Maria, ou Le Malheur d'être femme : Translating M ary W ollstonecraft in Revolutionary F rance

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.