''A Woman With No Clothes On'' (2008) is V. R. Main's

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

. Set in 19th-century

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, it is the story of 18-year-old

Victorine Meurent Victorine-Louise Meurent (also Meurant; February 18, 1844 – March 17, 1927) was a French painter and a model for painters. Although she is best known as the favorite model of Édouard Manet, she was an artist in her own right who regularly exh ...

, the painter Edouard Manet and their shared longing for the ultimate painting. The novel won the Trafalgar Squared Prize, and was shortlisted for The People's Book Prize. It was published by Delancey Press.

Plot summary

Edouard Manet - Luncheon on the Grass - Google Art Project

The aristocratic

Manet A wireless ad hoc network (WANET) or mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a decentralized type of wireless network. The network is ad hoc because it does not rely on a pre-existing infrastructure, such as routers in wired networks or access points ...

and the working-class

narrate ''A Woman With No Clothes On''. A chance meeting between the two leads to an intense relationship of painting and sexual tension. Manet creates a scandal when he exhibits '' Le déjeuner sur l'herbe'' and ''

Olympia The name Olympia may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games * ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...

'' in which the naked model is a young Victorine. While critics and the general public dismiss the works, and label Victorine a common prostitute, she is determined to make her mark in the art world as a painter in her own right. Her bitter struggle to succeed is punctuated by the exchanges between Manet and his friend

Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fro ...

on the matter of modernism.

Critical response

''A Woman With No Clothes On'' was the winner of the Trafalgar Squared Prize for Work in Progress (2008). It was described by the chair of judges, Wendy Robertson as "outstanding. A powerful novel. The writing is original, literary, intense and well-observed". The author of ''Manet'', Lesley Stevenson praised Main for "rescu ngVictorine from her invisibility in the Parisian art world of the nineteenth century". The novel received press attention in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

''. The ''

Socialist Worker ''Socialist Worker'' is the name of several far-left newspapers currently or formerly associated with the International Socialist Tendency (IST). It is a weekly newspaper published by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the United Kingdom since ...

'' carried an article on the novel's attention to issues of

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

and

social class A social class is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the Upper class, upper, Middle class, middle and Working class, lower classes. Membership in a social class can for ...

, as well as on the feminist blog '' The F-Word''.

Notes

External links

*
"The Naked Truth"
''Guardian'' article by V. R. Main

''Times Literary Supplement'' article by Michael Eaude
''Rewriting the history of Manet's favourite model''
Socialist Worker article by Matthew Cookson
''Feminist views of Meurent''
The F-Word {{DEFAULTSORT:Woman With No Clothes On Feminist novels 2008 novels Historical novels Novels about artists Novels set in Paris Fiction set in 1862 2008 debut novels