« Feminin », « Feminite », « Femme »: la condition feminine dans Le Sermon sur la chute de Rome de Jerome Ferrari

Abstract

The present article aims at analyzing, in Jerome Ferrari’s novel « Le Sermon sur la chute de Rome » / ‘The Sermon about the Fall of Rome’, the feminine condition and its relationship to different cultural paradigms, throughout the 20th century. The novel follows the destiny of a Corsican family, along four generations; the individual trajectories, outlined on the sociohistorical background, reflect the successive roles played by women in different stages of society: “mother and housewife” (in pre-modern society); “individualist woman” (at the beginning of Modernity); “liberated woman” and “career woman” (during the mature Modernity).