From Dumas fils’s Étrangère to Wilde’s Aventurière: French Theatrical Forerunners of the Wildean Female Dandy by Ignacio Ramos Gay

“…I will particularly focus on two society comedies, Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892) and An Ideal Husband (1895) so as to unearth French female forerunners of his aventurière throughout a series of plays written by boulevard authors such as Victorien Sardou, Emile Augier and Dumas fils. My aim is thus twofold: first to recognize the debt British playwrights contracted towards French drama and, secondly, to state that French theatrical stereotypes, even when being the main cause of native playwrights’ drowsiness, were also the first step towards the renaissance of English drama, as it can be observed throughout Oscar Wilde’s, Pinero’s, Gilbert’s and Jones’s dramaturgies.…”
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