Acknowledgements p. vi List of Abbreviations p. vii Introduction: Con/textualising the Corpus p. 1 1 The Early Years: Classifying Sexuality in 'Les Armoires vides' and 'Ce qu'ils disent ou rien' p. 17 2 The Adult Woman: Female Behaviour Pradigms in 'La Femme gelee' and 'Passion simple' p. 49 3 Writing the Auto/biographical Legacies of La Place and Une femme p. 87 4 Self/representation through the M/other in the Diaries of 'Je ne suis pas sortie de ma nuit', 'Journal du dehors' and 'La Vie exterieure' p. 117 5 The Return to Origins: 'La Honte' and 'L'Evenement' p. 153 Notes p. 177 Bibliography p. 221 Index p. 233