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  • Gender, Genius, and the Art...
    Wilson, Susannah

    The Modern language review, 04/2017, Letnik: 112, Številka: 2
    Journal Article

    This article interprets various letters by the French sculptor Camille Claudel, in the light of fin-de-siècle French discourses on the 'femme artiste' and 'art féminin'. Drawing on the psychopathological concept of the 'double bind' and theoretical discussions of the gendering of genius, the article argues that the artistic and epistolary persona constructed in these letters throws light on the psychological conflicts typically experienced by talented women faced with paradoxical injunctions. It concludes that Claudel's personal negotiation of these constraints contained elements of success and failure that cause us to rethink the typical formulaic, pathologizing explanations of her life story.