The word

has had a long and varied history in French culture. At the beginning of fifteenth century, it referred to female chastity; by the end, its plural form had come to designate affectation. In its “heyday” of the seventeenth century, it was a derogatory term used to describe the behavior and aesthetics of culturally active women, the

; and in the nineteenth century, it was nuanced again and employed to malign writing by women that fell outside the constructed ideal of seventeenth-century French

. The precise meaning of the word is still being debated by critics and historians, and essentially so, since establishing the definition and signification of

is integral to its analysis.

The category of préciosité most frequently

2350 words

Citation: Taylor, Helena. "Préciosité". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 August 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19478, accessed 23 November 2024.]

• View recommended reading for this article