Patricia Mainardi
Husbands, Wives, and Lovers.
Marriage and Its Discontents in Nineteenth-Century France
Yale University Press 2003
Stron XII+310, format: 18x25 cm, papier kredowy
98 reprodukcji rysunków humorystycznych z epoki.
In this lively, interdisciplinary exploration of the cultural and social history of early nineteenth-century France, art historian Patricia Mainardi focuses on what was considered a major social problem of the time - adultery. In a period when expectations about marriage were changing, the problems of husbands and wives became a major theme in theater, literature, and the visual arts. The author demonstrates that this intense interest was historically grounded in the post-Revolutionary collision between the new concept of the individual's right to happiness and the traditional prerogatives of family and state.
The book ranges over the full panorama of French culture and society, from scandalous courtroom dramas characteristic of the period to the serious or sly advice offered in the ubiquitous conduct (or misconduct) manuals; from witty cartoons to Salon paintings; from vaudeville comedy to serious tragedy; and from popular fiction to literary novels. Similar questions permeated all these discussions: Is duty or happiness more important? Are arranged marriages doomed to be empty of love and poisoned by adultery? Are young people capable of choosing their own mates, or are their elders better able to make such important decisions? Should adulterous wives and their lovers be punished while husbands could commit adultery with impunity? Out of such legal, social, and cultural debates ultimately emerged modern bourgeois family values, Mainardi argues. And she illuminates how art, in all its varieties, both influences and is influenced by social change.
Contents
Preface vii
Introduction: To Laugh or To Weep i
i Unhappy Families: Courtroom Dramas 21
2. The Art of Keeping Wives Faithful: (Mis)Conduct Manuals 47
3 When Seeing Is Believing: The Graphic Image 73
4 For Money or For Love: Theatrical Alternatives 119
5 Happily Ever After ... Or Not: Novels and Their Readers 149
6 Many Ways to Ride a Horse: Mazeppa 179
7 The Marriage of Contradiction: Some Conclusions 213
Notes 225
Select Bibliography 277
Index 297
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