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"This biographical study of three late nineteenth-century French writers looks at how transgender identities were expressed and understood before the modern category of transgender existed. At once construed as oddities and celebrated for their accomplishments, archaeologist and explorer Jane Dieulafoy (1851-1916), art critic Marc de Montifaud (1845-1912), and novelist and playwright Rachilde (1860-1953) defied the available terms for women who challenged gender norms. The book uses the contemporary lens of transgender to examine the fascinating and very different life stories of these overlooked historical figures, while introducing us to their writing and photography"--
List of contents
1. A Soldier Is Born
2. Unearthing Jane
3. Excavating the Self
4. Fictional Truths
5. Loving Marcel
6. "May He or She Rest in Peace!"
7. Becoming Rachilde
8. Born of Scandal
9. A Symbol of Her Mind
10. Freedom through Imagination
11. Death by Marriage
12. Why She Was Not a Feminist
13. Becoming Marc
14. Montifaud on Trial
15. Clothing Stories
16. Love Stories
17. The Right to Difference
18. Conclusion
About the author
Rachel Mesch is Professor of French and English at Yeshiva University. She is the author of
Having it All in the Belle Epoque: How French Women's Magazines Invented the Modern Woman (Stanford, 2013) and
The Hysteric's Revenge: French Women Writers at the Fin de Siècle (2006).
