Detecting Paris: The character of the city in Eugène Sue's Les Mystères de Paris (1842-1843)

Abstract

Paris has been described as the central character of Eugène Sue's best-seller, Les Mystères de Paris. However, the opening image of la Cité, which evoked the slums as a dark continent for the intrepid bourgeois explorer to discover, has perpetuated the idea that Sue's Paris is limited to a stylised gothic underworld. This article investigates both these perceptions by examining the nature and contrasts of the capital as Sue presents it, and by suggesting some of the ways in which the city facilitates melodrama, intrigue and social comment. It argues that, despite focusing on isolated parts of the capital rather than the city as a whole, Sue's representation of Paris offers wider insights into the workings of the modern city which are often overlooked.