« Je ne suis pas homme de lettres ni littérateur de profession » : la question de l’auteur.e dans les autobiographies de courtisanes du XIXe siècle

Abstract

Female prostitution seems to have always been the subject of an abundant textual and visual production. But it is only from the second half of the nineteenth century on, that female prostitutes start to write to express and represent themselves. Often successful, their books cause many controversies and are regularly attributed to men of letters. Based on a collection of autobiographies by courtesans, this article shows how this literary sub-genre, by its necessary collaboration between these women and men of letters, blurs the boundaries between masculine and feminine writing, autobiography and novel, literature and advertising. The portrait of the courtesan as a victim of (business)men is thus as much the reflection of female writing about prostitution, than that of a prostitution feeling among male writing proletariat at that time of press and edition development.

Keywords

• gender
• writing
• Autobiography
• press
• scandal
• celebrity