%0 Journal Article
%T From Rebellion to Liberation : The Image of an Ill-Mannered Woman in the Literary Works of Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, Simone de Beauvoir, Françoise Sagan and Marguerite Duras
%A Ledwina, Anna
%J Santander Art and Culture Law Review
%V 2018
%R 10.4467/2450050XSNR.18.010.9771
%N 1/2018 (4)
%P 157-170
%K identity, contestation, transgression, morality, stereotypes, modern woman
%@ 2391-7997
%D 2018
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/saaclr/article/od-buntu-do-wyzwolenia-image-kobiety-nieobyczajnej-wedlug-sidonie-gabrielle-colette-simone-de-beauvoir-francoise-sagan-i-marguerite-duras
%X 
	A woman’s identity, including her sexuality, reflects, as it were, her struggle for freedom within the domestic sphere, throughout history and culture, and charts her route to emancipation . In the context of cultural, moral, and ethical facts inspired by the theory of gender, the aim of the paper is to set forth a reflection on the question of the figure of the transgressive woman in French literature of the 19th and 20th centuries. This issue is viewed in relation to the sphere of the author’s personal life, as well as taking into account the historical and anthropological perspective related to the specificity and mentality of 19th and 20th century France; in particular, the  social and public roles assumed by women yet imposed on them by society. Literary works by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, Simone de Beauvoir, Françoise Sagan, and Marguerite Duras depict the picture of the modern woman, freed from the tight corset of etiquette, aware of her self-esteem, transgressing sexual taboos, and debunking fixed social and literary stereotypes.

	The research strategy adopted in this paper aims to utilize a considerably broad observational field, making it possible to present the above issues from a  comparative perspective. From such a perspective, the picture of a woman contesting the fixed standards of the obedient wife and mother appears as a multi-level issue showing the complexity of her nature and an abundance of factors conditioning the female ego, who ultimately evolves from an initial aversion to bourgeois morality to an outright revolt manifesting itself through non-standard or even scandalous behaviour.