La Mère Duchesne. Masques populaires et guerre pamphlétaire, 1789-1791.

Abstract

In this study, the author analyses the broadsheets and newpapers which were published during the first years of the revolution and appeared under the name of Mother Duchesne, a feminine equivalent of the mythical character made famous by Hébert. He places these in the continuity of a pamphlet literature, often expressed in a coarse style and which quite early let female characters express their own point of view. One after another, and sometimes at the same time various Mother Duchesnes appeared in print — a Jacobin one but also others expressing a counter-revolutionary viewpoint. Sometimes, they were attempts at expressing women's vision of things, but they were also a means of getting across to women the truth seen from the men's point of view. Whether patriot or royalist, these newsheets are proof of the interest taken in the female public.