Adeline Soldin

Dickinson College, French and Francophone Studies, Faculty Member

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McKenzie Wark

The New School University

Andrea Peto

Central European University

David Seamon

Kansas State University

Caroline J . Tully

University of Melbourne

Egil Bakka

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Giulia Sissa

Ucla

Seda Pekşen

Ankara University

Heather Berg

Washington University in St. Louis

Denis Viva

University of Trento

Rebecca Comay

University of Toronto

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Papers by Adeline Soldin

Gender Confusion in Interwar Paris: Lucie Delarue-Mardrus' *L'Ange et les pervers*

Impressions from Paris: Women Creatives in Interwar Years France, 2024

Interwar Paris offered women artists the opportunity to explore the experience of identifying and... more Interwar Paris offered women artists the opportunity to explore the experience of identifying and presenting as masculine and/or non-binary. Lucie Delarue-Mardurs conducts this type of investigation in *L'ange et les pervers/The Angel and the Perverts* (1930) by portraying an intersex character who presents as both a man and a woman. Thanks to the forgiving fashion trends of the period, Marion is able to integrate both exclusively gay male and exclusively gay female milieus using simple but meaningful costume changes. Nonetheless, they struggle to find a space where they can embrace their intersexuality, prompting the author to explore diverse forms of sexuality, and specifically asexuality. In other words, questions surrounding gender identity that pervade the novel act as an entry point into matters related to love, affection and humanity in the absence of erotic desire.

Charlus at Home, or the Verbal Pursuit of Pleasure

H-France Salon, 2021

In one of the final passages of Le Côté de Guermantes, the narrator pays a visit to the baron de ... more In one of the final passages of Le Côté de Guermantes, the narrator pays a visit to the baron de Charlus in the intimacy of his home. The baron has invited him to his house with a specific agenda. On the surface, he confronts the narrator for having rejected his favors and defamed him to others. With further scrutiny, however, it becomes clear that Charlus stages this meeting as part of an erotic game in which his own tirade arouses himself. The narrator plays an important role in this dialogue, that of the insolent, inferior bourgeois, and he does so quite well. The success of this exchange relies on the articulation of certain words in a particular style and context, a method that appears in other explicitly sexual scenes. This passage differs, though,
from the more frequently referenced Montjouvain and brothel scenes in which the narrator witnesses carefully choreographed physical and verbal exchanges between characters. In those scenes, the narrator participates only as a spectator whereas in this instance he is directly and perhaps unwittingly implicated in the baron’s unconventional effort to self-seduce. What is more, this experience leads to the narrator’s own first tastes of a similarly spoken pleasure that relates to both storytelling and performance. This study examines the significance of this understudied passage as it pertains to the portrayal of both auto-erotica and narrative pleasure in À la
Recherche du temps perdu.

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Seeing Feeling: Queer Voyeurism in À la recherche du temps perdu

French Studies, 2015

This article examines the constitutive pattern created by the Proustian narrator’s repeated perfo... more This article examines the constitutive pattern created by the Proustian narrator’s repeated performance as a peeping Tom. Drawing on psychoanalysis, queer studies, visual culture, and affect and performance theories, this study expands the repertoire that has heretofore been limited to homosexual primal scenes by focusing on queer elements linking a number of voyeuristic moments in À la recherche du temps perdu. As unconventional primal scenes, these passages serve to break down heterosexual/homosexual and man/woman dichotomies through the inclusion of multiple participants of all genders and sexualities. That is, the repetition and authorization of such scenarios function as a performative discourse that advocates for queer sexualities in the novel. In addition to analysis dedicated to the implications of these erotic performances, significant attention is given to the protagonist’s role as voyeur. By highlighting the pleasure that the narrator experiences as a peeping Tom, this article argues that, rather than endeavour to label the Proustian narrator as homosexual or heterosexual, a more productive approach would be to avoid such strict binaries and focus more on his erotic experiences; namely, to view his voyeurism of men and women of various sexual leanings as representative of his sexual preferences.

No Future for Mlle de Saint-Loup? Queer Temporality and Histories in À la recherche du temps perdu

The French Review, 2020

In a novel with numerous affairs and relationships, only one child appears to represent the next ... more In a novel with numerous affairs and relationships, only one child appears to represent the next generation: Mlle de Saint-Loup. Does this child symbolize the assurance of heteronormative progression as criticized by Lee Edelman in No Future? Using concepts of queer time and kinship, this article argues that, rather than epitomize the promise of a better tomorrow, Mlle de Saint-Loup embodies alternative, non-linear histories in the Recherche. By replacing the traditional family tree with the image of a dynamic star to represent queer affiliations, Proust challenges the power of the patriarchal social order.

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Proustian Temptation: Narrative, Sexual, and Readerly Transgressions in La Recherche

Scholars continue to debate the relationship between the author and the narrator of A la recherch... more Scholars continue to debate the relationship between the author and the narrator of A la recherche du temps perdu, but very few would argue against the temptation to conflate the two. This article examines the nature and implications of this enticement. As I argue here, the tendency to mistake the narrator for Proust, especially regarding his sexuality, can be attributed to the intersection of narrative, sexual, and readerly transgressions throughout la Recherche. I posit that Proust draws attention to his narrator's anonymous identity in passages that breach narrative and sexual conventions thereby tempting readers to participate in a transgressive reading of the text.

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Les Femmes en fuite de l'espace urbain chez Marcel Proust et Djuna Barnes

Proust Aujourd'hui: Marcel Proust, roman moderne: perspectives comparatistes, ed. Vincent Ferré et Raffaello Rossi avec Delphine Paon, 2017

Cet article examine la mise en scène du désir lesbien dans le contexte de la ville de Paris dans ... more Cet article examine la mise en scène du désir lesbien dans le contexte de la ville de Paris dans A la recherche du temps perdu de Marcel Proust et Nightwood ou Le Bois de la nuit de Djuna Barnes. Ces deux auteurs représentent une tendance chez des femmes saphiques à vouloir explorer la capitale française à l’abri des regards épieurs, une tendance qui se transforme vite dans une envie de fuir la vie urbaine pour s’échapper au contrôle patriarcal. A travers l’analyse du vagabondage des personnages tels Odette, Albertine, et Robin Vote, nous étudions la possibilité de penser l’existence des flâneuses lesbiennes ainsi que les procédés chez ces écrivains pour dépeindre la femme lesbienne à la recherche d’un chez soi convenable.

Seeing Feeling: Queer Voyeurism in *A la recherche du temps perdu*

This article examines the constitutive pattern created by the Proustian narrator's repeated perfo... more This article examines the constitutive pattern created by the Proustian narrator's repeated performance as a peeping Tom. Drawing on psychoanalysis, queer studies, visual culture, and affect and performance theories, this study expands the repertoire that has heretofore been limited to homosexual primal scenes by focusing on queer elements linking a number of voyeuristic moments in À la recherche du temps perdu. As unconventional primal scenes, these passages serve to break down heterosexual/homosexual and man/woman dichotomies through the inclusion of multiple participants of all genders and sexualities. That is, the repetition and authorization of such scenarios function as a performative discourse that advocates for queer sexualities in the novel. In addition to analysis dedicated to the implications of these erotic performances, significant attention is given to the protagonist's role as voyeur. By highlighting the pleasure that the narrator experiences as a peeping Tom, this article argues that, rather than endeavour to label the Proustian narrator as homosexual or heterosexual, a more productive approach would be to avoid such strict binaries and focus more on his erotic experiences; namely, to view his voyeurism of men and women of various sexual leanings as representative of his sexual preferences.