An unprecedented and politically relevant study on the place des women in literature, analyzing in depth their exceedingly slow evolution from object to subject, from the Middle Ages to our era.

The result of several years of research carried out collectively by ten French and American academics, this book is the first comprehensive survey of women’s works in literature, from the Middle Ages to the 21st century in France and Francophone countries. These two volumes cover not only works in the classic literary genres, but also essays, correspondence, diaries and autobiographies, journalism, popular literature, and children’s literature. This overview calls for a full-scale reassessment of literary works by men and women, and for a new understanding of French and Francophone literature.