“Tout mon office:” Body Politics and Family Dynamics in the verse epîtres of Marguerite de Navarre*

Abstract

“Voylà tout mon office. “— Marguerite de Navarre, Epître 12 (16)1Among the writings of Marguerite de Navarre, the intimate epîtres she exchanged with her mother, Louise de Savoie, and brother, François I are relatively unknown. Of moderate literary interest, these poems are most important for the insight they provide into the role of the princess in the complex negotiation of gender and power that was necessary when women sought powers of rule. The epîtres reveal a “division of labor” in the representation of femininity: through the symbolism of the family “trinité” the family distanced Louise from the constraints of gender and embodied existence, displacing the physical and symbolic burden of female flesh onto Marguerite.