Wordy women: Conversation and power in the age of Louis XI

This dissertation addresses the art and function of conversation in seventeenth-century France and analyzes it as a source for women's advancement in the court of Louis XIV and in the salon culture surrounding this court. The central argument of my thesis holds that the salonnieres of seventeenth-century France, benefitting from the elevation of female conversation, co-opted this newfound power to serve pro-women concerns, such as public recognition of their social and intellectual worth as women. My study begins with an elaboration of the origins of the female presence at court, in works such as Castiglione's Il cortegiano, wherein women spur conversation, but never take on the speaking "I." Female conversation was given a new valuation in seventeenth-century France in works which treated it as beneficial, useful, and even admirable, and most notably by Louis XIV who sought to "feminize" the aristocracy by encouraging leisure activities.;It is my argument that the salonnieres used their mastery of the art of conversation and the new appreciation for female conversation to expand the limits of acceptable female behavior, and to legitimize women's entry into the public domain as authors. In my study, Madeleine de Scudery exemplifies the co-optation of conversation by a female writer, since she transformed conversation into written works, and used her published works as forums for pro-women statements questioning the codes of female behavior. I refer to both Scudery's novels and her manuals of conversation.;Secondly, my study demonstrates that the spectacular rise of the salonnieres in social and literary importance inspired a backlash championed by, among others, Moliere, the famed playwright and loyal courtier. I interpret Moliere's comedies and his derisive treatment of the precieuse (his term for salonniere) in these plays, as a demonstration of the depth of female influence on court society (the reason he chose them as a ripe source of ridicule), and as an effective discreditation of the powerful salonniere. I argue that Moliere reclaimed conversation from women and used it to return women to their former place of disinclusion.