The Wicked Queen – The Origins of the Myth of Marie–Antoinette - Hardcover

Chantal Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0942299396 ISBN 13: 9780942299397

Publisher: Zone Books, 1999

Synopsis

Chantal Thomas presents the history of the mythification of one of the most infamous queens in all history, whose execution still fascinates us today. In The Wicked Queen, Chantal Thomas presents the history of the mythification of one of the most infamous queens in all history, whose execution still fascinates us today. Almost as soon as Marie-Antoinette, archduchess of Austria, was brought to France as the bride of Louis XVI in 1771, she was smothered in images. In a monarchy increasingly under assault, the charm and horror of her feminine body and her political power as a foreign intruder turned Marie-Antoinette into an alien other. Marie-Antoinette's mythification, argues Thomas, must be interpreted as the misogynist demonization of women's power and authority in revolutionary France.In a series of pamphlets written from the 1770s until her death in 1793, Marie-Antoinette is portrayed as a spendthrift, a libertine, an orgiastic lesbian, and a poisoner and infant murderess. In her analyses of these pamphlets, seven of which appear here in translation for the first time, Thomas reconstructs how the mounting hallucinatory and libelous discourse culminated in the inevitable destruction of what had become the counterrevolutionary symbol par excellence. The Wicked Queen exposes the elaborate process by which the myth of Marie-Antoinette emerged as a crucial element in the successful staging of the French Revolution.

About this title

Review

"Thomas offers a brilliant and provocative analysis of the techniques of scurrilous pamphleteering and shows how every aspect of Marie-Antoinette's... became fodder for the pornographic imagination." - Lynn Hunt

From the Publisher

Political, pornographic, pamphlet propoganda!
In The Wicked Queen, Chantal Thomas presents the history of the mythification of one of the most infamous queens in all history, whose execution still fascinates us today. Almost as soon as Marie-Antoinette, archduchess of Austria, was brought to France as the bride of Louis XV in 1771, she was smothered in images. In a monarchy increasingly under assault, the charm and horror of her feminine body and her political power as a foreign intruder turned Marie-Antoinette into an alien other. Marie-Antoinette's mythification, argues Thomas, must be interpreted as the misogynist demonization of women's power and authority in revolutionary France.

In a series of pamphlets written from the 1770s until her death in 1793, Marie-Antoinette is portrayed as a spendthrift, a libertine, an orgiastic lesbian, and a poisoner and infant murderess. In her analyses of these pamphlets, seven of which appear here in translation for the first time, Thomas reconstructs how the mounting hallucinatory and libelous discourse culminated in the inevitable destruction of what had become the counterrevolutionary symbol par excellence. The Wicked Queen exposes the elaborate process by which the myth of Marie-Antoinette emerged as a crucial element in the successful staging of the French Revolution.

Chantal Thomas is a researcher at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. She is the author of Marquis de Sade, L’Oeil de la lettre (1978) ,Sade (1994), and Casanova, un voyage libertin (1985).

"This lively and original book opens a window onto a timely and always controversial issue: the uses of pornography to undermine a political regime. Thomas offers a brilliant and provocative analysis of the techniques of scurrilous pamphleteering and shows how every aspect of Marie-Antoinette's life from her hairdos to her choice of female friends became fodder for the pornographic imagination." --Lynn Hunt

About this edition

• Publisher: Zone Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0942299396
• ISBN 13: 9780942299397
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256