The volume entitled Carnal and Mercantile in Anglo-Saxon, French and Romanian Literatures (1830-1950) published by Oana Băluică is, originally, a doctoral thesis, defended at the University of Craiova in September 2018, under the guidance of Prof. univ. dr. Cătălin Ghiță. Placed under the aegis of a comparative approach, the research follows the hypostases and paradigms under which, during the mentioned period, the mercantilized female body has been reiterated in different cultural spaces and in literature. Being a complex and nuanced phenomenon, the research also uses the contribution of cultural and gender studies to establish an ideational path as comprehensive as possible on these issues. Among the writers listed and analyzed are Émile Zola, Charles Dickens, G. M. Zamfirescu, Henry Miller, Camil Petrescu, Marcel Proust and Mateiu I. Caragiale. The three great hermeneutical dimensions of the work are accompanied by an eminently theoretical part, in order to support, thus, an extremely complex and multifaceted cultural and textual scaffolding.