Masculinité et libertinage dans la figure et les écrits de Christine de Suède

Christina of Sweden is an exceptional case to study the topic of the representation of masculinity associated with the idea of strength of mind in religious matters. In fact, the queen is invariably showed by contemporaries as displaying multiple signs of masculinity in attitudes, clothing, activiti...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jean-Pierre Cavaillé
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: Groupe de Recherches Interdisciplinaires sur l'Histoire du Littéraire 2013-03-01
Series:Les Dossiers du GRIHL
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/dossiersgrihl/3965
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Christina of Sweden is an exceptional case to study the topic of the representation of masculinity associated with the idea of strength of mind in religious matters. In fact, the queen is invariably showed by contemporaries as displaying multiple signs of masculinity in attitudes, clothing, activities and speech, thereby generating the greatest confusion about gender identity, even more than sexual identity (even if the question of her sexual inclinations has continually been raised). But this trouble or uncertainty about gender, due to her exaggerated masculinity, is related, especially in the years of her abdication, to her “libertinage” of mind, or even pure and simple her unbelief, fed by all the irreligious topics circulating in Europe in the seventeenth century. Faced with this double representation, carried by contemporary pamphlets, memoirs and correspondence, Christine did not remain passive: she wrote a lot on her femininity and her masculinity, in relation to her queen’s status and her decision to abdicate, when she was in Rome engaged in a new form of heterodoxy – quietism –, she came back without remorse on his long years of unbelief.
ISSN:1958-9247