Career Stories

Juliette M Rogers presents Career Stories, Volume 1, a profound work of literary criticism focused on the Belle & Époque period in France. This scholarly history examines a unique body of literature that moves beyond the traditional housewife or harlot archetypes often found in European studies. Instead, Rogers investigates novels featuring professional heroines such as lawyers, doctors, scientists, and archeologists. By analyzing the works of authors like Colette, Gabrielle Reval, and Marcelle Tinayre, this book explores how these women navigated the public domain and professional spheres during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

This volume introduces the concept of the female berufsroman, a specific subgenre of the bildungsroman centered on women's professional development. Career Stories, Volume 1, provides essential insights into French literary history by examining the dilemmas faced by both bourgeois and working-class professional women. This study offers a fresh perspective on how these writers influenced the direction of post-World War I French fiction.