Even after the turbulent events that culminated in the Revolution of 1848 French women
remained disenfranchised and disillusioned due to their exclusion from the public domain.
However a group of pioneering women persistently challenged the issue of civil rights and the
legal minority of women in many genres: beginning with feminist journals then satirical poetry
fiction pamphlets posters treatises inspirational slogans letters and even travelogues.
This book gives an overview of the corpus of writings by women at this historic moment and
examines the political culture into which these writings were produced. Joyce Dixon-Fyle argues
that the genres selected by women writers such as Eugénie Niboyet Jeanne Deroin Jenny
d'Héricourt Juliette Adam Maria Deraimes were simply modes of expression determined less by
choice than by the repressive politics and censorship of the July Monarchy which was
relentless in its attempts to silence and marginalize women.
