Deadly Desires: A Psychoanalytic Study of Female Sexual Perversion and Widowhood in Fin-de-Siècle Women's Writing

Deadly Desires offers a unique perspective on female sexual desire, hysteria and the state of widowhood in the context of fin-de-siècle women’s writing. During this period, stories about hysterical women filled the air of Paris and the novels emerging during this era conveyed this hysteria and openly portrayed the symptoms of the women being treated at the Salpêtière. This book examines the emergence of hysterical discourse and its influence on women’s writing, specifically focusing on the presentation of female sexuality in three different narratives.

Existing research in this area is largely confined to looking at the narratives as ‘female authored’ and this is certainly the case with Rachilde’s writings. The present study aims to break away from the predominantly biographical lens through which critics often examine Rachilde’s work and instead concentrates on the marital status and sexuality of her female protagonists. This project focuses on the connection between widowhood, hysteria and female desire for the fin-de-siècle woman and explores what factors either hinder or facilitate Rachilde’s heroines’ ability to achieve sexual autonomy.

The narratives examined in this book can be read as a direct response to psychotherapy, the Women’s Movement, as well as the psychoanalytical theories emerging at the fin de siècle with regards to female sexuality. As portrayed in the literature of the time, nineteenth-century society had discovered that women did indeed have sexual impulses, even women without husbands, and the Decadents were intent on exploring them in explicit detail. In this book, the author argues that Rachilde uses widowhood as an interpretative riddle in her literature to convey certain socio-critical elements which she could not otherwise express. As a result, widowhood acts as a facilitator in the exploration of female desire.