3-096-695 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Ah! ma chère, quelle singulière éducation vous donnez a votre fille?..., 1844. mais à douze ans, moi, j'avais déjà écrit un roman en deux volumes... et même une fois terminé, ma mère m'avait défendu de le lire, tellement elle le trouvé avancé pour mon âge. (Oh, my dear.... what a peculiar upbringing you are giving your daughter. Why, at the age of twelve, I had already written a two-volume novel - and even after I finished it, my mother forbade me to read it, finding it far too mature for my age.) Satirical criticism of 'bluestockings': women with interests beyond housework and childcare. Female authors were often depicted as mannish and ugly - the implication being that their intellectual output was just as objectionable as their looks.