19th Century Literary Representations of the Lorette

The historical origin of the lorette in the writings of Alexandre Parent-Duchâtelet and Maurice Alhoy evolved into the monolithic and almost mythical lorettes of 19th century French literary works. These portrayals are negative perspectives on female sexuality that paint the lorette as a frivolous, manipulative and destructive force, typically of lower class origins, who embodies an existential threat to the upper class because of her insatiable desire for wealth and social capital.

In this section, we will focus on three distinct lorettes in literature: the romanticized and feitished Musette of Henri Murger's Scenes of a Bohemian Life (1851), the childish and animalistic Rosanette of Gustave Flaubert’s A Sentimental Education (1869), and the destructive and manipulative Nana of Émile Zola’s Nana (1880). These novels show the progression of the lorette's portrayal from one that is more positive (Musette) to more negative (Nana). In each of these three texts the lorette could disguise herself as an “honest woman," or a woman born into her designated social class, by gaining social capital, until men would not know the difference, leading to their downfall. Because the reader only learns about the lorettes through a male perspective, their negative portrayal has a distinctly sexist undertone.

Although the lorette’s threat is exaggerated because no single woman could have had that much of an impact, the marked negativity expressed towards her is indicative of a wider fear of female sexuality and its implications regarding the destruction of the dominant social order. A lorette’s unashamed hedonism gave her sexual freedom, proving that a sexually liberated woman is also a powerful woman.