s) - afterlife , ideology , interpretation (philosophy) , feminism , philosophy , literature , art , sociology , gender studies , linguistics , political science , law , politics
Translations of W ollstonecraft's works gave her a distinctive literary ‘afterlife’ on the E uropean continent. This article takes as a case study B asile‐ J oseph D ucos's translation of Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman (1798). D ucos's translational choices, which subdue radical aspects of W ollstonecraft's feminism, stem from the moral climate and gender ideology of the D irectoire , F rench sentimental literary conventions and his interpretation of ambiguities or innovations in W ollstonecraft's unfinished text. The article focuses on W ollstonecraft's adaptation of sentimental conventions to her feminist agenda, arguing that D ucos suppresses her conception of erotic experience as a catalyst for imaginative insight and personal growth.