2-997-020 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

(Le parterre de l'Odéon.) L'auteur!..., 1844. '... l'auteur!... l'auteur!' - 'Messieurs, votre impatience va être satisfaite...vous désirez connaître l'auteur de l'ouvrage remarquable qui vient d'obtenir un si grand, et je dois dire, si légitime succés...cet auteur...c'est môa [moi]!...'. (The pit at the Odeon theatre): 'Author!...author!...author!' Woman: 'Gentlemen, your impatience will be satisfied... you wish to know the author of the remarkable work which has just achieved such great, and I must say, such well-deserved success... this author...it is moi [me]!...'. Satirical criticism of 'bluestockings': women with interests beyond housework and childcare. Female authors were often depicted as mannish and ugly - the implication being that their intellectual output was just as objectionable as their looks. From Les Bas-bleus, no. 17.