Early Twentieth-century France Research Articles

Ambiguity and experience: ethics of action in early twentieth-century France

ABSTRACT This article examines the ethics of ambiguity formulated by existentialist authors in the 1940s, linking it to turn-of-the-century debates on ethics between philosophy and the social sciences. The underlying thesis is that, rather than representing a radical conceptual novelty, the ethical thought of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, strained between freedom and situation, constitutes a revisiting and updating of philosophical positions from the landscape of the Third Republic. To demonstrate this, the thought of Frédéric Rauh is examined. Indeed, anticipating what de Beauvoir would later call “ambiguity”, Rauh sought to develop an ethics of action that would constitute a third way between sociological objectivism and the empty abstractions of idealism and rationalism. By reconstructing the transitions from one generation and historical context to the next, the article shows how, and through which mediators, the existentialists were well aware of this debate and, in their own way, developed a philosophy of action, of ethical experience, similar to Rauh’s.

Unpeeling the banana dance: The quare fugitivity of Joséphine Baker

Unpeeling the banana dance: The quare fugitivity of Joséphine Baker

C H E K A L O V K. A. OCHERKI ISTORII I TIPOLOGII FRANTSUZSKOY MASSOVOY PROZY XIX — NACHALA XX VEKA (ESSAYS ON THE HISTORY AND TYPOLOGY OF FRENCH MASS PROSE OF THE 19th– EARLY 20th CENTURY). — St.Petersburg: Nestor-History, 2022. — 286 pp.

The review analyses a book by K. A. Chekalov — a well-known scholar, Doctor of Philology, Head of the Department of Classical Literatures of the West and Comparative Literature Studies. His work continues the series of studies of mass French literature from its origins to the beginning of the last century. Th e author does not aim to cover all the phenomena of mass literature over a century and a half, trying at the same time to fi ll the gaps in their research, to turn to the least studied works of those novelists which his predecessors had already addressed (Eugène Sue, Alexandre Dumas, Maurice Leblanc), to the less explored writers (Paul Feval, Ponson du Terailles, Xavier de Montepin, etc.), as well as those famous writers whose relationship to mass literature is still ambiguous (Jules Verne). Comprising 11 essays, Chekalov’s monograph not only provides an insight into the poetics and function of the mass novel in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century France, but also shows the nature of its reception in Russia, from the fi rst published translations to the publications of the 2000s.

« Stimuler les phagocytes » : controverses autour de la naissance de l'immunité cellulaire à Paris à la fin du XIXe siècle au début du XXe siècle

This article traces the imaginative and linguistic work at play in the history of immunity from late nineteenth to early twentieth century France, culminating with Elie Metchnikoff, the “father” of immunology, and his discovery, the phagocyte. Metchnikoff founded a new discipline on the back of this small, ravenous actor, positing the “eater cell” as both the solution to and problem worsening the body's lack of synchronicity with itself and its surroundings. His inquiry rejoins discourses of decadence in its ontological anxiety about what determines self from other and how to go about restoring “harmony” - i.e. intactness and integrity - to fundamentally disharmonious, modern man, whose life, stripped of transcendence, is inexorably bound by time and biology.

Nadia Boulanger and Her World, edited by Jeanice Brooks

<i>Nadia Boulanger and Her World</i>, edited by Jeanice Brooks

Negotiating French Social Citizenship in Early Twentieth-Century Letters to a Representative for the Rhône Department

Taking the distinction made by Patrick Hassenteufel between statutory and identity-based citizenship as a starting point, this article investigates expressions of the latter citizenship in early twentieth-century France. More specifically, this article focuses on how ‘ordinary’ men and women from a rural area in the Rhône department perceived their place in French republican society shortly before and during the First World War. The war years were a time when (claims to) social policies were continuously renegotiated, in relation to men and women’s commitment to the Republic. Whether they had political voting rights or not, ‘ordinary’ citizens took part in these negotiation processes, yet in an informal (and therefore still underexposed) way, through written communication with a parliamentary representative (<em>député</em>). Men and women who shared the same social background used similar rhetorical tactics in their requests for help, support, or a favour. Men’s expressions of gratitude towards ‘their’ <em>député</em> could, however, entail a promise of a vote, whereas women were still not enfranchised. Though reminiscent of the image of a clientelist rural France at first sight, neither men’s nor women’s letters were characterised by mere trade-offs. Instead, they were increasingly revealing of how the letter-writers (re)imagined the notions attached to their citizenship. The connections between those concepts, such as (social) rights, duties, and knowledge (and the impact of the war on rhetorical constructions of these aspects of citizenship) are analyzed from the letter-writers’ viewpoints. Focusing on such a micro-level allows for insights into the mutually educational nature of the common practice of sending letters to a French Third Republican parliamentary representative.

Book Review: Suzanne Noël: Cosmetic Surgery, Feminism and Beauty in Early Twentieth Century France by Paula J. Martin

Book Review: <i>Suzanne Noël: Cosmetic Surgery, Feminism and Beauty in Early Twentieth Century France</i> by Paula J. Martin

Anti-Latin race-based nationalism in early twentieth-century France: An examination of Robert Pelletier’s pan-Celtic and Slavophile journals

In the late nineteenth century, several pan-nationalist movements – pan-Germanism, pan-Slavism, pan-Latinism, pan-Celticism – arose in Europe. In France, pan-Latinism and pan-Celticism promoted competing visions of the country’s culture, respectively emphasizing its Latin and Celtic legacies. Two journals published in the 1910s, L’Étendard celtique and Revue des nations were founded by the writer Robert Pelletier to advance pan-Celticism. Their purpose was twofold: to advocate a return to France’s Celtic traditions and to promote the idea of a ‘racial’ link between Celts and Slavs. Calling for a ‘Celtic–Slavic’ alliance, these Slavophile journals expressed solidarity with oppressed Slavic peoples, especially in the context of the Balkan Wars. Pelletier’s promotion of pan-Celticism and pan-Slavism as two affiliated currents stemmed from both his rejection of pan-Latinism and his hope that connecting with the powerful pan-Slavic movement could facilitate French pan-Celticism’s emergence on the European stage.

Photograph as Skin, Skin as Wax: Indexicality and the Visualisation of Syphilis in Fin-de-Siècle France The William Bynum Prize Essay

In early twentieth-century France, syphilis and its controversial status as a hereditary disease reigned as a chief concern for physicians and public health officials. As syphilis primarily presented visually on the surface of the skin, its study fell within the realms of both dermatologists and venereologists, who relied heavily on visual evidence in their detection, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease. Thus, in educational textbooks, atlases, and medical models, accurately reproducing the visible signposts of syphilis - the colour, texture, and patterns of primary chancres or secondary rashes - was of preeminent importance. Photography, with its potential claims to mechanical objectivity, would seem to provide the logical tool for such representations. Yet photography's relationship to syphilographie warrants further unpacking. Despite the rise of a desire for mechanical objectivity charted in the late nineteenth century, artist-produced, three-dimensional, wax-cast moulages coexisted with photographs as significant educational tools for dermatologists; at times, these models were further mediated through photographic reproduction in texts. Additionally, the rise of phototherapy complicated this relationship by fostering the clinical equation of the light-sensitive photographic plate with the patient's skin, which became the photographic record of disease and successful treatment. This paper explores these complexities to delineate a more nuanced understanding of objectivity vis-à-vis photography and syphilis. Rather than a desire to produce an unbiased image, fin-de-siècle dermatologists marshalled the photographic to exploit the verbal and visual rhetoric of objectivity, authority, and persuasion inextricably linked to culturally constructed understandings of the photograph. This rhetoric was often couched in the Peircean concept of indexicality, which physicians formulated through the language of witness, testimony, and direct connection.

The Value of Terroir: A Historical Analysis of the Bordeaux and Champagne Geographical Indications

AbstractPrevious studies on the value of terroir, or more generally geographical indications (GI), used hedonic techniques. We use historical data and exploit temporal and geographical variations in the introduction of wine GIs in early twentieth century France to study the impact on the price of specific wines in the years and decades following their introduction. We find large effects of GIs on prices of some Champagne wines, but no significant impact on Bordeaux or other Champagne wines.

Branquitude e negrofilia: o consumo do outro na educação para as relações étnico-raciais

Este ensaio tem por objetivo propor o uso do termo negrofilia em análises sobre a branquitude. A reflexão vale-se do conceito de negrofilia (ARCHER-STRAW, 2000) que consiste em uma compreensão sobre o espaço de privilégio da branquitude que permite ao branco consumir intencionalmente a história, a cultura e o corpo do negro, usando o discurso politicamente correto - sem abrir mão dos seus privilégios. Primeiro é apresentada a origem e o uso do termo, que se situa na França do início do século XX, assim como esse pode ser inserido nos estudos sobre a branquitude. Na segunda parte deste ensaio, é apresentado um estudo de caso que ilustra de que forma a negrofilia está presente no sistema educacional de ensino e de formação de professores brasileiros, ainda que haja formação direcionada para a educação das relações étnico-raciais. Este ensaio, portanto, defende que a negrofilia pode ser identificada na formação de professores em disciplinas de Educação das Relações Étnico-Raciais, assim como em discursos que, supostamente, defendem a diversidade étnico-racial.

Touring a once pious nation: gender, medievalism, tourism, and Catholic nation-building in early twentieth-century France

ABSTRACT In 1900, the first of the Guide national et catholique du voyageur en France appeared. Published by the Assumptionist Order alongside the Exposition Universelle, the guidebook suggested sites for Catholic travellers visiting Paris that year. Additional volumes on other regions of France soon followed. Known for their national pilgrimages to Lourdes, the Assumptionists departed here from their usual publications by presenting a religious travel experience based on curiosity more than faith, yet motivated by nostalgia for a medieval, pious France; a nation anchored in its regional traditions. Central to the guidebooks were female religious personalities—saint, visionaries, and miracle workers—who reflected this idealized vision of the nation. Using the lens of gender, this article explores the Guide's use of female religious figures and Marian apparitions in the construction of a Catholic nation to be explored, reaffirmed, and travelled at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The Unruly Emotions of the Execution Crowd and its Critics in Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century France

From the 1860s to the 1910s, a host of commentators sounded off on the degraded spectacle of the public execution in France. They had little to say about the violence of capital punishment as such. The problem that haunted them was the crowd that gathered around the guillotine. In these years the execution crowd was a mystery and an obsession, the object of literary surveillance, parliamentary inquiry, scientific study, and journalistic examination. These commentators saw a crowd without dignity, a crowd full of unhealthy emotions, a crowd of morbid curiosity and misplaced revelry. Who was this crowd? What emotions did its participants feel at the spectacle of punishment? And what can this story tell us about the public execution – or, more generally, the public – in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century France? The outcry over the execution crowd reveals more about the commentators than about the crowd. The guiding emotions of these commentators had little to do with empathy, civilization or distaste for violent punishment; they had everything to do with disgust for the crowd on the streets and fears of the public in a new age of mass culture.

A ‘divine mission’ to sanctify the laity: French mystic laywomen and the lay apostolate before Vatican II

ABSTRACT This article explores the ‘divine origins’ and aims of three associations promoting the apostolate of the laity in nineteenth and early twentieth-century France: the Association de prière et de pénitence; the Société des amis des pauvres; and the Foyers de charité. The founders were three mystic laywomen, Édith Royer, Thérèse Durnerin and Marthe Robin, respectively, who promoted apostolates of penance, catechesis and retreat. The article situates their associations within the history of the lay apostolate and discusses the two elements that best characterized them: the alleged ‘divine mission’ that inspired the founders and their aim to sanctify the laity. While encouraging the laity to achieve holiness in worldly life, they contributed to current Catholic concerns about lay sanctity and the lay apostolate advanced by Vatican II.

An Argument for Unbelief: A Discussion about Terminology

The rupture with traditional religion and the loss of belief in God as a widespread religious position represents a sea change in Western thought. However, there were very few self-declared atheists, secularists, and humanists in Western history prior to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and even during the Modern period, there are not many. This is especially true in my own research of nineteenth and early twentieth-century France. Those who took the name of atheist such as Baron d’Holbach or Jacques-Andre Naigeon were exceptional militants. The quest to find other such atheists buried in the pages and hidden messages of key books is a limited endeavor. Atheism as a concept does not originate from any single creed or doctrine and is itself open to permutation. Looking for a clear and distinct form of atheism is looking for a conceptual phenomenon constructed by the researcher. The language and words we use control and direct how we understand the past. The term “atheist” imposes a rigidity to a fluid and shifting phenomenon. Instead, we should open up our research to the emergence of modern “unbelief,” as defined by Gordon Stein and Tom Flynn in The Encyclopedia of Unbelief. This paper will argue for “unbelief” as the proper analytical category as a field of future research that will allow for a much larger, more inclusive, variegated set of parameters to understand the rupture with traditional forms of religion or spiritual practices. The important change in intellectual history was not the emergence of a particular atheism that promoted scientism and which held to its positions dogmatically but the acute doubt of past intellectual and religious traditions that led to a spectrum of new ideologies and religious positions.

Challenging the Republic from the Provinces: An Analysis of Crowd Action after the French Separation Law (1905)

The Separation Law of 1905 is widely considered a defining moment in modern French political culture and an enduring legacy of the Third Republic. Whereas scholars have mostly concentrated on the political and intellectual genesis of the law, this article asks how ‘ordinary Catholics’ reacted to separation. It concentrates on crowd action in response to the so-called inventories of 1906, during which State officials audited all property that the Church either possessed or of which it had rights of use. By analysing the forms, motives and legitimation strategies underlying popular resistance against the inventories in Brittany, this article highlights the importance of space for structuring protest and violence in early twentieth-century France. It argues, first, that crowd action heavily drew on concepts of homeland, alternately understood as the local commune, the Breton region or the international community of Catholic believers. Secondly, the article demonstrates that these protests targeted the Republic itself and not, as had been the case during the 1890s and the post-1907 period, individual republicans. Finally, by analysing how crowd action sought to defend the homeland against the encroaching power of a State poised for change, the article reveals the persistence of reactive protest in post-1848 France.

Creating Legal Difference: The Impossible Divorce of Russian Jews in Early Twentieth-Century France

Much of the scholarship on Jewish divorce assumes that civil marital laws are beneficial to Jews. This article complicates that assumption by focusing on a rarely acknowledged aspect of Jewish immigration in France. As France moved towards a stricter understanding of the separation of church and state, civil courts rejected the possibility of applying religious divorce laws to foreigners. Combined with the French practice of applying foreign law in cases involving immigrants, this shift resulted in Russian Jews being denied the right to civil divorce from 1905 to the 1920s. The confessional nature of Russian divorce thus continued to shape the lives of Russian Jews even after their immigration to France. The case of Russian Jewish divorce casts light on the shifting and contradictory understandings of the separation of church and state in France during the early years of the twentieth century.

Suzanne Noël: Cosmetic Surgery, Feminism and Beauty in Early Twentieth-Century France

Suzanne Noël: Cosmetic Surgery, Feminism and Beauty in Early Twentieth-Century France

Between biomedical and psychological experiments: The unexpected connections between the Pasteur Institutes and the study of animal mind in the second quarter of twentieth-century France

This article explores the unexpected connections between the Pasteur Institute in French Guinea and the study of animal mind in early twentieth century France. At a time when the study of animal intelligence was thriving in France and elsewhere, apes were appealing research subjects both in psychological and biomedical studies. Drawing on two case studies (Guillaume/Meyerson and Urbain), and then, on someone responding negatively to those connections, Thétard, this article shows how the long reach of biomedicine (linked to the prestige of Bernard and Pasteur) impinged on French biology and played a role in the tortuous, if not unsuccessful fate of animal psychology in France in the second quarter of the twentieth century. It shows how attempts to use apes (and other zoo animals) to yield new insights on animal psychology faced heavy restrictions or experienced false starts, and examines the reasons why animal psychology could not properly thrive at that time in France. Beyond the supremacy of biomedical interests over psychological ones, this article additionally explains that some individuals used animal behaviour studies as steppingstones in careers in which they proceeded on to other topics. Finally, it illustrates the tension between non-academic and academic people at a time when animal psychology was trying to acquire scientific legitimacy, and also highlights the difficulties attached to the scientific study of animals in a multipurpose and hybrid environment such as the early twentieth century Parisian zoo and also the Pasteur Institute of French Guinea.

Paula Martin. Suzanne Noël: Cosmetic Surgery, Feminism and Beauty in Early Twentieth-Century France. (The History of Medicine in Context.) 170 pp., illus., apps., bibl., index. Farnham: Ashgate, 2014. £58.50 (cloth).

Paula Martin. <i>Suzanne Noël: Cosmetic Surgery, Feminism and Beauty in Early Twentieth-Century France</i>. (The History of Medicine in Context.) 170 pp., illus., apps., bibl., index. Farnham: Ashgate, 2014. £58.50 (cloth).