Époque conradienne (L'), n° 34

In this volume of L'Epoque Conradienne are published most of the
papers presented during the 2006 Limoges Conference entitled «Femininity,
a privilege - not feminism, an attitude»*. The "feminine" in Joseph
Conrad's fictions: from ideology to a poetics of heterogeneity. Colleagues
from France, Britain, Poland, Norway, South Africa and Canada offered new
light on Conrad's position on the question of the feminine - a question which
took a new turn at the beginning of the 20^th century, when Modernism
modified the perception of gender divisions.

A majority of articles deal with the question of clichés and stereotypes
and the way Conrad allows the emergence of new representations of
gendered identities and of a sexualized worldview - characteristics not often
associated with Conrad's fiction. Several also tackle the question of the
relationship between patriarchy and imperialism: does his critical approach to
imperialism address or obliterate the question of patriarchy?

Finally, all tend to prove that there is definitely a place for feminist
criticism and the question of feminine writing in Conradian studies - pointing
out that our reading of Conrad's fiction is modified if we scrutinize
"femininity" (the "privilege") with the tools of the "attitude", "feminism".
Such approaches pave the way for a further exploration of that field.

* Chance, Harmondsworth : Penguin, 1986, p. 127