The Flâneuse in Literature and Culture

The Flâneuse in Literature and Culture: Women Wandering Purposefully explores how women have navigated the freedoms and constraints of wandering through public spaces. Expanding on the traditionally masculine figure of the flâneur, this edited collection considers the flâneuse across literature, urban spaces, media types, and national traditions. The essays in this book investigate how social positionalities such as gender, race, and class shape the ways in which women experience movement and existence in public. Building on studies of canonical authors, alongside lesser-known voices, the collection moves beyond familiar European frameworks to explore various forms of movement through cities and cultural landscapes around the world. Interdisciplinary in scope, the collection contributes to literary studies, communication studies, gender studies, urban studies, cultural studies, and more, while also speaking to broader contemporary conversations about public space, tourism, visibility, safety, and the politics of movement through space.