Marie Jeanne Riccoboni's Epistolary Feminism: Fact, Fiction, and Voice by Marijn S. Kaplan

Abstract

Reviewed by: Marie Jeanne Riccoboni's Epistolary Feminism: Fact, Fiction, and Voice by Marijn S. Kaplan Tessa Ashlin Nunn Kaplan, Marijn S. Marie Jeanne Riccoboni's Epistolary Feminism: Fact, Fiction, and Voice. Routledge, 2020. Pp. 184, ISBN 9781003047803. $44.05 (ebook). ISBN 978-0-367-85852-0. $160 (cloth). Few book-length studies examine the life and work of novelist, journalist, actress, and translator Marie Jeanne Riccoboni (1713-1792). Marijn S. Kaplan underscores Riccoboni's role in the European feminist Enlightenment and points to the factors leading to her erasure from the eighteenth-century canon. Using the epistolary form as a vehicle for proto-feminist thought, Riccoboni promoted authority and autonomy for female voices. The first half of the book analyzes how Riccoboni's epistolary novels make feminist statements by silencing male voices, creating female spaces, and narrating the self. Her first novel, Lettres de Fanni Butlerd, blends fiction and facts from the novelist's life to make the personal public and to hold her former lover accountable for his acts. Whereas feminist scholars often protest against [End Page 181] reading women's novels as confessions, Kaplan interprets the use of autobiographical elements as a feminist praxis. Drawing on Janet G. Altman's argument that the letter is a metonym of the letter writer, Kaplan shows how the plurality of female voices in Riccoboni's novels creates self-sufficient female spaces where letter writing and friendship replace marriage. As Kaplan argues, female friendships and widowhood appear as methods for surviving eighteenthcentury patriarchy. Throughout her novels and short stories, Riccoboni grapples with the possibilities of feminine existence in marriage which, in her view, must be based on friendship. Though scholars tend to consider Riccoboni's last novel, Lettres de Mylord Rivers, to be her least feminist novel, Kaplan reads it as her most poignantly feminist work. This polyphonic novel suggests that men and women can coexist in harmony only when women possess authoritative voices, men respect women's speech, and no one is silenced. Studying Percival Stockdale's 1778 translation Letters from Lord Rivers, Kaplan examines how translations exaggerate, change, or eliminate feminist arguments. With new paragraphs and numerous footnotes, Stockdale's translation presents men as victims of women's attempts to gain rights and compares coquettish women to slave owners. English translations of Riccoboni's novels and letters greatly influenced the international reception and perceptions of this author. Riccoboni's indignation against sexism stands out in her novels as well as her letters, several of which she published. In the second half of the book, Kaplan examines Riccoboni's correspondence with men such as Denis Diderot, David Hume, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, David Garrick, and Philip Thicknesse. These letters, nineteen of which are included in the appendix with meticulous English translations, attest to how Riccoboni used publication to gain authority. One of her letters to Diderot delineates her concept of theatricality that must remain distinct from nature. Finally, her letters reveal her thoughts on the pirated editions of her works as well as the denigrated status of women writers. This book is essential for scholars of eighteenth-century women writers. Additionally, researchers interested in epistolary novels, theater studies, translation, and early feminism will find it relevant to their respective fields. Kaplan summarizes the novels in such a way that her analyses are understandable for readers unfamiliar with Riccoboni's work. Though Kaplan avoids comparisons between eighteenth-century epistolary feminism and twenty-firstcentury feminist practices, she gestures toward numerous connections that instructors can develop in the classroom. Accessible and engaging, this monograph offers new perspectives on eighteenth-century proto-feminism and the possibilities of letter writing. Tessa Ashlin Nunn Duke University Copyright © 2021 Women in French Studies