Fantine in the Belle Époque: Representation of the Fille-Mère in L'Assiette au beurre (1902) and Marcelle Tinayre's La Rebelle (1905)

Abstract: This article reads depictions of the fille-mère as a vehicle for the expression of anxieties surrounding representation of marginal female figures and freedom of the press in the Belle Époque. It looks to two texts, exploring how these fictional unmarried mothers differ from Hugo's Fantine, the archetype of the fille-mère , earlier in the nineteenth century. After an overview of welfare support for unmarried mothers in the long nineteenth century, the author provides close and intermedial readings of a 1902 issue of L'Assiette au Beurre and Marcelle Tinayre's La Rebelle (1905), focusing on the limits of representation of these non-conforming women.