'L'âge dangereux': Representations of the Middle-aged Woman in Contemporary French and Francophone Culture

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My project involves exploring representations of middle-aged women in contemporary French and Francophone culture across a broad range of primary texts and themes, applying Anglo-American theories on ageing and ageism and creating a dialogue with cognitive literary theory, feminist theory and sociology. It will analyse if and how these texts provide a modern-day response to Simone de Beauvoir's negative opinion of female midlife by challenging stereotypical notions of the degendered, invisible, post-maternal woman and by presenting more positive, unpredictable models of women in middle age, thereby contributing to the evolution of societal attitudes.