A World Apart

A World Apart is an analysis of representations of female adolescence in selected novels from 1870 to 1930. In the nineteenth century, several factors, including the shifting of educational power from Church to State and the related debate over why and how to educate girls, contributed to the shaping of a new social category for young women. Art and life echoed one another, as novels about female adolescents incited further discussion about the proper role for young women in French society. In exploring these novels thematically and chronologically, this interdisciplinary study traces shifting social values and gender roles, compares portrayals penned by male and female authors, and examines the ways in which various artistic, intellectual, or literary movements of each period may have influenced each portrait. The project is grounded in French studies, but also creates links to related fields such as cultural studies, the history of women, and gender studies. A World Apart illuminates both the grounding of female adolescence in a specific historic and cultural setting and the timelessness of adolescence as a literary and social theme. Beth Gale is Associate Professor of French at Clark University.