Pleurs’ studio of Marceline Desbordes-Valmore

This article tries to reconstruct the workshop of Marceline Desbordes-Valmore writing Les Pleurs (1833) (alluding her contemporary novel L’Atelier d’un peintre) – through her correspondence and her manuscripts. It offers a reading of three poems: “ Tristesse ” (personal lyricism); “Sous une croix belge” (political poetry); and “Louise Labé” (engaging with poetical tradition), relying on manuscripts and in relation with epigraphs and context. This reading reveals a poetic project more thoughtful and consistent that is commonly assumed, even in this volume in which Desbordes-Valmore tries to explore new codes.