Feminism, absolutism, and Jansenism [electronic resource] : Louis XIV and the Port Royal nuns / Daniella Kostroun.

9781107000452
9781139044912 (electronic book)

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2011.

English

xiii, 273 p.

BX4328.Z9 P64 2011

273/.7

"Feminism, absolutism, and Jansenism chronicles seventy years of Jansenist conflict and its complex intersection with power struggles between gallican bishops, Parlementaires, the Crown, and the pope. Daniella Kostroun focuses on the nuns of Port-Royal-des-Champs, whose community was disbanded by Louis XIV in 1709 as a threat to the state. Paradoxically, it was the nuns' adherence to their strict religious rule and the ideal of pious, innocent, and politically disinterested behavior that allowed them to challenge absolutism effectively. Adopting methods from cultural studies, feminism, and the Cambridge school of political thought, Kostroun examines how these nuns placed gender at the heart of the Jansenist challenge to the patriarchal and religious foundations of absolutism; they responded to royal persecution with a feminist defense of women's spiritual and rational equality and of the autonomy of the individual subject, thereby offering a bold challenge to the patriarchal and religious foundations of absolutism"--Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Access limited to authorized users.

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