Output list
Conference paper
Henriette-Julie de Murat’s “Anguillette”: Vegetal Love as Resistance
Date presented 10/18/2024
International Conference of the Society for Interdisciplinary French Seventeenth-Century Studies (SE17) , 10/17/2024–10/19/2024, Chicago, IL
ABSTRACT
During the late seventeenth-century fairy-tale vogue, a literary genre vanguarded by women, Henriette-Julie de Murat (1670-1716) pushed boundaries and was known for her scandalous behavior, critiquing court life, engaging in affairs with women, and cross-dressing. She was exiled from court in 1694 due to her scathing evaluation of Louis XIV’s court and remained in exile at Loches until after his death in 1715. During her incarceration, she turned to writing. In 1698, she wrote Contes de fées, which included the tale “L’Anguillette” which exemplifies Murat’s penchant for Greek mythology and takes up her interest in dismantling stereotypical depictions of love and happy endings. In this tale, the princess Plousine transforms into Hébé, the Greek goddess of eternal youth. Her portrayal of doomed love in “L’Anguillette” shows clear resistance to traditional narratives of female submission in romance and marriage. At the end of the tale, Hébé tragically ends her own life during a duel between her former lover and her current husband, and the titular fairy Anguillette ultimately metamorphosizes Hébé and her former lover into a pair of trees. Murat shows the destructive power of love and desire through this tale, and thus presents a contemporary reader with a clear warning about the precarious pursuit of love and pleasure. This tale, entwined with floral and vegetal references and resplendently reflecting material culture of the period, evokes a pair of malheureux amants that eschews conventional gender norms of the Grand Siècle. In this tale, Murat ultimately positions the plant as the redeemer of ill-fated desire and love.
Conference paper
“Prattling in the Birthing Chamber: Les Caquets de l’accouchée (1622)”
Date presented 03/09/2024
Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) convention , 03/07/2024–03/10/2024, Bostonm, MA
Paper presentation for the panel “Bodily Excesses” sponsored by Women in French, Part 2.
Presentation
Date presented 05/08/2023
“Roundtable II: Renaissance Studies NOW” on scholarship at the “Renaissance Studies NOW: The New Generation” conference, 05/08/2023–05/08/2023, Bloomington, IN
Conference presentation
“Performing Gendered Botanical Worlds."
Date presented 09/30/2022
"Attending to Women, 1100-1800: Performance” conference at the Newberry Library at the Center for Renaissance Studies, 09/30/2022–10/01/2022, Chicago, IL
Co-leading a workshop at the “Attending to Women, 1100-1800: Performance” Convention
Conference presentation
“Plant Knowledge and Maternal Networks in Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy’s Fairy Tales.”
Date presented 04/01/2022
Renaissance Society of America Convention, 03/30/2022–04/02/2022, Dublin, Ireland
Paper presentation for the panel “Early Modern Parturient and Postpartum Experiences in
Western Europe”
Conference presentation
“From Vegetable to Animal: Madeleine de Scudéry’s ‘Des fleurs et des fruits’ (1692).”
Date presented 03/10/2022
Northeast Modern Language Association Convention, 03/10/2022–03/13/2022, (Virtual Presentation), Baltimore, MD
Paper presentation for the panel, “Making Kin in Early Modern France: Interspecies Ecology of Care”
Conference presentation
“On Butterflies: Affective Networks in Madeleine de Scudéry’s ‘Les papillons.’ ”
Date presented 10/15/2021
The Society for Interdisciplinary French Seventeenth-Century Studies Annual Convention, 10/14/2021–10/23/2021, Virtual
Conference presentation
"Emotional Resonances: Early Modern Birth and Maternity in Western Europe."
Date presented 04/07/2021
Renaissance Society of America Convention, 04/07/2021–04/10/2021, Virtual (Originally planned for Dublin, Ireland)
Sponsored by the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and
Gender.
Conference presentation
“The Secrets of Plants in Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy’s Fairy Tales."
Date presented 03/05/2020
Northeast Modern Language Association, 03/05/2020–03/08/2020, Boston, MA
Conference paper
Annual International Conference of the Society for Interdisciplinary French Seventeenth-Century Studies, 10/11/2022–10/15/2022, Reykjavík, Iceland
Works-in-Progress Workshop, for the “Materiality and Physicality” group.