Alexandria Digital Research Library

Severine, Colette, Andree Viollis: Three Women Writers and the Daily Press in Third-Republic France

Author:
Corbin, Kathryne Adair
Degree Grantor:
University of California, Santa Barbara. French
Degree Supervisor:
Catherine Nesci
Place of Publication:
[Santa Barbara, Calif.]
Publisher:
University of California, Santa Barbara
Creation Date:
2012
Issued Date:
2012
Topics:
Journalism, Women's Studies, and Literature, Romance
Keywords:
Journalism
France
Women
Third Republic
Colette
Empathy
Genres:
Online resources and Dissertations, Academic
Dissertation:
Ph.D.--University of California, Santa Barbara, 2012
Description:

"Une blouse," "le chapeau," "Le Temps en jupons." As women journalists of France's Third Republic sought to break out into the public sphere and report the daily news from their own angle, they were regularly greeted by confused bystanders and fellow journalists who wrote them off as nothing more than the articles of clothing that announced their (lesser) sex: blouses, hats, and slips. This often hostile environment, however, failed to discourage several women journalists who reported the daily news from their marginalized perspective: Severine, Colette, and Andree Viollis. The reportages by these three women offer us new perspectives on the everyday stories of their era as well as the critical questions of women's suffrage, war, court trials, and social injustices, and testify to the evolving and comingling genres of literature and journalism. As first-hand witnesses to such scenes, the reporteresses became empathetic readers of social others, of those victims they encountered during the course of their reporting. As a result, when they reported back to their middle-class readership, these women attempted to sensitize their audience to the plight of others, stripping their readers of any existing indifference to social, racial, or gender differences, and turning the readers into secondary witnesses. Through this exclusive position, these women gained access to the public forum and were effectively able to shape their public despite their own limited political rights. Ultimately, through their corporeal attachment to the scene and the writing that resulted from their experiences, these journalists brought a new perspective to the writing and function of the daily news through the use of their own sensations; the mosaic of articles no longer presented a detached reading experience, but instead, the woman reporter offered readers stories that mediated connectedness.

Physical Description:
1 online resource (317 pages)
Format:
Text
Collection(s):
UCSB electronic theses and dissertations
ARK:
ark:/48907/f3wq01w5
ISBN:
9781303051685
Catalog System Number:
990039787750203776
Rights:
Inc.icon only.dark In Copyright
Copyright Holder:
Kathryne Corbin
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