Masculine/Feminine Strength as a counterrevolutionary virtue in Barbey d’Aurevilly’s Le Chevalier Des Touches

This article aims to supplement Frédérique Marro’s study on “Barbey d’Aurevilly et la force” by arguing for the complexity of the specific case of the Chevalier Des Touches. In the avenue of dialogue opened by Antoine Compagnon between the Revolution and the Counter-Revolution (understood here with Joseph de Maistre), the latter displays an apparently paradoxical partition of force between the masculine and the feminine, which I aim to clarify using the notion of “virtue”—and ultimately of virtù (Arendt).