Female portraits from the Memoranda

Barbey d’Aurevilly’s diary contains so many female portraits that it forms an impressive gallery. This contribution explores the biographical and characterological motivations for this recurring motif, and proposes to study the pictorial approach of the writer, a contemplator in search of the feminine mystery and a sketcher who is a victim of the difficulties of representation. Diary-writing is a workshop and a sanctuary that inspired many of the novelist’s sketches.