Que s’est-il passé en 1816? Lecture de La Vieille Fille de Balzac: Essai de gynéco-histoire

In La Vieille Fille, Balzac relates sexuality and the reproductive capacities of the main characters to the situation in France in 1816. The fable is allegorical: Rose Cormon portrays a France that is still fertile, provided that she finds a partner who is also fertile and sexually strong enough. Balzac also refers to the hopes for a legitimate monarchical renaissance in France; as a result, for the reader in 1836 who knows what happened to the monarchy, the novel is both serious and comical. Balzac uses the medical knowledge of his time about menopause and combines it with older beliefs in a craft that is both fun and attentive to the female being. (In French)