Chapter 1 Disillusionment and its consequences: The Revolution of 1830 Chapter 2 New territory: Socialism and feminism in the 1830s Chapter 3 la femme imagine: Romantic socialists envision woman Chapter 4 la mere humanite: Gender and the human community Chapter 5 Utopian androgyny: Romantic socialists confront individualism Chapter 6 Can a dream vote?: The ambivalent feminism of romantic socialists Chapter 7 The feminist and the socialist: Adele and Alphonse Esquiros
Naomi J. Andrews is a lecturer in the history department at Santa Clara University.
In Socialism's Muse Naomi Andrews convincingly argues that the
feminine gendering of early French socialism failed the feminist
cause. Male romantic socialists imagined a spiritual,
interdependent society that imitated an idealized womanhood
uncorrupted by public life. This ideal collapsed at the prospect of
women's suffrage in the 1848 Revolution, and so did romantic
socialism with its feminist promise. To paraphrase Andrews, "a
dream cannot vote." This first-rate gender analysis offers new
insight into socialism and feminism during the July Monarchy.
*Whitney Walton, Purdue University*
This fascinating book brilliantly challenges traditional histories
of feminism and brings to light the richness of socialist thought
before Marx. Deftly analyzing a variety of eccentric figures, many
of whom were attracted to the Virgin Mary and the trope of
androgyny, Andrews demonstrates that early socialists promoted an
idealized version of woman to advance their vision of a harmonious
society. Their concern for social justice preempted their worries
about political rights and gave their feminism an original twist.
No historian before Andrews has ever managed to bring socialism,
feminism, and romanticism together in such a riveting account.
Socialism's Muse is an important book.
*Mary Pickering, San Jose State University*
Socialism's Muse casts new light on the diversity and creativity of
French Romantic socialism. It offers a fresh and engaging account
of the significance of gender to socialism in the early nineteenth
century. Rather than focusing on the best-known individuals, it
reveals the important contributions made by others often dismissed
as marginal. Andrews explains convincingly why the idealisation of
'woman' did not necessarily lead to greater gains for women during
the heady days of the July Monarchy and the Second Republic. This
is a nicely crafted work that should be read by anyone interested
in these years, as well as in gender history and the history of
socialism.
*Susan Foley, Victoria University of Wellington*
Socialism's Muse is a fascinating and highly original study of the
early history of French socialism and its relation to the emerging
women's movement during the July Monarchy...a remarkably rich,
suggestive, and above all original interpretation of early French
socialism.
*Jonathan Beecher, University of California, Santa Cruz*
...Andrews effectively demonstrates just how central the
philosophical question of the nature and limits of individualism
was to early socialist discourse. Her deft analyses of gendered
fantasies on social cohesion provide a useful roadmap through the
often tortuous labyrinths of romantic socialist thought...
*H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online, Michael C.
Behrent, February 2008*
Naomi J. Andrews's book puts feminism back into socialism at its
foundations, as an essential component of the ideal society
envisioned by leading French social philosophers of the July
Monarchy. By recuperating the work of Pierre Leroux, the Abbè
Constant, Adéle and Alphonse Esquiros and others who hoped to
replace a competitive society of atomized, masculine individuals
with a less egoistic, harmonious, indeed feminized, world, Andrews
helps us understand the significance and the appeal of a profoundly
anti-individualistic, quasi-religious movement. This book brings a
somewhat neglected group of thinkers out of the post-Marxist
shadows, and makes an important contribution to both intellectual
and women's history.
*Marilyn J. Boxer, San Francisco State University*
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