ABSTRACT
The main figures in the tradition of the French singer-songwriter, the most prestigious creative artists who can lay claim to something akin to the status of auteur, all share a family resemblance. One could draw some inferences from this about the notions of gender role current in French society: but they would probably be sweeping generalisations. A more interesting proposition might be that the canon of 'great artists' the author is drawing up is somehow loaded in favour of a certain type of figure, a kind of male stereotype. In general, however, the more recent generation of singer-songwriters, those of the 1970s and 1980s, reflect a shift in these fairly stereotypical polarities, probably under the influence of the rise of feminism and the questioning of traditional conceptions of gender. It is also the case that the most influential practitioners have remained predominantly male, even if their masculinity is less aggressive.
