29 October 2024

Bastian Felter Vaucanson gives guest lecture in Montréal

Bastian Felter Vaucanson will be giving an invited lecture at the seminary of the Groupe de recherche en histoire des sensibilités at the University of Montréal on 14 November 2024. His lecture will address the functions and metamorphoses of the private spiritual letter in 17th century France:

"An epistolary genre that spread and evolved rapidly in the wake of the confessional reforms of early modern Europe, the spiritual letter is a particularly rich site for studying women's practices of self-portraiture in the 17th century. This presentation will trace the rhetorical and theological origins of the genre, highlighting the spiritual importance attributed to epistolary intimacy by men and women of the period. Examples will be drawn from the correspondence of Jeanne de Chantal, Marie de l'Incarnation, Jeanne Guyon and Madame de Maintenon, among others. At the heart of the subject are the delicate questions of female authority and the persistent disjunction between what was perceived as public and private."

For more information, visit the website here.

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