Daughters of Eve: A Cultural History of French Theater Women from the Old Regime to the Fin de Siècle

315 Pages·2001·0.9 MB·English

by  Lenard R. Berlanstein

DAUGHTERS OF EVE

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
DAUGHTERS OF EVE
A Cultural History of French Theater Women
from the Old Regime to the Fin de Siècle
Lenard R. Berlanstein
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge,Massachusetts
London,England
2001
Copyright©2001bythePresidentandFellowsofHarvardCollege
Allrightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Berlanstein,LenardR.
DaughtersofEve:aculturalhistoryofFrenchtheaterwomenfromthe
OldRegimetothefindesiècle/LenardR.Berlanstein.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-674-00596-1
1.Womeninthetheater—France—History—19thcentury.
2.Womeninthetheater—France—History—18thcentury.
3.Actresses—France—Biography. I.Title.
PN2622.W65B472001
792(cid:1).028(cid:1)082094409033—dc21 2001024841
Inmemoryofmyfather,
DavidK.Berlanstein

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 SettingtheScene 10
2 TheaterWomenandAristocraticLibertinism,1715–1789 33
3 DefiningtheModernGenderOrder,1760–1815 59
4 MagdalenesofPostaristocraticFrance,1815–1848 84
5 TheEroticCultureoftheStage 104
6 TheStruggleagainstPornocracy,1848–1880 135
7 ImaginingRepublicanActresses,1880–1914 159
8 PerformingaSelf 182
9 FromNotoriousWomentoIntimateStrangers 209
Conclusion 237
Notes 243
Index 295

Acknowledgments Acknowledgments
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Icanremembertheday,sittingintheLibraryofCongress,whentheno-
tion of writing on French theater women popped into my head. I had
been seeking a new research project, and this idea immediately seemed
plausible. Where it came from I am not sure, but reading Robert Her-
bert’s Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society might well have
beenthestimulus.Inanycase,agreatdealofhelp—financial,editorial,
scholarly,emotional—wasnecessarytotakemefromtheideatothefin-
ished work. A Sesquicentennial Grant from the University of Virginia
allowed me to take the spring semester of 1996 off to complete my re-
searchinParis.FundingfromtheNationalEndowmentfortheHuman-
ities and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation permitted
acrucialleaveduringthe1999–2000academicyear.Committeeworkat
the university being what it is, without this generous support I would,
nodoubt,stillbewritingchapters.
It is humbling to reflect on how much my work has benefited from
friends and colleagues’ willingness to take time out from their busy
schedules to assist. Vanessa Schwartz applied her fertile mind to all my
chapters and pushed me in fruitful directions. Sarah Maza was consis-
tently generous about sharing her research on the French bourgeoisie
andhelpedmetoshapemyargument.JoyceSeltzer’sline-by-lineediting
tightenedthemanuscriptininnumerableways.EdgarNewmantookthe
trouble to send me dozens of references about stage women from his
worker-poets; I always found these communications helpful for con-
textualizing my study. Patrick Fridenson brought me to the Ecole des
Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in 1996 and gave me a chance to
lecture on my preliminary ideas and receive excellent feedback; Alain
Corbin’s seminar was particularly helpful in this regard. Invitations to
give talks from William Weber, Timothy Tackett, and Patrice Higonnet
also provided valuable opportunities to refine my thoughts. It has be-