Journal Article

The Romantic Prostitute and her After-Life. Transfigurations of a Cliché

Meiner, Carsten

2023

Overview

There seems to be a consensus among researchers specializing in French literary Romanticism that the “Romantic prostitute” is akin to a cliché, described as a “recurring motif,” an “archetype,” and a “stereotype.” This article first discusses the conceptual and historical implications of this apparently shared understanding of the status of the literary Romantic prostitute. The article then raises a historical issue: although the figure of the prostitute is indeed omnipresent in the Romantic era, she is arguably not an invention or a product of this period. If the Romantic prostitute is an “archetype” and a cliché, it is also because she preceded the literary epoch of Romanticism. From Maria Magdalena to early modern prostitutes including Prévost’s Manon Lescaut, Rousseau’s Les Amours de Milord Edouard, or Restif de la Bretonne’s La Courtisane vertueuse, the romantic prostitute has a complex but evident literary prehistory. This article ponders whether the literary history of the Romantic prostitute extends beyond the Romantic period. It argues that this figure did indeed have a literary life after Romanticism, and offers a series of analyses of subsequent literary prostitutes, in works by authors ranging from Zola to Céline. These authors, while taking the Romantic prostitute as their template, also subjected her to political, sociological, and aesthetic mutations.

• Publisher: Klincksieck,Éditions Klincksieck