ABSTRACT
This chapter starts by looking at Damaris’s destiny as a literary author in relation to the detailed family history that preoccupies the opening pages of the novel. It discusses the somewhat unexpected methods Malet employs in order to realise not only Damaris’s professional ambitions but also her development of an independent selfhood. The detailed accounts of Damaris’s sensations bring to mind such earlier narratives of sexual development as Kate Chopin’s groundbreaking and controversial novel The Awakening. Moreover, as Damaris muses, she must accept her erotic longings in order to have the chance to “play an individual part in the beautiful, terrible earthly scene”. Sexual experience is thus shown to have an instrumental purpose, one that facilitates maturity of insight and personal growth, even while making it clear that this wished-for encounter may prove painful and involve risks for a young woman.
