Sofia Nilsson Warkander Forskare

My research focus is on French 17th century prose narratives, with particular focus on Marie-Catherine Desjardins (Madame de Villedieu) and Madame de Lafayette. I explore literary representations of passionate love under the absolutism of Louis XIV, and the constructive and destructive workings of passionate love in regards to the (moral) development of the individual in the Early Modern period. I analyze how these novels and novellas create shielded narrative spaces where female protagonists negotiate their agency through the control they exert over their representation in the stories that circulate about them.

My points of focus include narrative agency and control within critical contexts which include early modern practices of dissimulation, misogyny, and the development of the absolutist state in France. I also activate different understandings of virtue in relation to the changing role of the aristocracy, the pedagogical aspect of literature, French seventeenth century philosophical discussions of passionate love, and the field of History of Emotions.