Heroes and Legends of Fin-de-Siècle France: Gender, Politics, and National Identity by Venita Datta (review)

Society and Culture edited by Marie-Christine Koop DATTA, VENITA. Heroes and Legends of Fin-de-Siècle France: Gender, Politics, and National Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2011. ISBN 978-0-521-19595-9. Pp. 264. $25.99. Datta’s book is thoroughly researched, well articulated, and provides an abundance of illustrations. She considers the most flamboyant (Cyrano de Bergerac), saintly (Joan of Arc), and autocratic (Napoleon) characters in order to illustrate her thesis: using the lens of gender, the author explores how these heroes helped to heal a nation, and to reinforce the unyielding sense of French patriotism and national identity. In her study, theater is viewed as a forum for political debates. Datta adds that the press and works of literature also became “laboratories” for the exchange of divergent views on French identity during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The most important contribution of the book can be found in the study of historical issues as they related to gender. In doing so, Datta parts with the notion that heroes were necessarily males. She deconstructs the idea that females had to be sacrificial lambs and devoted solely to motherhood. In terms of the Dreyfus Affair, the book expands the political debate : Datta encompasses all aspects of heroism—female heroism in particular— during that crucial time. The main weakness of the book lies in its seemingly positive interpretation of France as a colonial empire. The author states that the French “had succeeded in putting an end to their international isolation by forging alliances with the Russians and the British, had successfully amassed a colonial empire, and moreover had hosted three international world fairs that displayed their might and innovation” (4) [my emphasis]. If these world fairs displayed the might of the French, they also displayed Africans in what is often referred to as “human zoos.” Acquiring a colonial empire is not to be viewed as an enrichment of French identity. Ignoring such issues undermines the author’s overall perspective. This book would have greatly benefited from a critical section dealing with the imperialistic policies of France at the time and their impact on national identity. In conclusion, the author has produced an interesting study within a gender perspective and vision. The illustrations enable the reader to better grasp the complexity of female heroism, and how it was expressed through theater in particular. However, the lack of debate pertaining to colonialism (an unavoidable issue today), and how it was linked to French nationalism at the time, weakens this work. Ohio University Yolande Aline Helm JORDAN, MATTHEW F. Le Jazz: Jazz and French Cultural Identity. Urbana: UP of Illinois, 2010. ISBN 978-0252077067. Pp. 312. $25. Once in a while, through pure randomness, one picks up a book that will reveal itself to be a fascinating read. This is exactly what Le Jazz is. Starting from the premise that cultures are constantly defining and establishing themselves by debating which art forms (as cultural and entertainment productions) should be embraced or repressed, Matthew Jordan argues that jazz “symbolizes” how “French culture 1178 FRENCH REVIEW 85.6 ...