“Would You Write Something in my Album?” Social Customs and their Literary Depiction in ...

445 Pages·2014·6.17 MB·English

by  Hugh Crumley

“Would You Write Something in my Album?” Social Customs and their Literary
Depiction in Nineteenth-Century France and Spain

by

Jeannette Acevedo Rivera

Department of Romance Studies
Duke University

Date:_______________________
Approved:

___________________________
David Bell, Co-Supervisor

___________________________
Stephanie Sieburth, Co-Supervisor

___________________________
Roberto Dainotto

___________________________
Richard Rosa

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Romance Studies
in the Graduate School of Duke University

2014

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ABSTRACT
“Would You Write Something in my Album?” Social Customs and their Literary
Depiction in Nineteenth-Century France and Spain

by

Jeannette Acevedo Rivera

Department of Romance Studies
Duke University

Date:_______________________
Approved:

___________________________
David Bell, Co-Chair

___________________________
Stephanie Sieburth, Co-Chair

___________________________
Roberto Dainotto

___________________________
Richard Rosa

An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of
Romance Studies in the Graduate School of
Duke University

2014
Copyright by
Jeannette Acevedo Rivera
2014
Abstract

The album phenomenon developed in France and Spain and lasted throughout the
entire nineteenth century. Albums were books with blank pages in which the owner
collected contributions in the form of poetry, drawings, and music scores. These works
were created for album owners by friends, acquaintances, and sometimes even suitors,
and were meant to pay tribute to them. It is possible to imagine the album as a space of
intense social and economic rivalry, in which owners of the books competed with one
another to obtain the most luxurious books, and to fill them with the greatest number of
entries from renowned artists. Similarly, contributors implicitly competed with one
another to create the highest quality entries and contribute to albums that advanced their
status as artists. However, established writers did not need further publicity, and many
complained about the hassle of the constant request for contributions. To highlight the
scope of the album phenomenon, and the frustration it caused writers and artists, José
Zorrilla denounced album entry requests, stating that he had been solicited for album
contributions a total of 188,000 times in his life. Honoré de Balzac condemned the album
fashion even more fervently, declaring: “To hell with all albums.”
I study the album as a practice that provides important information regarding
gender, economic, and artistic exchanges in the milieus in which it flourished. My
approach is based on the study of different types of texts. First, I analyze three essays on
social customs that present the album from a perspective that mixes journalism and satire:

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Victor-Joseph Etienne de Jouy’s 1811 essays “Des Album” and “Recherches sur l’Album
et sur le chiffonier sentimental,” and Mariano José de Larra’s 1835 essay “El album.” I
use these essays to formulate a contextual theory on the album. I also examine
nineteenth-century albums that I consulted in archives in France and Spain. Studying
both the material construction of the albums and the contributions included in them, I try
to understand the social and economic determinants of this social custom. Through the
album entries, I explore the artistic networks established through, and exploited by, the
album phenomenon, which were essential for successfully collecting contributions.
Finally, I analyze fictional texts in which the album serves as a pivotal plot element used
to shape the development of the stories and the roles of the protagonists. In my analysis
of literary texts that portray the album, I focus on the establishment of gender and
economic exchanges in this practice. I explore the imposition of traditional gender roles
in the album phenomenon, according to which women were exclusively album owners
and men were contributors. In my analysis of fictional texts, I also examine the economic
aspect of this practice, reflecting upon the social class of the fictional characters involved
in it. The literary texts that I study are: Honoré de Balzac’s La Muse du département
(1837), Manuel Bretón de los Herreros’ El poeta y la beneficiada. Comedia en dos actos
(1838) and El cuarto de hora. Comedia en cinco actos (1848), Juan de Ariza’s “Historia
de un album” (1847), Henri de Meilhac’s L’autographe. Comédie en un acte (1858),
Antonio Flores’ “Cuadro cincuenta y uno. Placeres de sobremesa” (1863), José María de

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Pereda’s Pedro Sánchez (1883), Juan López Valdemoro’s “El álbum” (1886), and
Leopoldo Alas ‘Clarín’’s “Album-abanico” (1898).
The nineteenth century saw the rise of consumer culture and the proliferation of
objects, such as cardholders, parasols, fans, pocket watches, and other trinkets. The
album is at once part of this plethora of nineteenth-century objects and yet it is also
distinct, in that it was a special piece of material culture that promoted a particular type of
personal communication and required the creation of textual production. The album was
established as a unique cultural manifestation, the study of which allows for a
reconstruction of different types of social dynamics in its milieu.
Due to the complexity and richness of this object-centered practice, and the ways
in which it developed, the album offers multiple analytical possibilities, as a social,
historical, and literary phenomenon. One of the most significant contributions of this
project lies in its transnational perspective and in its comparative analysis of different
types of texts: essays on social customs, literary texts, and personal collections that
survive in archival albums. The study of the exchanges that were fostered, and capitalized
upon, through the album fashion is essential for understanding notions of private and
public and collection as a practice. My analysis of the album yields invaluable insights
into gender and class dynamics, ideas of art, and visual and material culture in
nineteenth-century France and Spain.

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Dedication

To my mother, who was not able to finish high school.

And to my sister, for being a great friend.

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Contents
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iv
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... xi
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................xiv
Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 1: “Between Journalism and Fiction: The Depiction of the Album in Essays on
Social Customs” .......................................................................................................................... 13
I. Lives and Connections: Tracing the Origin of the Album Topic in the Essays on
Social Customs ...................................................................................................................... 16
A. Jouy’s and Larra’s Public Persona and Literary Production ................................... 16
B. “Dí las gracias a Jouy:” On Larra’s Appropriation of Jouy’s Essays on French
Social Customs .................................................................................................................... 23
II. A Theoretical Approach to the Album as an Object ................................................... 27
III. Jouy’s and Larra’s Essays on the Album: Two Different Accounts, One Fashion;
or the Contradictions in the Depiction of the Album Phenomenon in France and
Spain ....................................................................................................................................... 33
A. Structure of the Essays and Context of Their Publication ....................................... 38
B. On Writing for “Nuestras Elegantes Lectoras” and the Women of the Chaussée
d’Antin: Public and Motivation of Jouy’s and Larra’s Essays ..................................... 51
C. Initial Definition of the Album: Etymology, Geography, and Physical Description
............................................................................................................................................... 62
D. The Gender Categorization of the Album. Or Understanding That Each Woman
Had Only One Album to Fill Up and Men Had Multiple to Which to Contribute .. 74
IV. Encore: The Album and the Ridicule .......................................................................... 100
V. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 105

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Chapter 2: “Of Objects, Collections, and Networks: Analyzing Nineteenth-Century
Albums” ..................................................................................................................................... 109
I. An Attempt to Control: Jouy’s Proposals for the Transformation of the Album
Practice ................................................................................................................................. 111
II. Exploring the Archive: Transitioning from Literature to the Historical Object .... 115
A. Who Were the Album Owners? ................................................................................ 117
B. On the Material Aspect of the Practice: The Album as Object .............................. 125
III. The Universe of Album Contributions. Or Reconstructing History through
Personal Stories ................................................................................................................... 158
A. Different Ways of Saying: “Welcome to My Album” ............................................ 158
B. Meta-Fiction: Writing In the Album about the Album ........................................... 168
C. Attempting to Follow the Rules of the Practice: Contributions Created for the
Album Owners (And, Inevitably, Also for their Husbands.) ..................................... 178
D. Networking in the Album Phenomenon. Or How a Fashion Reveals Social
Connections. ...................................................................................................................... 189
IV. Encore: Alternate Album Uses. Or How to Defy the Rules of the Album Practice
............................................................................................................................................... 206
V. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 215
Chapter 3: “Uses and Abuses of the Album: Understanding the Condition of Archival
Albums through the Analysis of Literature” ........................................................................ 218
I. Gender Battles. Or on the Reasons to Eliminate and Add Pages to Albums.......... 221
A. De Ariza’s and Bretón de los Herreros’ Biographies and the Place of the Album
in their Work ..................................................................................................................... 221
B. Between Humanized Albums and Marriage Proposals: Scenes of the Mutilation
of Albums in Literary Texts ............................................................................................ 229

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C. Meilhac’s Caricatured Portrayal of the Purchase of an Album Contribution ..... 272
II. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 290
Chapter 4: “Blurring the Frontier between Reality and Fiction: Gender and Economic
Exchanges in the Depiction of the Album in Literary Texts” ............................................. 292
I. The Album in Honoré de Balzac’s and José María de Pereda’s Œuvre: The
Depiction of a Social Custom as a Central Narrative Element .................................... 294
A. On Transforming Failed Life Projects into (Un)Successful Album Exchanges: The
Album in La Muse du département and Pedro Sánchez ................................................... 302
1. The First Steps toward Becoming Album Owners and Contributors .............. 302
2. Between the Province and the City: Dinah’s Efforts to Escape Provincialism
and Pedro’s Bohemian Adventures in Madrid ........................................................ 310
3. On Dinah’s “Manie de Autographes” and Pedro’s Praising of a Neck ........... 323
II. The Reaffirmation and Transgression of Gender Roles in the Album Fashion in El
poeta y la beneficiada and “Album-abanico” ..................................................................... 363
III. The Album as Market Object. Or the Economic Determination of the Practice in
Antonio Flores’ and Juan López Valdemoro’s Stories .................................................. 378
V. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 397
Encore: “From the Private Collection to the Public Book: Exploring the Published
Albums” ..................................................................................................................................... 401
Conclusion: “Narrating the story of the Album” ................................................................. 410
Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 414
Biography ................................................................................................................................... 428

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