Negotiating the middlebrow: women writers and literary stardom in contemporary France

This article examines the construction and functions of literary celebrity through the lens of a specific context, which may be termed ‘middlebrow’ women authors in contemporary France. Taking the two very different cases of bestselling novelists Anna Gavalda and Amélie Nothomb, the article examines the relationship between the textual qualities of each author’s work – the sine qua non of reader appeal and hence of celebrity itself – and the way that each performs the role of author in the face of French culture’s persistent belief that mass popular appeal is incompatible with authentic literary quality.