Memoirs of a Courtesan in Nineteenth-Century Paris (review)

254Women in French Studies The attempts in expanding the boundaries ofdomesticity through religion were also hampered by an aggressive anticlericalism of Republicans who perceived in women's religious practices an instrument of clerical grit. A massive feminization ofCatholicism in post-revolutionary France, the rise in the number of female religious orders and educational institutions, charity works and pilgrimage, all seemed tojeopardize political advancements. After the 1905 separation ofChurch and State, seen as the ultimate sign ofprogress, Clemenceau admitted that "ifthe right to vote were given to women tomorrow, France would all of a sudden jump backwards into the Middle Ages" (228). Therefore, the Republican establishment with which women activists sided in hope for political and social gains became an "immense stumbling block" in obtaining full political and civic rights (230). This abortive dependency resulted in a conservative trend differentiating the French movement from its American and British counterparts. McMillan's concise, clearly written study—enriched with extensive archival data that compensate for the rather laconic notes and index—, is an inspiring introduction to gender studies for undergraduates or an essential supplement to any course in modern European culture. Shedding light on the lesser-known champions ofequality remains the most valuable aspect ofthis ambitious investigation. In particular, the field offemalejournalism, outstandingly researched from the Enlightenment to the days of Saint-Simonian propaganda , will certainly prove seminal. Karyna SzmurloClemson University Céleste Mogador. Memoirs of a Courtesan in Nineteenth-Century Paris. Introduction and Translation by Monique Fleury Nagem. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8032-8273-7. Pp. 325. $24.95. In the last 25 years, feminist scholars have resuscitated texts by important nineteenth-century female writers such as George Sand, Marie d'Agoult, Delphine Gay de Girardin, and Flora Tristan and reintegrated them into the literary mainstream. It is my hope that Memoirs of a Courtesan in Nineteenth -Century Paris, Monique Fleury Nagem's translation of the Mémoires de Céleste Mogador, will earn the same attention. Although Mogador's work may not be ofthe same literary caliber as texts by the aforementioned writers, it is certain to captivate scholars keen on studying the prostitute's response to her own social alienation. "My heart is full of ambitions and I shall be rich. In addition, you see, I have become sickened with my class. 1 could never have been the wife of a laborer" (71). With these words, Céleste Mogadorjoined a brothel at age 1 6 and embarked on an arduous journey to create a life and career that defied the constraints placed on her as a lower-class woman in a patriarchal society. Penned at the request ofher attorney 12 years later, Mogador's memoirs were intended to explain her life to the judges presiding over the numerous lawsuits brought against her by the family ofher lover, Count Lionel de Chabrillan. This vivid account of her first 28 years won her rave reviews outside the court- Book Reviews255 room, however, when celebrated writers Camille Doucet, Alexandre Dumas père (with whom she would later collaborate during her career as a playwright), and Madame de Girardin read her memoirs and recommended them for publication . The tales ofher stepfather's attempted sexual assault on her, a week as a starving runaway on the streets of Paris, incarceration in Saint-Lazare, entrapment in a brothel, a bout ofslightly disfiguring and nearly fatal smallpox, two bloody insurrections (Lyon, early 1830s, and Paris, 1848), three botched suicide attempts, police threats of imprisonment, denigrating attacks by the press, the deaths of several friends, and the desertion by the love of her life undoubtedly fascinated readers as much as they alarmed the administrators who seized the work and deemed it unfit for the public. Indeed, the colorful adventures, the glamorous love affairs, and the heartwrenching betrayals in Mogador's memoirs read like a romance novel; her confessional narrative, however, offers so much more. Nagem's translation brilliantly captures the plucky tone Mogador adopts in rendering her life story; the translator's introduction andnotes frame the social, political andhistorical changes in Paris (1830-1870) and aptly serve as a springboard from which readers may launch into a critical reading of Mogador's work. It...