Comment peut-on etre Peruvienne?: Francoise de Graffigny, a Strategic Femme de Lettres

This article uses postcolonial theory to analyze Francoise de Graffigny's Lettres d'une Peruvienne (1747). Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's concept of "strategic essentialism" sheds light on the ways in which this ancien regime author crafted her writings in mid-eighteenth century France. While an aristocrat, she was an outsider to the literary circles of her time. As a result, Graffigny's writing is characterized by, what the author of this article calls, "strategic aristocratism." Rather than openly questioning the social and literary status quo, Graffigny embeds her criticism within popular literary forms such as the epistolary novel, the roman philosophique, and travel narratives. Consequently, Graffigny's criticism of class and gender perceptions is wrapped within accepted social and literary discourses, which enabled her to publish her work in those circles.