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The Resource Blood sisters : the French Revolution in women's memory, Marilyn Yalom

Blood sisters : the French Revolution in women's memory, Marilyn Yalom

Creator
Summary
The promises of "liberty, equality, and fraternity" did not extend to women, but with the publication of Blood Sisters, the voices of the women who witnessed the French Revolution are finally restored to history. They left us an invaluable legacy - some eighty accounts of what they saw and experienced. These chronicles range from the sixteen-page testimonial of the Widow Bault, wife of the concierge in Marie-Antoinette's prison, to the ten-volume memoirs of the prolific writer Mme de Genlis; from the dictated life story of an illiterate peasant to acknowledged classics by Mme Roland and Mme de Stael. No other literature in the Western world offers such an early treasury of women recording their personal histories within the context of a great political cataclysm. Their stories describe how they participated, individually and collectively, in the revolutionary saga and how they sometimes succeeded in manipulating a political system designed to exclude them. Whatever their political loyalties, the women saw themselves as victims, and their accounts document the connection between gender and victimization. Yet they did not accept their victimization passively. The memoirists of Blood Sisters portray themselves as active participants cheering the Revolution on its course or, more frequently, resisting it. Marilyn Yalom singles out those who authored the most unforgettable chronicles: the governess of the royal children; the servant attending Marie-Antoinette in her last days; Robespierre's sister, Charlotte; the peasant woman from the Vendee who fought as a soldier; and, of course, Mme Roland, whose autobiography has enchanted readers for centuries. Aristocrats and bourgeois women, royalists and republicans, even the few peasant and working-class women who left accounts of their experiences - all were bound together by a common nightmare. These compelling human dramas - moving accounts of survival on the cusp of catastrophe - add suffering faces to the canvas of lofty thinkers and fiery orators who dominate the historiography of the Revolution. They tell us what it was like to suffer a miscarriage as the result of a street demonstration, to choose between nursing a baby and following a husband to war, to resist jailers' demands for sexual favors. A tragic note prevails: the sense of having survived when so many others perished often produced what we might now call "survivor's guilt." Their testimonies, Yalom argues, spring from an inner urgency to bear witness for those who were sacrificed on the revolutionary altar. Their writings eloquently attest to the human costs of radical social change
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
1 online resource (xi, 308 pages
Contents
  • Introduction : memory and memoirs
  • The year 1789, in women's words
  • The fall of the royal family : witnessed by the Duchesse de Tourzel
  • The king and the queen in the face of death : witnessed by Madame Royale and Rosalie Lamorlière
  • The republic vindicated and violated : starring Madame Roland
  • The other Robespierre
  • The widow Le Bas
  • Germaine de Staël's Considerations of the French Revolution
  • Plights and ploys in the provinces : Madame Vallon and Alexandrine des Écherolles
  • The women of the Vendée
  • Exile : London, St. Petersburg and upstate New York
  • Reflections, personal and political
Link
Instance
Label
Blood sisters : the French Revolution in women's memory
Title
Blood sisters
Title remainder
the French Revolution in women's memory
Statement of responsibility
Marilyn Yalom
Creator
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
The promises of "liberty, equality, and fraternity" did not extend to women, but with the publication of Blood Sisters, the voices of the women who witnessed the French Revolution are finally restored to history. They left us an invaluable legacy - some eighty accounts of what they saw and experienced. These chronicles range from the sixteen-page testimonial of the Widow Bault, wife of the concierge in Marie-Antoinette's prison, to the ten-volume memoirs of the prolific writer Mme de Genlis; from the dictated life story of an illiterate peasant to acknowledged classics by Mme Roland and Mme de Stael. No other literature in the Western world offers such an early treasury of women recording their personal histories within the context of a great political cataclysm. Their stories describe how they participated, individually and collectively, in the revolutionary saga and how they sometimes succeeded in manipulating a political system designed to exclude them. Whatever their political loyalties, the women saw themselves as victims, and their accounts document the connection between gender and victimization. Yet they did not accept their victimization passively. The memoirists of Blood Sisters portray themselves as active participants cheering the Revolution on its course or, more frequently, resisting it. Marilyn Yalom singles out those who authored the most unforgettable chronicles: the governess of the royal children; the servant attending Marie-Antoinette in her last days; Robespierre's sister, Charlotte; the peasant woman from the Vendee who fought as a soldier; and, of course, Mme Roland, whose autobiography has enchanted readers for centuries. Aristocrats and bourgeois women, royalists and republicans, even the few peasant and working-class women who left accounts of their experiences - all were bound together by a common nightmare. These compelling human dramas - moving accounts of survival on the cusp of catastrophe - add suffering faces to the canvas of lofty thinkers and fiery orators who dominate the historiography of the Revolution. They tell us what it was like to suffer a miscarriage as the result of a street demonstration, to choose between nursing a baby and following a husband to war, to resist jailers' demands for sexual favors. A tragic note prevails: the sense of having survived when so many others perished often produced what we might now call "survivor's guilt." Their testimonies, Yalom argues, spring from an inner urgency to bear witness for those who were sacrificed on the revolutionary altar. Their writings eloquently attest to the human costs of radical social change
Biography type
collective biography
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Yalom, Marilyn
Dewey number
944.04/082
Illustrations
illustrations
Index
index present
LC call number
DC145
LC item number
.Y35 1993
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
  • dictionaries
  • bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Revolution (France : 1789-1799)
  • France
  • France
  • Autobiography
  • French prose literature
  • Écrits de femmes autobiographiques
  • Prose française
  • Écrits de femmes français
  • France
  • France
  • Autobiography
  • French prose literature
  • Women
  • France
  • Franse Revolutie
  • Vrouwen
  • Herinneringen
Label
Blood sisters : the French Revolution in women's memory, Marilyn Yalom
Link
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-297) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Introduction : memory and memoirs -- The year 1789, in women's words -- The fall of the royal family : witnessed by the Duchesse de Tourzel -- The king and the queen in the face of death : witnessed by Madame Royale and Rosalie Lamorlière -- The republic vindicated and violated : starring Madame Roland -- The other Robespierre -- The widow Le Bas -- Germaine de Staël's Considerations of the French Revolution -- Plights and ploys in the provinces : Madame Vallon and Alexandrine des Écherolles -- The women of the Vendée -- Exile : London, St. Petersburg and upstate New York -- Reflections, personal and political
Extent
1 online resource (xi, 308 pages
Form of item
online
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
n
Other physical details
illustrations)
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)1041643377
Label
Blood sisters : the French Revolution in women's memory, Marilyn Yalom
Link
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-297) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Introduction : memory and memoirs -- The year 1789, in women's words -- The fall of the royal family : witnessed by the Duchesse de Tourzel -- The king and the queen in the face of death : witnessed by Madame Royale and Rosalie Lamorlière -- The republic vindicated and violated : starring Madame Roland -- The other Robespierre -- The widow Le Bas -- Germaine de Staël's Considerations of the French Revolution -- Plights and ploys in the provinces : Madame Vallon and Alexandrine des Écherolles -- The women of the Vendée -- Exile : London, St. Petersburg and upstate New York -- Reflections, personal and political
Extent
1 online resource (xi, 308 pages
Form of item
online
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
n
Other physical details
illustrations)
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)1041643377

Subject

Genre

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