Francis Picabia. Title page. Litterature no.

10, i May i
VENTRILOQUIZED
BODIES
Narratives of Hysteria
in Nineteenth-Century France

JANET BEIZER

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS

ITHACA AND LONDON
VENTRILOQUIZED

BODIES
FRONTISPIECE: Francis Picabia. Title page. Litterature no. 10, 1 M a y 1923.
( 1993 A R S , N . Y . / A . D . A . G . P . / S P A D E M , Paris; p h o t o Pauline Page.)

Passages f r o m Gustave Flaubert, Correspondance, Pleiade edition edited by Jean B r u n e a u . C o p y r i g h t

E d i t i o n s G A L L I M A R D 1973, 1980, 1991. Reprinted by permission of Editions G a l l i m a r d .
Excerpts f r o m La Servante by Louise Colet. Reprinted f r o m Femmes de lettres au XIXe siecle: Autour
de Louise Colet, edited by Roger Bellet. Reproduced by permission of Presses Universitaires de Lyon.
Excerpts f r o m Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, edited and translated by Paul de M a n . C o p y r i g h t
1965 by W. W. N o r t o n and Company, Inc.
Passages f r o m Nana by E m i l e Zola, translated by George H o l d e n . Copyright G e o r g e H o l d e n ,
1972. R e p r o d u c e d with permission of Penguin Books Ltd.
Passages f r o m Monsieur Venus, by Rachilde. Copyright F l a m m a r i o n , 1977. R e p r o d u c e d by per-
mission of F l a m m a r i o n . Passages from Monsieur Venus, by Rachilde, translated by M a d e l e i n e Boyd.
C o p y r i g h t C o v i c i , Friede, 1929. Reprinted by permission of F l a m m a r i o n .

C h a p t e r 1 a p p e a r e d in French translation as "Femme-texte et r o m a n hysterique" in Revue internatio-

nale de Psychopathologie 4 (1991).
C h a p t e r 3 a p p e a r e d in Compar(a)ison 1 (1993).
C h a p t e r 4 a p p e a r e d in F r e n c h translation as "Les Lettres de Flaubert Louise Colet: U n e physiologie
du style" in L ' O e u v r e de l'oeuvre: Etudes sur la correspondance de Flaubert, edited by R a y m o n d e D e -
bray G e n e t t e , Presses Universitaires de Vincennes, 1993.
A portion of C h a p t e r 6 appeared in Home and Its Dislocations in Nineteenth-Century France, edited
by S u z a n n e N a s h , State University of New York Press, 1993.
Parts of C h a p t e r 7 appeared in L'Esprit Createur 29 (Spring 1989); 2 5 ( W i n t e r 198 5); a n d 2 5 ( S u m m e r
1985) u n d e r t h e respective titles: " T h e Body in Question: Textuality, Anatomy, a n d Fetishism in
Zola"; R e m e m b e r i n g a n d Repeating the Rougon-Macquart: Clotilde's Story"; and " U n c o v e r i n g
Nana: T h e C o u r t e s a n ' s N e w Clothes."

Copyright 1994 by C o r n e l l University

All rights reserved. E x c e p t for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, m u s t n o t be
reproduced in a n y f o r m without permission in writing f r o m t h e publisher. For i n f o r m a t i o n , address
Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, N e w York 14850.

First published 1994 by C o r n e l l University Press.

International S t a n d a r d Book N u m b e r 0-8014-2914-5 (cloth)

International S t a n d a r d Book N u m b e r 0-8014-8142-2 (paper)
Library of C o n g r e s s C a t a l o g Card N u m b e r 93-41379
Librarians: Library of Congress cataloging information appears on the last page of the book.

Design: C h r i s t i n e Taylor
Composition: W i l s t e d & Taylor

Printed in t h e U n i t e d States of America

T h e p a p e r in this book meets the m i n i m u m requirements of the A m e r i c a n N a t i o n a l Standard for

Information S c i e n c e s P e r m a n e n c e of Paper for Printed Library Materials, A N S I Z 3 9 . 4 8 - 1 9 8 4 .
 To my parents

i
CONTENTS

List of Illustrations ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction i

PART ONE. M E D I C A L STORIES

1. T h e Textual W o m a n a n d t h e Hysterical Novel:

To O p e n the Question 15

2. T h e Doctors' Tale:
N i n e t e e n t h - C e n t u r y M e d i c a l Narratives of Hysteria

3. R e a d i n g W o m e n :
T h e N o v e l in t h e Text of Hysteria 55
PART TWO. E P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES

4. T h e Physiology of Style:
Sex, Text, a n d t h e G e n d e r of W r i t i n g
Flaubert's Letters to Louise Colet 77

5. Rewriting a W o m a n ' s Life:

Fluidity, M a d n e s s , a n d Voice in Louise Colet's La Servante 99

6. W r i t i n g with a V e n g e a n c e :
W r i t i n g Madame Bovary, U n w r i t i n g Louise C o l e t 132

PART THREE. L I T E R A R Y HISTORIES

7. T h e Leak in Clotilde's H e a d :
Hysteria as S o u r c e of Zola's Rougon-Macquart Cycle 169

8. Hystericizing History:
T h e C o m m u n e a c c o r d i n g to D u C a m p
Les Convulsions de Paris 205

9. V e n u s in D r a g , or Redressing t h e D i s c o u r s e of Hysteria:
Rachilde's Monsieur Venus 227

Postscript:

S p e c u l a t i o n s o n D r a c u l a , F r a n k e n s t e i n , a n d Rachilde's M o n s t e r 261

Bibliography 271

Index 287
ILLUSTRATIONS

1. T. B a r t h d e m y , D e r m o g r a p h i c a r m etchings 21

2. F. Allard a n d H . M e i g e , L i t h o g r a p h i c m a n 23

3. T. Barthelemy, D e r m o g r a p h i c sign of Satan 25

4. M . L a n n o i s , A u t o g r a p h i c w o m a n (Angeline D o n a d i e u ) 27

5. L. Trepsat, D e r m o g r a p h i c diagnosis 28

6. M a x M l l e r , Illustration of larynx 46

7. E d o u a r d M a n e t , Gare Saint-Lazare 60

8. Jean-Baptiste G r e u z e , La Cruche cassee 198

9. E u g e n e G i r a r d , "La F e m m e , e m a n c i p e e , r e p a n d a n t la l u m i e r e sur le
m o n d e " (petroleuse) 213
10. Georges L a c o m b e , Isis 215

11. G u s t a v e C o u r b e t , LOrigine du monde 222

12. D . M . B o u r n e v i l l e a n d P. R e g n a r d , "Are de cercle" 241

13. Paul Richer, " T a b l e a u synoptique de la g r a n d e a t t a q u e h y s t e r i q u e " 243

14. J. J. M o r e a u de Tours, Tree of nervosity 247

15. E m i l e Z o l a , R o u g o n - M a c q u a r t family tree 248

16. Top. Salpetriere Hospital, o n e of C h a r c o t s patients

Bottom. Salpetriere Hospital, wax cast of s a m e p a t i e n t 255
AC KN 0 WLE D GME NT S

As I was r e t u r n i n g f r o m S a n Francisco w h e n this book was a b o u t two-thirds writ-

t e n , m y p l a n e lost o n e of its two engines as it began to c l i m b . C r a n i n g m y n e c k to
look t h r o u g h t h e w i n d o w b e h i n d m e , I c o u l d see flames leaping; straining m y ear,
I c o u l d h e a r a flight a t t e n d a n t s t r e m u l o u s voice crack w h i l e telling t h e passengers
to stay c a l m . As t h e p l a n e l i m p e d back over t h e Bay to an u n c e r t a i n l a n d i n g , I in-
d u l g e d in a few last telepathic good-byes a n d , H u c k F i n n - l i k e , a t t e n d e d m y o w n
f u n e r a l . N o eye at this scene of m o u r n i n g was dryleast of all m y o w n w h e n
Ventriloquized Bodies was rescued f r o m a d e a t h by i n c o m p l e t i o n , t h r o u g h t h e ef-
forts of two f r i e n d s w h o vowed to c o n t i n u e m y t h o u g h t s a n d finish m y words. I
trust Jessica F e l d m a n a n d F a r z a n e h M i l a n i to extricate f r o m t h e p r e s u m p t u o u s -
ness of this fantasy t h e sense of intellectual a n d spiritual k i n s h i p that p r o d u c e d it.
As close colleagues a n d critical friends, they read, c h a l l e n g e d , a n d stoked m y writ-
ing t h r o u g h all of its phases.
I a m deeply grateful to Kaveh Safa, w h o always m a d e t i m e to give m y work in
progress t h e b e n e f i t of his insight a n d his e r u d i t i o n . In t h e midst of m a n y de-

xi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
xii m a n d s , M a r t h a N o e l E v a n s c o m m e n t e d o n m u c h of t h e book, w h i c h has profited
f r o m h e r expertise in t h e theory of hysteria. Nelly F u r m a n responded to t h e m a n u -
script with a sensitivity to detail that h e l p e d s h a p e m y revisions. F r a n c i n e d u Pies-
six G r a y read a n d c r i t i q u e d t h e F l a u b e r t - C o l e t chapters with a c o n n o i s s e u r s eye. I
h a d t h e good f o r t u n e to m e e t E v e l y n e E n d e r a n d J a c q u e l i n e C a r r o y in t h e later
stages of m y work, a n d to gain f r o m their knowledge of hysteria a n d t h e hospitable
contexts they offered in G e n e v a a n d Paris, respectively, for o u r exchanges. In
Paris, C l a u d e Lazard has for t h e past twenty years provided a n intellectual h o m e ,
a n d with t h e o t h e r Lazards often a m o r e literal roof. M i c h e l e a n d C l a u d e Joigny
have given spiritual a n d earthly n o u r i s h m e n t , over t h e years, in Paris a n d Ber-
gerac. C a t h e r i n e G i r a r d o p e n e d t h e first w i n d o w o n t o Paris for m e , l o n g ago, a n d
has joined m e in m a n y other explorations since. A n d I c o n t i n u e to learn f r o m Jo-
sette Pacaly a n d to be inspired by h e r intellect a n d h e r integrity.
N a n c y A r m s t r o n g , D e b o r a h Baker, C h a r l e s B e r n h e i m e r , Scott Bryson, L i o n e l
Duisit, Jan G o l d s t e i n , Janet H o m e , M a r i e - H e l e n e H u e t , D i a n n e H u n t e r , Elisa-
b e t h L a d e n s o n , D e b o r a h M c D o w e l l , M a r y McKinley, J a n n M a t l o c k , D . A.
Miller, a n d M a r g a r e t Waller have all graciously c o m m e n t e d o n portions of t h e
m a n u s c r i p t . T h e i r suggestions have b e e n invaluable. O t h e r friends a n d colleagues
have engaged in c o n v e r s a t i o n s o m e t i m e s bridging miles or d i s c i p l i n e s t h a t i n -
directly worked its way into m y text. T i i n a Allik, D e b o r a h Lesko Baker, Peter
Brooks, Ross C h a m b e r s , Frangoise Gaillard, Joan Holladay, L a u r a Rivkin, a n d
M i c h e l l e Safa provided sustaining w i s d o m a n d e n c o u r a g e m e n t . I h a d t h e o p p o r -
tunity to articulate t h e first stages of this research in a graduate s e m i n a r o n hysteria
a n d t h e novel. I a m i n d e b t e d to m y students for engaging m e in an o n g o i n g process
of r e t h i n k i n g a n d r e f o r m u l a t i n g m y ideas. W i t h o u t t h e c o u n s e l a n d kind acts of
Paul Barolsky, J e n n y Clay, K a n d i o u r a D r a m e , Asti Hustvedt, J a m e s L e i t h , a n d Ja-
n e t T i m b e r l a k e , it w o u l d h a v e b e e n difficult to b r i n g this p r o j e c t to a close.
M y v e n t u r e into t h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y m e d i c a l record took m e into labyrin-
t h i n e contexts o f t e n strange to m y experience. I was f o r t u n a t e to be guided by t h e
m e d i c a l expertise of O c h i n e Karapetian a n d K e n n e t h Greer, w h o advised m e o n
d e r m o g r a p h i s m ; C h r i s t o p h e r Perry, w h o assured m e t h a t a specialist in t h e field
did n o t find m y r e a d i n g of n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y hysteria treatises a b e r r a n t ; R u t h
Weeks, w h o led m e to t h e physiological p h a n t a s m s of J. P. M b i u s a n d b e y o n d ;
a n d Steven Seidner, w h o t a u g h t m e , a m o n g o t h e r things, all I n e e d e d to k n o w
about borborygmi.
T i m e a n d travel necessary to m y research a n d writing were m a d e possible by t h e
generosity of t h e A m e r i c a n C o u n c i l for L e a r n e d Societies, t h e N a t i o n a l E n d o w -
m e n t for t h e H u m a n i t i e s , t h e A m e r i c a n Philosophical Society, a n d t h e University
of Virginia. T h e i r s u p p o r t is gratefully acknowledged. Research took m e b e t w e e n
libraries in Paris a n d Charlottesville, with a foray to Avignon. I w o u l d like to give
 ACKN0WLEDGMEN1
special thanks to V e r o n i q u e L e r o u x - H u g o n of t h e C h a r c o t Library at t h e Salpe- x
triere Hospital in Paris, to C h r i s t i e S t e p h e n s o n a n d Jack Robertson of t h e Fiske
Kimball F i n e Arts Library at t h e University of Virginia, a n d to Bryson C l e v e n g e r
of t h e A l d e r m a n Library at t h e University of Virginia. I a m grateful to P a u l i n e
Page for h e r careful r e p r o d u c t i o n of m a n y of m y illustrations, to Virginia G e r -
m i n o , J e a n - L u c D e S a l v o , a n d Sarah Skrainka for their skillful h e l p in p r e p a r i n g
t h e m a n u s c r i p t , a n d to Gail M o o r e a n d Judy Birckhead, for their expert t e c h n i c a l
assistance. A n d at C o r n e l l University Press, I wish to t h a n k Teresa Jesionowski for
h e r gracious g u i d a n c e , h e r sense of h u m o r , a n d h e r t i m e , a n d B e r n h a r d Kendler,
w h o supported this project well before it was a book.
T o m y family, a gratitude that can only be obliquely evoked. M y f a t h e r t o u c h e d
m y c h i l d h o o d with a passion for words a n d a sense of their power, a n d m y m o t h e r ,
with a love of novels t h a t r u n s in t h e blood, a n d h e r own c h i l d h o o d copy of B r a m
Stoker's Dracula, f r o m w h i c h I wrote t h e last pages in this book. L a u r a Beizer has
in d e f i a n c e of geography b e e n a c o n s t a n t presence in m y life, shifting effortlessly
a n d s y n c h r o n o u s l y with m e b e t w e e n t h e trivial a n d t h e weighty, t h e real a n d t h e
imaginary, a n d l a u g h i n g with m e w h e n t h e opposition disappears. A n d A n n e
S a n d b u r g , w h o d a n c e d always to t h e d r u m m e r she h e a r d w i t h o u t ever striving to
be different, t a u g h t m e a great deal by h e r e x a m p l e .
Finally, a special n o t e of thanks to all t h e friends, colleagues, a n d passersby w h o
swallowed t h e o f t e n hefty portions of v a m p i r e s o u p t h a t I doled o u t freely d u r i n g
t h e last m a d days of i m m e r s i o n in Dracula. T h e y know w h o they are.

JANET BEIZER
Charlottesville, Virginia
VENTRILOQUIZED

BODIES
/
INTRODUCTION

T h i s is a book t h a t b o t h is a n d is n o t a b o u t hysteria, for it shed its original skin

s o m e w h e r e a l o n g a s i n u o u s course toward t h e light. It b e g a n with T a n t e D i d e , thev
hysterical f o u n d i n g m o t h e r of E m i l e Zola's R o u g o n - M a c q u a r t dynasty, as a r e f l e c - }
tion o n t h e paradoxical identification of h e r convulsed, inarticulate w o m a n ' s b o d y l
as narrative source. It took p r e l i m i n a r y s h a p e as an extended m u s i n g o n t h e r e c u r - [
rent figuration, in Zola's text, of an i n c o h e r e n t , u n c o n s c i o u s , incapacitated, or j
otherwise m u t e w o m a n ' s body t h a t nevertheless produces t h e stuff of stories. D i d e ' s '
heirs in t h e Rougon-Macquart, lesser hysterics they, also display bodies t h a t are t h e
site of gestures a n d throbbings t h a t a m a l e narrator t h e n translates into words, in a
reversal of w h a t F r e u d w o u l d later call conversion hysteria. As m y c o n c e p t u a l i z a -
tion of literary hysteria crystallized in t h e i m a g e of w o m e n ' s bodies in textual
p o s e s s a y i n g n o t h i n g , signifying allhysteria's body escaped t h e c o n f i n e s of
Zola's corpus. I recognized its f o r m in a great n u m b e r of male-authored
n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y texts, w h i c h s e e m e d to exist in a tense relationship with t h e as-

1
1 INTRODUCTIO
2 siduously d e m a r c a t e d hysterical O t h e r u p o n w h o m they d e p e n d e d for their very
lives.
At t h a t p o i n t in t h e m i d rg8os w h e n I c a m e to this project, t h e hysteric was
b e i n g rediscovered by literary a n d cultural critics o n b o t h sides of t h e Atlantic a n d
was o f t e n recovered in feminism's n a m e as a figure e m b l e m a t i c of revolt against
t h e patriarchy: as a cult figure.1 A certain late t w e n t i e t h - c e n t u r y f e m i n i s m ironi-
cally repeated t h e surrealists' e m b r a c e of fin d e siecle hysteria as poetic liberation:
"la p l u s g r a n d e d e c o u v e r t e p o e t i q u e de la fin d u XIXe siecle" ["the greatest poetic
discovery of t h e late n i n e t e e n t h century"], in t h e words of L o u i s Aragon a n d
A n d r e Breton. 2 T h e y doubtless f o u n d in t h e hysteric's aphasic m u r m u r i n g s a n d in-
articulate cries a delivery f r o m syntax, a subversion of social a n d c u l t u r a l codes, a
transgressive poetics, as they discovered in t h e w e l l - p h o t o g r a p h e d postures a n d
c o n v u l s i o n s of t h e generally f e m a l e hysterical body an alternative theater, a living
erotic art.'
A l t h o u g h I too was fascinated by t h e link b e t w e e n hysteria a n d expression, I was
troubled by t h e surrealist salute to hysterics as fellow artists, for s u c h a perspective
s e e m e d to r o m a n t i c i z e a c o n d i t i o n in fact suffered as expressive blockage a n d c o n -
straint. M y own a p p r o a c h shifts their e m p h a s i s o n t h e i m m e d i a c y of hysterical
expression ( " u n m o y e n s u p r e m e d'expression" ["a s u p r e m e expressive m e d i u m " ] )
toward t h e m e d i a t e d expression of hysteria. 4 I was less interested in w h a t hysterics
t h e m s e l v e s expressed t h a n in t h e ways in w h i c h they served t h e expressive powers
, of others a n d t h e reasons for w h i c h t h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y c o n c e p t of hysteria was
m e t a p h o r i c a l l y u s e f u l a n d even necessary to that era's narrative discourse. For long
before t h e surrealists' r e c u p e r a t i o n of hysteria as a protopoetics, a varied series of
writers (novelists, journalists, historians) h a d discovered this potential a n d tapped
it: m e t a p h o r i z e d it, converted its m a i m i n g force into narrative power.
T o better c o m p r e h e n d t h e hysteric's seductiveness for n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y lite-
rati, I set o u t to take t h e m e a s u r e of clinical hysteria. I read every history of t h e dis-
ease I could find a n d spent several m o n t h s in t h e Salpetriere Hospital's C h a r c o t Li-
brary i m m e r s e d in t h e reading of n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y m e d i c a l texts. B a c k g r o u n d

1
See, for e x a m p l e , H e l e n e Cixous's c o m m e n t s in h e r dialogue with C a t h e r i n e C l e m e n t , " L ' l n t e n a -
ble," in C i x o u s and C l e m e n t , La Jeune Nee (Paris: 10/18, 1975), 2 7 1 - 9 6 ; and D i a n n e H u n t e r , "Hys-
teria, Psychoanalysis, a n d F e m i n i s m : T h e C a s e of A n n a O . , " in The (M)otherTongue: Essays in Femi-
nist Psychoanalytic Interpretation, ed. Shirley Nelson G a r n e r , C l a i r e K a h a n e , M a d e l o n S p r e n g n e t h e r
(Ithaca: C o r n e l l University Press, 1985), 8 9 - 1 1 5 .
2
Louis Aragon and A n d r e Breton, "Le C i n q u a n t e n a i r e de l'hysterie," La Revolution Surrealiste 4(15
M a r c h 1928): 20. All translations t h r o u g h o u t t h e book are m y own unless otherwise stated in the notes.
3
For a study of hysteria at t h e Salpetriere u n d e r C h a r c o t f r o m t h e perspective of image (with a n e m -
phasis o n t h e spectacle of hysteria as a reflection of t h e processes used to set it up, such as p h o t o g r a p h y
a n d staging), see Georges D i d i - H u b e r m a n ' s Invention de l'hysterie: Charcot et Ikonographie photogra-
phique de la Salpetriere (Paris: M a c u l a , 1982).
4
Aragon a n d Breton, "Le C i n q u a n t e n a i r e , " 22.
reading. But as t h e days passed a n d t h e pages t u r n e d , distinctions b e t w e e n back-
g r o u n d a n d f o r e g r o u n d , m e d i c a l a n d literary, scientific a n d fictional, t r u t h a n d
m y t h b e g a n to slip a n d slide a n d t h e n to blur. In t h e course of these m o n t h s , hys-
teria virtually disappeared. In its place was a discourse m a d e in t h e i m a g e of all
t h a t was feared, desired, a n d repudiated by n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y rational m e n .
T h e m o v e f r o m a c o n s i d e r a t i o n of hysteria as diagnosis of a f e m a l e m a l a d y to a
r e c o n s i d e r a t i o n of t h e f e m a l e malady as a broader-based cultural s y m p t o m de-
scribes t h e p a t h of this book. T h o u g h I state it baldly h e r e in t h e cavalier tones of
all retrospective i n t r o d u c t i o n s , m y t h i n k i n g did n o t follow a s m o o t h linear devel-
o p m e n t ; it evolved bit by bit in t h e process of reading a n d writing, a n d e v e n , o n a
smaller scale, w i t h i n e a c h individual chapter. Because it m a y be useful to follow a
process rather t h a n c o n f r o n t a c o n c l u s i o n , a n d b e c a u s e it is in any case impossible
to e l i m i n a t e t h e traces of an e v o l u t i o n , I have m a d e little effort to p u r g e these
traces.
In fact t h e e v o l u t i o n a r y record is everywhere inscribed as a split in m y o w n n a r -
rative a n d m y o w n discourse, for it is difficult to speak of hysteria w i t h o u t reifying
or essentializing or n a t u r a l i z i n g , by that act of naming, t h e very idea I have instead
c o m e to c o n s t r u e a n d w a n t to present as discourse, process, a n d c o n s t r u c t . G i v e n
t h a t w e write b e h i n d t h e bars of discourse a n d t h a t c o h e r e n t writing does n o t allow
for a self-reflective d e c o n s t r u c t i v e p a u s e at every t u r n , m y narrative of hysteria will
of necessity b e d o u b l y positioned. N o w h e r e perhaps will this split be m o r e in evi-
d e n c e t h a n in t h e pages i m m e d i a t e l y following, w h e r e I i n t r o d u c e hysteria with a
brief history of w h a t has b e e n called by that n a m e for well over two t h o u s a n d years
a n d designated by a consistent c o n f i g u r a t i o n of s y m p t o m s for a l m o s t twice as long.
S u c h a history c a n only b e a fiction, for t h e r e has never b e e n a s e c o n d of that t i m e
w h e n hysteria existed as a n entity outside a w e b of contexts (misogyny, pathology,
d e a t h , religion, a n d t h e s u p e r n a t u r a l , a m o n g others), a n d e a c h of those contexts
h a s a history as well, w h i c h i n c l u d e s o t h e r c o n t e x t s a n d so o n . I take this histor-
ical g r o u n d as m y d e p a r t u r e point, k n o w i n g that I tread o n q u i c k s a n d .

Despite its e r u p t i o n as t h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y e q u i v a l e n t of a m e d i a event, hys-

teria was n o t b o r n with that century. A n y o n e a t t e m p t i n g to trace t h e m e d i c a l rec-
ord of t h e disease m u s t traverse all of m e d i c a l history a n d e n c o u n t e r a proliferation
of texts at every step a l o n g t h e way. A l t h o u g h t h e search is f u r t h e r c o m p l i c a t e d by
t h e very mystification of t h e disease ( c o m m e n t a t o r s repeatedly w a r n that hysteria
defies definition), s o m e general constants e m e r g e .
F r o m Egyptian antiquity u n t i l t h e s e v e n t e e n t h century, hysteria was c o n c e p -
tualized virtually w i t h o u t contestation as a f e m a l e disease, a u t e r i n e disorder. 5

5
T h e texts I have f o u n d most useful in preparing t h e following s u m m a r y (in addition to t h e n i n e t e e n t h -
c e n t u r y p r i m a r y sources listed in t h e bibliography) are Paul Bercherie, Genese des concepts freudiens
1 INTRODUCTIO
4 T h o u g h specific details varied slightly, general etiological a n d s y m p t o m a t o l o g i c a l
features r e m a i n e d c o n s t a n t over a little-interrupted span of s o m e thirty-eight c e n -
turies. M e d i c a l writers largely agreed t h a t t h e m a l a d y was causally related to sexual
a b s t i n e n c e a n d a m e n o r r h e a (its m o s t f r e q u e n t victims b e i n g virgins, widows, a n d
n u n s ) , a n d their writings generally e m p h a s i z e d t h e physical m a n i f e s t a t i o n s of t h e
hysterical seizure: s u f f o c a t i o n , v o m i t i n g , palpitations, c o n v u l s i o n s , f a i n t i n g , t h e
v o i d i n g of large q u a n t i t i e s of u r i n e , a n d s p e e c h d i s t u r b a n c e s .
T h e earliest e x t a n t m e d i c a l record, t h e E g y p t i a n Kahun Papyrus (dating
r o u g h l y f r o m 1900 B.c.), set t h e etiological a n d t h e r a p e u t i c p a t t e r n s t h a t were to
r e m a i n fixed for c e n t u r i e s . T h i s d o c u m e n t attributed various b e h a v i o r a l a n o m a -
lies to t h e workings of a m o b i l e u t e r u s , w h i c h r o a m e d a r o u n d t h e b o d y c r o w d i n g
o t h e r organs, or alternatively, to "starvation" of t h e u t e r u s . T h e task of t h e physi-
c i a n t h e r e f o r e involved alternatively c h a s i n g or l u r i n g t h e strayed organ back to its
rightful p o s i t i o n , or else n o u r i s h i n g it. T h e p a t i e n t was given repulsive s u b s t a n c e s
to i n h a l e or ingest, or h e r genital organs w e r e f u m i g a t e d with e n t i c i n g a r o m a t i c
substances. T h e s e f r a g r a n t odors w e r e s o m e t i m e s i n c o r p o r a t e d in a w a x e n i m a g e
of t h e m a l e deity T h o t h , w h i c h was t h e n used as a vulvar f u m i g a t i n g device to
d r a w t h e w o m b b a c k to its place.
G r e e k a n d R o m a n c o n t r i b u t i o n s to t h e t h e o r y of hysteria w e r e p r e d o m i n a n t l y
derivative. G r e e k r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s of t h e w a n d e r i n g w o m b find t h e i r m o s t apt
expression in Plato's Timaeus: " T h e w o m b is a n a n i m a l w h i c h longs to g e n e r a t e
c h i l d r e n . W h e n it r e m a i n s b a r r e n t o o l o n g after puberty, it is distressed a n d sorely
d i s t u r b e d , a n d straying a b o u t in t h e b o d y a n d c u t t i n g off passages of t h e b r e a t h , it
i m p e d e s respiration a n d brings t h e sufferer into t h e e x t r e m e s t a n g u i s h a n d p r o -
vokes all m a n n e r of diseases besides." 6
H i p p o c r a t e s ( 4 6 0 - 3 7 7 B.C.) was t h e first to use t h e t e r m hysteria, derived f r o m
t h e G r e e k hystera, " u t e r u s . " H e e x p l a i n e d w h y t h e disease c o u l d b e c a u s e d by sex-
ual c o n t i n e n c e : t h e a b s t e m i o u s u t e r u s dried u p , lost weight, a n d c o n s e q u e n t l y was
able to m i g r a t e in search of m o i s t u r e . T h e pressure of t h e dislocated w o m b , a l o n g
w i t h its o b s t r u c t i o n of o t h e r organs a n d passages, p r o d u c e d t h e s y m p t o m s t h a t t h e
E g y p t i a n s h a d first r e c o r d e d . T h e r e m e d i e s prescribed by H i p p o c r a t e s a n d fol-
lowed by physicians well into t h e n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y p l a c e d m a r r i a g e a n d preg-
n a n c y in p r i m e p o s i t i o n .
G a l e n ( 1 3 0 - 2 0 1 A.D.) r e c o g n i z e d t h e stationary a n d fixed position of t h e w o m b
b u t nevertheless believed it was responsible for hysteria. A m a j o r p r o p o n e n t of h u -

(Paris: N a v a r i n , 1983); J e a n - M a r i e Bruttin, Differentes Theories sur I'hysterie dans la premiere moitie du
XIXe siecle ( Z u r i c h : Juris D r u c k , 1969); a n d Ilza Veith, Hysteria: The History of a Disease (Chicago:
University of C h i c a g o Press, 1965).
6
P l a t o , Timaeus, 91c. Q u o t e d by Veith, Hysteria, 7-8.
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m o r i s m , h e t a u g h t t h a t c o n t i n e n c e caused r e t e n t i o n of t h e s e m i n a l h u m o r in t h e
w o m b , a n d t h a t this in t u r n c o r r u p t e d t h e blood a n d irritated t h e nerves. A l t e r n a -
tively, r e t e n t i o n of t h e m e n s e s h a d t h e s a m e effect.
D u r i n g t h e M i d d l e Ages, m e d i c i n e , largely d o m i n a t e d by t h e c h u r c h , was c o n -
f r o n t e d with t h e difficult task of r e c o n c i l i n g t h e state of t h e art with t h e C h r i s t i a n
ethic. It was t r o u b l i n g to t h i n k that sexual c o n t i n e n c e , ostensibly a virtue, c o u l d
g e n e r a t e disease. Hysteria t h e r e f o r e ceased to be considered a m a l a d y related to ab-
s t i n e n c e a n d b e c a m e a sign of sexuality, a sexual curse t h a t b o r e witness to a pact
with t h e devil. T h e disease b e c a m e a heresy a n d was accordingly treated with or-
ganized p e r s e c u t i o n f r o m a b o u t t h e n i n t h c e n t u r y to t h e s e v e n t e e n t h . T h e m o s t
n o t e w o r t h y text of this period was t h e Malleus Maleficarum (Witches Hammer) of
1494, a m a n u a l of p e r s e c u t i o n c o m m i s s i o n e d by t h e p o p e a n d written by m o n k s
for use by inquisitors. It ascribed any kind of sexual pleasure to t h e devil's work.
W o m a n ' s gratification was an obvious sign of d e m o n i c i n t e r f e r e n c e , a n d man's
pleasure c o u l d b e derived only f r o m a satanically i n f l u e n c e d f e m a l e partner. A n y
lust p r e s e n t in either sex was t h e r e f o r e a f e m a l e (that is, d e m o n i c ) c o n t r i b u t i o n .
A l t h o u g h d u r i n g t h e R e n a i s s a n c e a few voices (notably those of Jean de W i e r
a n d Paracelsus) were raised to dispute t h e association b e t w e e n hysteria a n d sorcery,
it died h a r d . Despite a d a w n i n g interest o n t h e part of physicians in t h e observation
of patients a n d a limited t u r n i n g back to t h e H i p p o c r a t i c tradition, it was only in
1680 that a royal edict o u t l a w e d t h e e x e c u t i o n of witches in France.
W e c a n trace t h e first clear expression of hysteria as a cerebral disease affecting
b o t h sexes to C h a r l e s Lepois in 1618. T h e theory w e n t largely u n h e e d e d , however,
for s o m e fifty years until it was re-presented by T h o m a s Willis in 1667 a n d t h e n by
T h o m a s S y d e n h a m (the " E n g l i s h Hippocrates") in 1681. E v e n t h e n , o n e c o u l d
hardly say it took t h e world by storm. T h e u t e r i n e theory c o n t i n u e d to h a v e n u -
m e r o u s a n d s t a u n c h supporters until well into t h e n i n e t e e n t h century, a n d t h e bat-
tle b e t w e e n t h e u t e r i n e a n d t h e cerebral or neurological schools of t h o u g h t was
waged for m o r e t h a n t h r e e centuries.
Despite t h e fact that p r o p o n e n t s of these n e w theories ostensibly s o u g h t to dis-
place t h e w o m b theory u p w a r d a n d , correlatively, to bisexualize hysteria, they re-
t a i n e d i m p l i c a t i o n s t h a t hysteria was a f e m a l e province. S y d e n h a m a n d others
shifted t h e traditional descriptive focus f r o m t h e hysterical fit a n d its physical
s y m p t o m s to a wide r a n g e of n e r v o u s s y m p t o m s , i n c l u d i n g e m o t i o n a l responses
b u t also behavioral traits s u c h as capriciousness a n d exaggeration (features of t h e
sort t h a t were to d o m i n a t e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y diagnoses of t h e malady). T h e y also
b e g a n to e m p h a s i z e a n affective rather t h a n a somatic etiology, tracing t h e disease
to m o r a l causes, or passions. B u t this m e a n t t h a t w o m e n were m o r e p r o n e to hys-
teria t h a n m e n were, for their n a t u r e was m o r e delicate a n d i m p r e s s i o n a b l e , their
responses m o r e e m o t i o n a l a n d necessarily so, for their m a t e r n a l destiny so c o m -
m a n d e d . D e n i e d a literal etiological role, t h e w o m b nevertheless r e t u r n e d as a
m e t a p h o r i c agent of hysteria.
W h e n hysteria was attributed to m e n , it retained its identity as a f e m a l e c o m -
plaint. As a m a l e affliction, it was usually ascribed to t h e e f f e m i n a c y of t h e victim
or of his life-style. S y d e n h a m , for e x a m p l e , declares: "As to females, if w e except
those w h o lead a h a r d a n d hardy life, t h e r e is rarely o n e w h o is free f r o m [hysterical
complaints]. . . . T h e n , again, s u c h m a l e subjects as lead a sedentary or studious
life, a n d grow pale over their books a n d papers, are similarly afflicted." 7
E i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y views of hysteria c o n t i n u e d to be f r a u g h t with ambiguity.
M a n y scientists w h o espoused so-called neurological theory did n o t absolutely
a b a n d o n u t e r i n e theory; t h e y retained causal n o t i o n s of a b s t i n e n c e , a m e n o r r h e a ,
a n d u t e r i n e disorder b u t c l a i m e d t h a t these factors acted u p o n t h e nerves. W i l l i a m
C u l l e n is a case in p o i n t . A l t h o u g h h e classified hysteria (in 1775) as a n e u r o l o g i c a l
disease, h e traced it to t h e traditional u t e r i n e disorder, whose d e f i n i t i o n h e a m p l i -
fied, however, to i n c l u d e t h e ovaries. N y m p h o m a n i a c s were especially v u l n e r a -
ble. T h e c e n t u r y closed with P h i l i p p e Pinel (perhaps best k n o w n as t h e figure w h o
symbolically u n c h a i n s t h e f e m a l e i n s a n e in t h e p a i n t i n g by T o n y Robert-Fleury). 8
Pinel essentially followed C u l l e n b u t offered a m o d i f i e d etiological perspective
t h a t synthesizedappropriately, o n t h e eve of t h e n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y t r a d i -
tional s o m a t i c causes ( a m e n o r r h e a , l e u k o r r h e a , c o n t i n e n c e ) a n d t h e m o d e r n af-
fective or behavioral causes that were to b e c o m e increasingly f r e q u e n t in t h e n e w
century: " U n e g r a n d e sensibilite p h y s i q u e o u m o r a l e , Tabus des plaisirs, des e m o -
tions vives et f r e q u e n t e s , des conversations et des lectures voluptueuses" 9 ["Great
physical or m o r a l sensitivity, abuse of pleasures, vivid a n d r e c u r r e n t e m o t i o n s , vo-
l u p t u o u s conversation a n d reading"].
In t h e course of t h e n i n e t e e n t h century, t h e theory of hysteria c h a n g e d radically
in a p p e a r a n c e w h i l e m a i n t a i n i n g an essential conservatism. If we m o v e f r o m t h e
early part of t h e century, a n d theorists s u c h as Jean-Baptiste L o u y e r - V i l l e r m a y , to
t h e 1870s a n d 1880s (the "golden age of hysteria") a n d t h e neurologist J e a n - M a r t i n
C h a r c o t , t h e r e appears to b e a c h a n g e of e m p h a s i s f r o m t h e u t e r u s to t h e b r a i n . It

7
T h o m a s S y d e n h a m , cited by Veith, Hysteria, 141.
8
"Pinel liberant les alienes," a m u r a l h a n g i n g outside the C h a r c o t Library at t h e Salpetriere Hospital,
was painted in 1878; t h e actual event occurred in 1795 and was preceded by a symbolic u n c h a i n i n g at
Bicetre, t h e c o r r e s p o n d i n g m a l e institution. For a n analysis of this event as m y t h a n d a c o m m e n t a r y o n
the significance of t h e painted representation of t h e f e m a l e u n c h a i n i n g , see Jacques Postel, "Philippe
Pinel et le m y t h e f o n d a t e u r de la psychiatrie frangaise," Psychanalyse l'universite 4 ( M a r c h 1979):
197-244; a n d E l a i n e Showalter, The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830-
1980 (New York: P a n t h e o n , 1985), 1 - 3 .
9
Philippe Pinel, quoted by Bercherie, Genese, 2829.
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w o u l d b e incorrect, however, to speak of a linear passage f r o m a gynecological to a 7
n e u r o l o g i c a l c o n c e p t of hysteria. First, t h e u t e r i n e theory was in fact still well rep-
resented at least as late as t h e 1880s. 10 But m o r e significantly, t h e n o t i o n of passage
does n o t a c c o u n t for t h e pervasive overlapping of these two seemingly i n c o m p a t i -
\ ble theories. W e m i g h t instead m o r e accurately speak of their c o e x i s t e n c e n o t
only as represented by different a u t h o r s w i t h i n t h e s a m e period, b u t as presented
Within t h e texts of individual authors.
As n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y explanations of hysteria evolve a n d ostensibly leave t h e
w o m b , t h e y inevitably r e t u r n to its image. W h e n t h e association with f e m a l e a n a t -
o m y is explicitly d e n i e d , it is implicitly retained in t h e n o t i o n of a biologically n e c -
essary a n d p r e d e t e r m i n e d f e m i n i n e c h a r a c t e r a n d r o l e . " A l t h o u g h o n e of C h a r -
cot's b e t t e r - k n o w n efforts involved ridding hysteria of its u t e r i n e etiology a n d
f e m a l e i d e n t i f i c a t i o n , h e h i m s e l f was never fully able to effect this c h a n g e , as a
c a r e f u l r e a d i n g of his work will attest. Hysterogenic zones a r o u n d t h e ovaries a n d
t h e m a m m a r y glands a n d ovarian compressors to stop or prevent hysterical sei-
zures are only t h e m o s t c o n c r e t e examples of t h e m a n y vestiges of genital t h e o r y in
his work. 1 2 It has b e e n c o n v i n c i n g l y argued that Charcot's s p e c i m e n m a l e hysterics
actually s u p p o r t e d t h e genital theory they were m e a n t to disprove. 1 3 Workers, vag-
a b o n d s , a n d declasses, these m e n were n o t only m a r g i n a l (and t h e r e f o r e assimila-
ble to w o m e n ) b u t were also, as if in e c h o to t h e most a n c i e n t of u t e r i n e theories,
virtual i n c a r n a t i o n s of mobility.
T h e persistence of u t e r i n e theory in t h e face of scientific advances, its tenacity
in t h e midst of m e d i c a l texts that ostensibly know better, its insistence as m e t a -
p h o r a l l bear witness to t h e fact that hysteria transcends t h e m e d i c a l d o m a i n .
C h a r c o t s u l t i m a t e inability to break away f r o m traditional e x p l a n a t i o n s of t h e dis-
ease m a y b e explained as a failure o n two c o u n t s to u n d e r s t a n d this n o n r e d u c i b i l i t y
of h y s t e r i a . T h e successful (if impossible) theoretical revolution w o u l d h a v e called
for a r u p t u r e n e i t h e r with etymology, as h e d e m a n d e d , n o r with a n a t o m y , as h e
i m p l i e d , b u t with ideology. As G e r a r d W a j e m a n has noted in response to C h a r c o t ' s
call for a break with etymology, t h e i m p o r t a n t issue is less t h e power of a word (hys-
teria, hystera, "uterus") to h i d e or distort a m e d i c a l reality (the site of t h e disease)
10
T h e persistence of gynecological theories is concretely attested to by t h e practice of treating hysteria
by ovariectomy or clitoridectomy. See Veith, Hysteria, 210; G e r a r d W a j e m a n , "Psyche de la f e m m e :
N o t e s u r l ' h y s t e r i q u e a u X I X e siecle," Romantisme 1 3 - 1 4 ( 1 9 7 6 ) : 65, n. 6; Showalter, The Female Mal-
ady, 75-78-
11
O n t h e " m o d e r n i z a t i o n " of genital theories of hysteria, see Frangois Laplassotte, "Sexualite et nev-
rose avant Freud: U n e mise au p o i n t , " Psychanalyse l'universite 3 (1978): 205.
12
See Gladys Swain, "L'Ame, la f e m m e , le sexe et le corps: Les m e t a m o r p h o s e s de l'hysterie la fin d u
XIXe siecle," LeDebat 24(1983): 111; and Veith, Hysteria, 232.
" S e e W a j e m a n , "Psyche," 64; a n d M i c h e l e O u e r d , I n t r o d u c t i o n to J e a n - M a r t i n C h a r c o t , L egons sur
l'hysterie virile (Paris: Le S y c o m o r e , 1984), 11-30.
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8 t h a n t h e power of a discourse, b u i l d i n g over c e n t u r i e s , to c o n s t r u c t a n d convey an
i m a g e of w o m a n . 1 4
W h e n w e read t h e m e d i c a l discourse o n hysteria as part of a m o r e e n c o m p a s s i n g
cultural discourse o n w o m e n , Charcot's c o n t r i b u t i o n to t h e theory of hysteria be-
c o m e s less a p o i n t of d e p a r t u r e t h a n a c o n t i n u a t i o n , less a focal p o i n t t h a n part of
a sociocultural p a t t e r n . His i m p o r t a n c e as a p o p u l a r i z e r of this p a t t e r n c a n n o t be
denied. 1 5 B u t t h e surge of interest in hysteria d u r i n g t h e n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y pre-
c e d e d C h a r c o t . T h e m e d i c a l spotlight fixed o n t h e disease in t h e last third of t h e
c e n t u r y was a c o n s e q u e n c e a n d n o t a c a u s e of a m o r e generalized a t t e n t i o n .
For a l m o s t forty c e n t u r i e s , f r o m a n c i e n t Egypt t h r o u g h n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y
F r a n c e , t h e discourse of hysteria m a n i f e s t e d an essential c o n t i n u i t y in its associa-
tion of t h e disease with femininity, sexuality, mobility, fluidity, a n d aphasia. If t h e
n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y m a r k e d a r u p t u r e , it was less with theory t h a n with praxis: with
t h e uses or exploitation of hysteria. | F r o m a b o u t t h e second third of t h e c e n t u r y o n -
ward, with g a t h e r i n g force in t h e 1860s, t h e disease figured p r o m i n e n t l y in litera-
t u r e , newspapers, journals, salons, a n d eventually, t h e street. By t h e 1880s it h a d
spread t h r o u g h t h e novel in n e a r e p i d e m i c proportions. Appropriated by t h e intel-
ligentsia a n d later by t h e general p u b l i c , t h e m e d i c a l t e r m b e c a m e an aesthetic a n d
t h e n a m o r e general sociocultural category. F i g u r e of femininity, label of disorder
a n d d i f f e r e n c e , hysteria was available for a wide a n d often contradictory range of
aesthetic a n d political purposes: i n s t r u m e n t of misogyny, agent of d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n ,
m a g n e t diagnosis of society's m u l t i p l e ills, e m b l e m of creative frenzy, identifica-
tion of t h e writing self as O t h e r , designation of t h e century's m a r g i n a l i z e d sym-
bolic c e n t e r ^
T o a p p r e h e n d t h e p h e n o m e n o n t h a t I call t h e hystericization of c u l t u r e , w e
m u s t f o c u s h e r e o n a historical m o m e n t experienced as anchorless a n d u n c e n -
; tered: a m o m e n t of crisis related to t h e razing of political a n d social structures a n d ,
i m o r e significantly, t h e d e m o l i s h i n g of a symbolic system.^The body of t h e hys-
t e r i c m o b i l e , capricious, c o n v u l s i v e i s b o t h m e t a p h o r a n d m y t h of an e p o c h :

14
S e e W a j e m a n , "Psyche," 58.
15
N o t e d in t h e a n n a l s of medical history for t r a n s f o r m i n g hysteria f r o m a n a n a t o m i c a l (i.e., f e m a l e )
m a l a d y to a neurological (and therefore theoretically n o t sex-dependent) disease, for applying h y p n o t i c
t e c h n i q u e s to t h e study of hysteria, for imposing nosographic order o n a hitherto protean disease, a n d
(not least of all) for training Freud, C h a r c o t was m o r e c o m m o n l y recognized in his day as a scientific
s h o w m a n , t e a c h e r - c u m - r i n g m a s t e r of t h e legons du mardi, weekly l e c t u r e - d e m o n s t r a t i o n s d u r i n g
w h i c h the star Salpetriere hysterics were displayed, h y p n o t i z e d , and p u t t h r o u g h a series of paces. Re-
n o w n e d and sought after by t h e Tout-Paris of his day, s u r r o u n d e d by a n i n n e r circle of acolytes (famil-
iarly referred to as t h e charcoterie), C h a r c o t has b e e n c o m p a r e d to Jacques L a c a n , a n d his legons to La-
can's seminaires. C h a r c o t in his p r i m e drew crowds i n c l u d i n g e m i n e n t political figures, visiting royalty,
artists, actors, art a n d literary critics, journalists, a n d writers. See J a c q u e l i n e C a r r o y - T h i r a r d , "Hys-
terie, theatre, litterature au XIXe siecle," Psychanalyse l'universite 7 ( M a r c h 1982): 2 9 9 - 3 1 7 .
1 INTRODUCTIO
e m b l e m of w h i r l i n g c h a o s a n d cathartic c h a n n e l i n g of it. F a s h i o n e d in t h e i m a g e
of t h e times, t h e hysteric offers surface glitter a n d i n n e r disarray. Fastened o n t o t h e
hysteric's a l m o s t t o t e m i c f o r m is t h e anxiety of an age
T h i s Is n o t to d e n y t h e existential reality of a disease whose s y m p t o m s , phases,
a n d postures are well d o c u m e n t e d , b u t rather to dislocate t h e pathologist's perspec-
tive, to shift t h e e m p h a s i s f r o m c o n t e n t to context, f r o m p r o d u c t to p r o d u c t i o n : to
talk less a b o u t hysteria as entity t h a n of hystericization as process. T o transfer o u r
gaze to t h e proliferation of t h e c o n d i t i o n s in w h i c h s u c h a m a l a d y thrives is to in-
q u i r e into its c u l t u r a l uses a n d usefulness. In o t h e r words, it is to tease o u t t h e re-
l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n hysteria a n d t h e stories n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y F r e n c h c u l t u r e
used to represent itself.
I m a k e t h e allusion to storytelling advisedly, for a l t h o u g h hysteria figured also
in t h e a t e r a n d poetry, t h e r e is a particularly good fit b e t w e e n t h e work that n a r r a -
tive seeks to d o a n d t h e raw material offered by hysteria. Narrative is a great arti-
ficer: it imposes t e m p o r a l a n d f o r m a l order o n t h e i n c h o a t e flow of e x p e r i e n c e ,
a n d signification in t h e interstices of m e a n i n g . T h e silences a n d i n c o h e r e n c e s of
hysteria were perceived as a n invitation to narrate: it is precisely b e c a u s e t h e hys-
teric c a n n o t tell h e r story t h a t this story, in t h e f o r m of a blank to be filled in, is so
readily accessible as narrative matter. B u t also, it is b e c a u s e t h e hysteric's story is
n o t only h e r s i t is a m o r e inclusive c u l t u r a l story that, repressed, c a n be spoken
only in t h e O t h e r s n a m e t h a t t h e hysteric is so readily appropriated as narrative
screen.
T h e growing belief, in t h e n i n e t e e n t h century, in t h e superiority of i m p e r s o n a l
or objective styles of n a r r a t i o n finds a support in t h e hysteric's s e m i o t i c body,
w h i c h relays l a n g u a g e to gesture a n d physical s y m p t o m . T h e hysteric b e c o m e s a
u s e f u l device for a u t h o r s w h o strive to h i d e words b e h i n d m a t t e r a n d to disguise
telling as showing. T h e sleight of h a n d is easily revealed. F e m a l e bodily discourse,
a n illusionist's work, t u r n s o u t to b e a ventriloquist's hoax. As m y title suggests,
v e n t r i l o q u y is t h e i m a g e t h a t is everywhere implicitly operative in m y c o n c e p t i o n
of t h e narrative staging of hysteria. By w h a t m a y be m o r e t h a n a c u r i o u s c o i n c i -
d e n c e , t h e t e r m figures repeatedly in n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y m e d i c a l texts w h e r e , as I
discuss in C h a p t e r 2, it is used in a p p a r e n t i n n o c e n c e to describe t h e s o u n d s m a d e
by hysterics. T h o u g h m y invocation of v e n t r i l o q u y arguably gains a certain m e t -
o n y m i c r e i n f o r c e m e n t f r o m that era's m e d i c a l usage, I i n t e n d it as a m e t a p h o r to
evoke t h e narrative process whereby w o m a n ' s s p e e c h is repressed in order to be ex- j
pressed as inarticulate body language, w h i c h m u s t t h e n b e d u b b e d by a m a l e
narrator.
T h a t hysteria, b e g i n n i n g with F r e u d , c a m e to be associated with discourse, a n d
m o r e specifically with narrative, is by n o w a c o m m o n p l a c e , as is t h e c o n t r a s t i n g of
1 INTRODUCTIO
10 Freud a n d C h a r c o t in t e r m s of s p e e c h as opposed to s p e c t a c l e , l i s t e n i n g as o p p o s e d
to viewing. (As S t e p h e n H e a t h has succinctly p u t it, " C h a r c o t sees, Freud
hears.") 1 6 B u t m y c o n c e r n is to show t h a t before F r e u d , before t h e "talking c u r e , "
before t h e patient's entry into discourse, hysteria was already discursive. M i c h e l
Foucault's observation t h a t t h e p r o d u c t i o n of discourse is in every society " la fois
I c o n t r l e e , s e l e c t i o n n e e , organisee et r e d i s t r i b u t e par u n certain n o m b r e de pro-
j cedures q u i o n t p o u r role d'en c o n j u r e r les pouvoirs et les dangers" ["simulta-
! neously c o n t r o l l e d , selected, o r g a n i z e d , a n d redistributed by a n u m b e r of proce-
i d u r e s w h o s e role is to exorcise t h e forces d a n g e r o u s to that society"] serves as a
r e m i n d e r t h a t discourse in t h e large sense is n o t only w h a t is spoken b u t w h a t is si-
l e n c e d , a n d w h a t is t h e n i m p o s e d in its place. 1 7

I a p p r o a c h e d this book with a curiosity a b o u t hysteria in narrative, a n d arrived at a

plexus of aesthetic a n d cultural issues: t h e association of reading, w o m e n , a n d spa-
tial relations; t h e use of vaporization as narrative strategy; t h e structural a n d f u n c -
tional r e s e m b l a n c e s of t h e fetish, irony, a n d hysteria; t h e p r o j e c t i o n of f e m i n i n i t y
a n d , correlatively, of voice as fluidity; t h e work of g e n d e r d i c h o t o m i z a t i o n in t h e
g r o u n d i n g of signifying systems; t h e politics of pathology; t h e shifting i m a g i n a r y
order in postrevolutionary France. T h e s e c o n c e r n s that e m e r g e f r o m w i t h i n t h e
c o n t e x t of n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y narratives of hysteria are of c o u r s e provoked by m y
situation as a late t w e n t i e t h - c e n t u r y f e m i n i s t critic reading f r o m t h e s t a n d p o i n t of
narratology, c u l t u r a l history, a n d psychoanalysis. T o t h e extent t h a t I live w i t h i n
c u l t u r e a n d speak w i t h i n l a n g u a g e , I a m myself already v e n t r i l o q u i z e d , a n d m y
r e a d i n g of n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y hysteria inevitably repeats t h e v e n t r i l o q u i z i n g pro-
cess t h a t is its object.
T h o u g h v e n t r i l o q u y is everywhere implicit as m e t a p h o r in this book, it is m o r e
directly p r e s e n t a s allegory, referent, a n d theoretical c o n s t r u c t , respectivelyin
t h e t h r e e c h a p t e r s of Part I. T h e s e o p e n i n g chapters are essentially devoted to t h e
m e d i c a l literature of hysteria, to t h e interactions of clinical a n d literary descrip-
tions of t h e disease, a n d b e f o r e I t u r n to hysteria's place in t h e n o v e l t o t h e role
of t h e novel in t h e m e d i c a l text of hysteria. T h e p a t h f r o m Part I to Parts II a n d III
is m a r k e d by a m o v e f r o m m e d i c i n e to literature, b u t t h e separation of genres m a n -
ifests a m o r e striking continuity, for hysteria s text has n o center, n o locus, n o
b o u n d s , a n d little d e f i n i t i o n . It is n o t a place b u t a m o b i l e discursive practice t h a t
defies c o n t a i n m e n t in space or t i m e . T h e lesson to be l e a r n e d f r o m t h e c o n t i n u i t y
of scientific, historical, literary, popular, a n d epistolary texts is t h a t t h e y all m e r g e
in t h e vaster, vaguer c u l t u r a l text. For this reason I s o u g h t to explore a p a n o p l y of

16
S t e p h e n H e a t h , " D i f f e r e n c e , " Screen 19 (Fall 1978): 58.
17
M i c h e l F o u c a u l t , L'Ordre du discours (Paris: G a l l i m a r d , 1970), 1 0 - 1 1 .
 1 INTRODUCTIO
genres a n d a diversity of literary "classes." Long-forgotten p e n n y dreadfuls, c a n - 1
o n i z e d novels, a n d proselytizing political narratives are juxtaposed in t h e follow-
ing pages, as are prose passages t h a t b r i n g exquisite pleasure to m y soul a n d dog-
gerel t h a t brings a s h u d d e r to m y spirit. I read these vastly assorted texts as cultural
artifacts. 1 8
W i t h t h e exception of Part I, w h i c h traverses t h e entire century, t h e chapters fol-
low t h e c h r o n o l o g y of t h e texts studied. In Part II, I t u r n to t h e literary uses of hys-
teria in t h e 1850s, well before C h a r c o t s wide-scale p o p u l a r i z a t i o n of m e d i c a l
teachings, in order to show t h a t fin de siecle scientific categories were in fact al-
ready w e l l - e n s c o n c e d c u l t u r a l idioms. In a series of t h r e e chapters focused, re-
spectively, o n t h e G u s t a v e F l a u b e r t - L o u i s e C o l e t c o r r e s p o n d e n c e , Colet's La Ser-
vante, a n d Flaubert's Madame Bovary, I c o n t e n d that Madame Bovary a n d La
Servante s h o u l d be read as part a n d parcel of t h e c o r r e s p o n d e n c e : two m o r e letters
in a vitriolic epistolary d i a l o g u e a b o u t t h e g e n d e r i n g of texts, t h e fluidity of style,
a n d t h e ( d i s ) e m b o d i m e n t of voice. Hysteria, ostensibly a p o i n t of g e n d e r d e m a r -
c a t i o n , t u r n s o u t to b e t h e t u r n i n g p o i n t at w h i c h t h e d i c h o t o m o u s categories c o n - ,
stitutive of t h e diagnosis ( f e m i n i n e / m a s c u l i n e , body/mind, fragmentation/
c o h e s i o n ) c a n n o longer h o l d .
In Part III, I m o v e o n to narratives that are c o i n c i d e n t with hysteria's h e y d a y a n d
that, at t h e s a m e t i m e , self-consciously exploit hysteria as historical figure. T h e
first of t h r e e chapters is a reading of selections f r o m Zola's Rougon-Macquart
cycle, w h o s e central m e t a p h o r is that of hysteria as hereditary d e g e n e r a t i o n b u t
also as source of narrative energy. I go o n to consider M a x i m e D u C a m p ' s n o n f i c -
tional c h r o n i c l e of t h e Paris C o m m u n e , Les Convulsions de Paris, a n d t h e i n c u r -
sion of t h e hysteria m e t a p h o r into t h e political-historical a r e n a . I find signs of a
crisis of representation w o v e n into t h e text of D u C a m p ' s narrative, a n d sugges-
tions t h a t t h e i m a g i n a r y of t h e n e w r e g i m e is f o u n d e d u p o n t h e hystericized body
of w o m a n . In t h e last c h a p t e r I t u r n to Rachilde's Monsieur Venus, w h i c h I read as
a w o m a n ' s i r o n i z i n g citation of n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y c o m m o n p l a c e s a b o u t hyste-
ria, sexuality, masculinity, femininity, a n d representational art.
R a c h i l d e a n d L o u i s e C o l e t use hysteria in ways b o t h c o n t i n u o u s with a n d dis-
ruptive of t h e master discourse. As w o m e n taking u p t h e p e n in a p a t r i a r c h a l soci-
ety, t h e y inevitably take o n t h e discourse with t h e power even as they contest it. T o
speak m o r e generally, hysteria seems to have h a d limited appeal as m u s e to
n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y w o m e n writers. T h e hysteric was not, I t h i n k , a very attractive

18
For a cogent i n t r o d u c t i o n to the problematics of high art/mass c u l t u r e oppositions a n d t h e ideologi-
cal bases of quality distinctionsissues beyond t h e scope of this booksee Andreas Huyssen, After the
Great Divide ( B l o o m i n g t o n : I n d i a n a University Press, 1986); a n d Peter Stallybrass and Allon W h i t e ,
The Politics and Poetics of Transgression (Ithaca: C o r n e l l University Press, 1986).
1 INTRODUCTIO
12 or inspirational s u b j e c t for w o m e n w h o wrote, given that h e r body was d e f i n e d by
t h e a b s e n c e of its w o m a n ' s voice. W r i t i n g a b o u t these devocalized bodies today, I
c a n n o t h o p e to reintegrate t h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y hysterical body with its voice; I
c a n only m o u t h t h e voicelessness a n d strive to expose t h e discourse t h a t spoke in its
place.
 PART O N E
MEDICAL STORIES
1 THE TEXTUAL WOMAN
AND THE HYSTERICAL NOVEL
To Open the Question

In dreams, a writing tablet signifies a woman,

since it receives the imprint of all kinds of letters.
ARTEMIDORUS, ONEIROCRITICA

# In 1881, t h e journalist Jules C l a r e t i e published Les Amours d'un interne, a

love story set in t h e hysteria wards of t h e Salpetriere Hospital. C l a r e t i e h a d d o c u -
m e n t e d his novel in t h e best naturalist f a s h i o n , h a v i n g l o n g b e e n a m o n g t h e faith-
ful at C h a r c o t ' s leqons du mardi, t h e soirees du mardi, a n d t h e leqons du vendredi
as well. Accordingly, in his prefatorial c l a i m to h a v e p i o n e e r e d t h e novelistic ex-
p l o r a t i o n of hysteria, t h e a u t h o r gave priority to his m e d i c a l c o n f r e r e s a n d subor-
d i n a t e d his novel to a m e d i c a l m o d e l :

O n trouvera, e t u d i e e d a n s ce v o l u m e , e t p o u r la p r e m i e r e fois p a r u n
r o m a n c i e r , u n e des f o r m e s les plus etranges d e la g r a n d e m a l a d i e d u
siecle. . . . II a p p a r t e n a i t . . . a u r o m a n c i e r d'etudier, apres les savants,
ces m a n i f e s t a t i o n s i n q u i e t a n t e s , attirantes aussi, et ces cas bizarres. 1

1
Jules Claretie, Les Amours d'un interne (Paris: D e n t u , 1881), i-ii; m y emphasis. All references to t h e
novel will be to this edition, a n d will be provided in t h e text. Claretie was a novelist, playwright, a n d
essayist as well as a journalist; h e also b e c a m e administrative director of the C o m e d i e - F r a n g a i s e in
1885.

15
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
16 One will discover in this volume the studyand for the first time by a novelistof
one of the strangest forrrvrof'the great maladie du siecle. . . . It was the novelist's
turn to study, after the scientists, these foreboding but also seductive displays, and
these bizarre cases.

B u t a n u n e x p e c t e d e l e m e n t i n t r u d e s u p o n this n e a t s c h e m a , a s u p p l e m e n t t h a t
eludes b o t h science a n d its p r e t e n d e d literary d o u b l e : that " q u e l q u e c h o s e d'au
del" ["otherworldliness"] to w h i c h C l a r e t i e alludes briefly in his preface ( i i ) a n
a p p a r i t i o n t h a t contradicts t h e naturalist observation of m a t e r i a l reality yet
e m e r g e s f r o m i t a n d to w h i c h we will have occasion to r e t u r n .
In 1880, w h i l e C l a r e t i e w o u l d have b e e n writing his novel, Dr. C h a r l e s R i c h e t ,
o n e of C h a r c o t ' s associates (and, incidentally, a closet novelist), p u b l i s h e d a m e d -
ical expert s a c c o u n t of hysteria designed to redress p o p u l a r m i s c o n c e p t i o n s a b o u t
t h e d i s e a s e m i s c o n c e p t i o n s propagated in part, t h e a u t h o r c h a r g e d , by novelists. 2
T h e article, w h i c h a p p e a r e d in t h e literary Revue des deux mondes, explicitly de-
rives its a u t h o r i t y f r o m m e d i c a l advances at t h e Salpetriere. R a t h e r unexpectedly,
however, t h e doctor e n d s u p deferring to t h e novelists, e n h a n c i n g his c l i n i c i a n s
perspective with e x a m p l e s culled f r o m novels of t h e p r e c e d i n g q u a r t e r century.
For t h e r e , R i c h e t explains, o n e e n c o u n t e r s "des descriptions exactes q u i c o m p l e -
t e r o n t ce q u e n o u s v e n o n s d e dire de l'etat p s y c h i q u e des f e m m e s nerveuses" (346)
["precise descriptions t h a t c o m p l e t e w h a t we h a v e just said of t h e psychic c o n d i -
:ion of n e r v o u s w o m e n " ] . As t h e novelist's a n d t h e doctor's a p p r o a c h e s to hysteria
I i n t e r s e c t t h a t is, as they m e e t b u t also cross e a c h o t h e r t h e y provide a glimpse
1 of t h e c o m p l e x interplay b e t w e e n literary a n d m e d i c a l representations of t h e
disease.

THE NOVELIST AND THE DOCTOR

T o g e t h e r C l a r e t i e a n d R i c h e t c o n f i r m t h e fact, too often overlooked, t h a t t h e late

n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y heyday of hysteria in F r a n c e was n o t c o n f i n e d to t h e d o m a i n
of pathology b u t was a literary p h e n o m e n o n as well. T o g e t h e r t h e two presenta-
tions of hysteria bear witness to t h e p o p u l a r i z a t i o n of a m e d i c a l category: by 1880,
t h e t e r m h a d b e c o m e n o t only familiar to a lay p u b l i c , b u t fascinating, captivating.
T h e a m b i g u o u s allure of C l a r e t i e s adjectives ("strange," "bizarre," " f o r e b o d i n g , "
"seductive") a n d Richet's stated effort to correct p o p u l a r (novelistic) m i s r e p r e s e n -

2
C h a r l e s Richet, "Les D e m o n i a q u e s d ' a u j o u r d ' h u i , " Revue des deux mondes 37 (15 January 1880):
341. F u r t h e r references will be provided in t h e text. U n d e r t h e pen n a m e C h a r l e s E p h e y r e , Richet was
a prolific novelist, publishing, a m o n g other works, Possession (Paris: Ollendorff, 1887) a n d Soeur
Marthe (Revue des deux mondes 9 3 ( 1 5 M a y 1 8 8 9 ] : ' 3 8 4 - 4 3 i ) , b o t h of w h i c h leaned heavily o n hyste-
ria, h y p n o t i s m , a n d h a l l u c i n a t i o n . E p h e y r e reenters m y text in C h a p t e r 3.
 V
THE TEXTUAL WOMAN AND T H E HYSTERICAL NOVE
tations of t h e disease suggest that t h e diagnostic category h a d in fact b e c o m e a ve- 1
h i c l e for t h e i m a g i n a t i o n .
B u t h e r e t h e c o i n c i d e n c e ends. C l a r e t i e a n d R i c h e t contradict e a c h o t h e r in
ways t h a t p r e c l u d e a clear-cut relationship b e t w e e n literary a n d m e d i c a l discourses
of hysteria. W h i l e t h e novelist draws his a u t h o r i t y f r o m t h e clinic, specifically
f r o m t h e m u c h - p u b l i c i z e d t r o u p e of hysterics a n d their a t t e n d a n t doctors at t h e
Salpetriere, t h e c l i n i c i a n t u r n s to t h e novel in order to corroborate m e d i c a l re-
search. W h i l e t h e writer in 1881 sees h i m s e l f as a literary e x p e r i m e n t e r i n j e c t i n g
a n exotic pathological strain into t h e novel, t h e physician, at roughly t h e s a m e
t i m e , finds c o n s i d e r a b l e traces of hysteria in t h e novel well before t h e disease was
in clinical vogue.
T h e chasse-croise of scientific a n d literary positions in these samples is indica-
tive of hysteria s elusiveness in t h e stories told a b o u t it: w h e n o n e is a b o u t to locate
it, to assign it to a t i m e , place, or discipline, it t u r n s o u t to have already b e e n , else-
w h e r e ; a n d so t h e e x a m i n i n g focus m u s t be deferred or displaced. T h e disease is
f r a m e d as c o n c e p t u a l l y recalcitrant as well; in literary a n d m e d i c a l texts alike, it is
represented as resisting c i r c u m s c r i p t i o n . 3 C l a r e t i e a n d R i c h e t o n c e again f u r n i s h
e x e m p l a r y testimony.
T h e literary inability to d e f i n e hysteria in direct, n o n m e t a p h o r i c a l t e r m s is ex-
plicit. Claretie's y o u n g physician-protagonist explains:

U n e d e f i n i t i o n , c'est t o u j o u r s difficile. Je vous dirai plutot ce q u e

l'hysterie n e s t point. . . . (Ja p e u t etre e r o t i q u e p o u r d o n n e r raison a u
v u l g a i r e , g a p e u t etre s o m b r e , ga p e u t etre m y s t i q u e , ga p e u t etre (

religieux, ga p e u t etre tout. C'est, si vous voulez, l'exageration de tout.

L'hysterique . . . est en d e h o r s de la regie c o m m u n e , et le m o n d e et le
d e m i - m o n d e , le theatre, les salons, t o u t Paris est plein d'hysteriques. . . .
C'est m e m e la g r a n d e m a l a d i e m o d e r n e , l'hysterie! La societe souffre
d ' u n e nevrose o u d ' u n e nevrite gigantesque. (124)

A definition is always difficult. I can more easily tell you what hysteria is not. . . .
It can be eroticto echo common opinionit can be dark, it can be mystical, it
can be religious, it can be everything. It is, if you wish, the exaggeration of
everything. The hysteric is outside common norms, and both the world and the
demi-monde, the theater, salons, all of Paris is full of hysterics. . . .In fact, it is
the great modern ailment! Society suffers from a gigantic neurosis or neuritis.

3
1 w a n t to e m p h a s i z e that it is n o t hysteria itself that is elusive, resistant, recalcitrant, a n d so on; a dis-
ease is after all n o t a person. If it appears to he vague or evasive, it is because it has b e e n defined as such.
A n d t h e fact that hysteria and w o m e n have overlapping attributes (the "characteristics" of hysteria are
often borrowed f r o m c o m m o n p l a c e s a b o u t f e m a l e n a t u r e so that the disease "behaves" like a w o m a n ) is
o n e m o r e indication of t h e m e t a p h o r i c nature of t h e diagnosis.
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
18 W h i l e this d e f i n i t i o n is less t h a n precise, it does at least indicate two features of
. hysteria T h e o n e , exaggeration, is clearly labeled. T h e other, c o n t a g i o n , is never
n a m e d as s u c h , b u t is e v i d e n c e d by t h e spread of t h e disease f r o m t h e clinic to h i g h
society to t h e m a r g i n s of society, to t h e theater a n d to salons, to all P a n s a n d in-
d e e d to all of m o d e r n society. E v e n Claretie's style seems to have c a u g h t t h e dis-
ease for it is noticeably afflicted with t h e only n a m e d s y m p t o m , exaggeration. Al-
t h o u g h his d e f i n i t i o n rapidly m o v e s f r o m t h e literal to t h e figurative, it is n o t
evident, in this particular passage, to w h a t m e t a p h o r i c e n d t h e disease is b e m g ap-
propriated. E l s e w h e r e in t h e novel, however, t h e m e t a p h o r is elucidated.
Les Amours d'un interne m i g h t m o r e accurately be called (pastich.ng Balzac s
Comment aiment les filles), Comment aiment les internes, for it is all a b o u t J e ill-
fated love choices of t h e y o u n g Salpetriere doctors a n d their associates. T o t h e
q u e s t i o n suggested by m y substituted t i t l e - h o w do interns l o v e ? - t h e answer
m u s t b e "badly," a l t h o u g h C l a r e t i e implies t h a t they could n o t d o m u c h b e t t e r It
is n o t t h a t t h e y all love or lust after their patients ( a l t h o u g h s o m e do), b u t rather
t h a t t h e b o u n d a r i e s b e t w e e n t h e Salpetriere wards a n d t h e salons of P a n s are ex-
t r e m e l y t e n u o u s . W h i l e C o m b e t t e ' s sexual exploitation of a y o u n g w o m a n sets oft
h e r n a s c e n t hysteria, s e n d i n g h e r straight to t h e Salpetriere, w h e r e M o n g o b e r t
t h e n loves h e r as a patient, C o m b e t t e eventually m a r r i e s a h i g h - s t r u n g heiress de-
scribed as "cette petite h y s t e r i q u e d u m o n d e " (430) ["this little society hysteric ,
a n d Pedro's i n f a t u a t i o n for a b e a u t i f u l if n e r v o u s y o u n g Russian e n d s in t h e debil-
itating discovery of this w o m a n ' s particular b r a n d of hysteria: O l g a is a skoptzy, a
religious f a n a t i c w h o h a s h a d herself sexually m u t i l a t e d . T h e protagonist, Pierre,
speaks indirectly for P e d r o (and for all t h e o t h e r interns as well) w h e n , dually
p r o m p t e d by a n inmate's attack o n a colleague a n d his own u n r e q u i t e d love, h e ex-
claims- " T u vois, les f e m m e s , ga vous d e c h i r e t o u j o u r s q u e l q u e c h o s e , la p e a u d u
f r o n t o u les m u s c l e s d u coeur!" ( 2 9 D ["You see, w o m e n always tear s o m e part of

you t h e skin of your b r o w or your h e a r t muscles!"].

In t h e course of t h e novel, "les f e m m e s " a n d "les h y s t e n q u e s " b e c o m e virtually
i n t e r c h a n g e a b l e c a t e g o r i e s - s o m u c h so that t h e religious hysteric O l g a is apos-
t r o p h i z e d as "cette ideale creature, plus f e m m e q u e toutes les autres f e m m e s (379)
["that ideal creature, m o r e of a w o m a n t h a n all o t h e r w o m e n ' l . Despite its v e n e e r
of journalistic objectivity, Les Amours d'un interne clearly appropriates hysteria as.
a figure of w o m a n .
It w o u l d b e naive, however, to t u r n to t h e c l i n i c i a n s text as a likely source for a n
a n t i d o t e to Claretie's metaphoricity. It is t r u e t h a t t h e o p e n i n g of R i c h e t s Les D e -
m o n i a q u e s d ' a u j o u r d ' h u i " promises to demystify hysteria, to m a k e k n o w n les faits
positifs elucides par les savans c o n t e m p o r a i n s " (341) ["positive facts e l u c i d a t e d by
c o n t e m p o r a r y scientists"], suggesting that t h e scientist will deliver t h e letter b e -
h i n d t h e figure. B u t t h e few c o n c r e t e details h e delivers a b o u t t h e affliction work
 THE TEXTUAL WOMAN AND THE HYSTERICAL NOVI
essentially to reinforce age-old stereotypes a b o u t femininity. T h e hysteric, a c c o r d - 1
ing to R i c h e t , has a m o b i l e a n d impressionable n a t u r e , lacks willpower, a n d is able
to c o n t a i n n e i t h e r secrets n o r secretions. D o m i n a t e d by h e r passions, she is overly
e m o t i o n a l , subject to f r e q u e n t a n d u n m o t i v a t e d fits of crying, capricious, egotisti-
cal, fickle, a n d p r o n e to exaggeration. S h e is excessively imaginative, histrionic,
a n d dishonest. In fact, R i c h e t insists, she is n o t only, like a child, insincere a n d de-
ceitful; she is a forger of fictions a n d a lover of lies. Leaving n o t h i n g to c h a n c e , Ri-
c h e t goes o n to interpret his data for us: " O n p e u t m e m e dire q u e les hysteriques
sont f e m m e s plus q u e les autres f e m m e s " (346) [ " O n e can even say t h a t hysterics
are w o m e n m o r e t h a n o t h e r w o m e n " ] .
T h i s is a startling d e f i n i t i o n for m a n y reasons; most i m m e d i a t e l y b e c a u s e it al-
m o s t exactly replicates C l a r e t i e s c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n of t h e hysteric Olga: " m o r e of a
w o m a n t h a n all o t h e r w o m e n . " F r o m novelist to clinician, we have c o m e full cir-
cle. In vain d o we m o v e f r o m literature to m e d i c i n e in search of a scientific basis,
a c o n c r e t e or p r o p e r sense, a degree zero of hysteria. For w h e n we begin to u n r a v e l
t h e m e d i c a l texts (and a l t h o u g h h e is writing for a largely literary a u d i e n c e , R i c h e t
is perfectly representative of t h e spirit if n o t t h e t e c h n i c a l detail of s u c h texts),
w h e n w e c o m b t h r o u g h m e d i c a l representations of hysteria, we find t h a t t h e dis-
ease is in every case already a m e t a p h o r . M e d i c a l a n d narrative discourses e a c h
individually use hysteria as a m e t a p h o r t h a t transcends t h e m b o t h , revealing
glimpses of t h e i m a g i n a r y of t h e period in w h i c h b o t h are e n m e s h e d .
I d o n o t m e a n to contest t h e rapid a n d widespread diffusion of hysteria as m e d -
ical t e r m d u r i n g t h e C h a r c o t years at t h e Salpetriere: n e i t h e r t h e e p i d e m i c spread
n o r t h e wide-scale p o p u l a r i z a t i o n n o r t h e rapid narrative circulation of hysteria at
this t i m e c a n be d e n i e d . 4 But I d o w a n t to avoid attributing to t h e clinic t h e i n v e n -
tion of a c u l t u r a l c o n c e p t t h a t does n o t originate there, that is only belatedly taken
over a n d d i s s e m i n a t e d by t h e clinic u n d e r t h e n a m e of hysteria. Because R i c h e t
p r e s u m e s t h a t t h e lay p u b l i c has a prior e m p i r i c a l if n o t t e c h n i c a l k n o w l e d g e of t h e
subject, h e c a n m a k e accessible t h e a r c a n a of m e d i c i n e by m e r e allusion to collo-
q u i a l c o n c e p t i o n s : " T o u t ce q u ' o n a c o u t u m e d'attribuer a u t e m p e r a m e n t n e r v e u x
de la f e m m e r e n t r e d a n s le d o m a i n e de l'hysterie" (343) ["All that is c u s t o m a r i l y at-
t r i b u t e d to w o m a n ' s n e r v o u s t e m p e r a m e n t falls in t h e d o m a i n of hysteria"].
C o n t a g i o n s , rhetorical as well as literal, d o n o t begin at plague levels. T h e m e d -
ical t e r m m u s t be u n d e r s t o o d in relation to a m o r e global sociocultural a n d aes-
thetic category. F i g u r e of f e m i n i n i t y correlatively associated (by way of traditional
misogyny) with disorder, duplicity, a n d alterity, hysteria easily lends itself, in this
fin de siecle society s u b j e c t to convulsive upheavals, to a multiplicity of m e t a -

4
For a n excellent survey of t h e diffusion of hysteria f r o m t h e clinic to literature newspapers salons
a n d t h e streets, see Jacqueline Carroy-Thirard's "Hysterie, theatre, litterature au XIXe siecle," Psych-
analyse l'universite 7 ( M a r c h 1982): 2 9 9 - 3 1 7 .
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
20 p h o r i c uses: diagnosis of t h e assorted w o u n d s of c o n t e m p o r a r y civilization, e m -
b l e m of m a r g i n a h t y , sign of expressivity a n d even of poetic furor. I t is this last p h e -
n o m e n o n w h i c h we m i g h t m o r e generally qualify as a poetics of hysteria or as
t h e hystericization of a e s t h e t i c s t h a t I w a n t to a p p r o a c h in t h e s e c o n d part of this
chapter, in t h e f o r m of a reflection o n an excerpt f r o m Claretie's novel.
Les Amours dun interne stages that fascinating a n d p e r t u r b i n g practice k n o w n
as d e r m o g r a p h i s m , w h i c h appears h e r e a n d there o n t h e hysterical body in t h e
pages of Llconographie photographique de la Salpetriere as well as in o t h e r m e d i -
cal p u b l i c a t i o n s of t h e period. It consists of i m p r i n t i n g graffiti-like m a r k i n g s o n
t h e a n e s t h e t i c b u t otherwise i m p r e s s i o n a b l e skin of t h e hysteric, following t h e va-
garies of t h e doctor's will: doctor's signature, patient's n a m e , diagnosis, i n v o c a t i o n
of t h e devil, o r n a m e n t a l design, a n d so on. 5 N e i t h e r a physiological e x p l a n a t i o n
( m a l f u n c t i o n of t h e vasomotor system) n o r a potential t h e r a p e u t i c justification
( w h i c h in any case was n o t offered) n o r p h o t o g r a p h i c d o c u m e n t s ( w h i c h d o exist)
succeed in e x h a u s t i n g t h e m e a n i n g of this e x p e r i m e n t a l writing.

INSCRIBING THE BODY

T h e following t a b l e a u is excerpted f r o m a c h a p t e r of Les Amours d'un interne. We

are in t h e hysteria ward a l o n g with a g r o u p of a t t e n d a n t interns gathered a r o u n d
M a t h i l d e M i g n o n , a y o u n g a n d b e a u t i f u l hysteric. S h e is in a c o m a t o s e sleep after
a n i g h t of d e l i r i u m . Dr. Fargeas, t h e novel's e m i n e n t specialist in n e r v o u s disor-
ders, uses M a t h i l d e s s u p i n e b o d y for a d e m o n s t r a t i o n of d e r m o g r a p h i s m .

M a t h i l d e etait t o t a l e m e n t a n e s t h e s i q u e et il suffisait de tracer, sur sa p e a u

b l a n c h e , d ' u n e d o u c e u r pareille u n e p e a u d ' e n f a n t , les caracteres q u ' o n
voulait p o u r qu'aussitot, la place t o u c h e e par l'ongle o u le crayon d u
d o c t e u r , u n e saillie r o u g e a p p a r t , d ' u n e p r e e m i n e n c e telle q u ' e n ttant

5See Georges D i d i - H u b e r m a n , " U n e N o t i o n de corps-cliche' au XIXe siecle," Parachute 35 (1984):

8 - 1 4 . D e r m o g r a p h i s m , as medical science understands it today, is a f o r m of physical urticaria (an ir-
ritated, patchy c o n d i t i o n of t h e skin) whose outbreaks are provoked by a release of histamines w h e n t h e
skin is stroked, r u b b e d , or scratched. T h e r e is a wheal-and-flare reaction s o m e t i m e s a c c o m p a n i e d by
itching a n d b u r n i n g at t h e site of such physical stimulation. T h e reaction m a y last forty-eight h o u r s ,
b u t usually fades m o r e quickly. W h i l e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y doctors believed that hysterics were m o r e
p r o n e to d e r m o g r a p h i s m t h a n others, because they were m o r e "impressionable," late twentieth-
century m e d i c i n e finds t h e c o n d i t i o n in approximately 5 p e r c e n t of t h e general p o p u l a t i o n . It is n o t
sex-linked a n d is not correlated with any psychological disorder. W h e n I spoke to doctors a b o u t der-
m o g r a p h i s m today I discovered o n e e l e m e n t of continuity a m i d t h e changes that o n e h u n d r e d years
have b r o u g h t about: a fascination (which I share) with t h e ability of t h e h u m a n body to bear m e a n i n g .
Doctors today c o n t i n u e to use t h e d e r m o g r a p h i c patient as writing pad, inscribing n a m e s , signs, a n d
messages u p o n t h e skin. T w o of t h e three doctors I talked with spoke of their collections of d e r m o -
graphic photographs.
FIGURE I . Etchings on young woman's arm.
Womenespecially hystericswere said to be
more impressionable than men; consequently
they were thought to be more often subject to
dermographism, the immune reaction that
doctors appropriated as skin-writing or
skin-drawing, and sometimes referred to as
autography or lithography.
(Published in T. Barthelemy, Etude sur le
d e r m o g r a p h i s m e ou d e r m o n e u r o s e toxivasomotrice,
1893; photo Bibliotheque Interuniversitaire de
Medecine, Universite Rene Descartes, Paris.)
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
22 ces caracteres, o n p u t r e c o n n a i t r e la lettre q u e venait d'ecrire la
[ledocteur].
" T r o u b l e t r o p h i q u e et q u i durera plusieurs h e u r e s , " disait le chef.
" L e cas est assez f r e q u e n t . " . . .
Et, p e n d a n t q u e l q u e s heures, en effet, les caracteres traces sur cette
p e a u b l a n c h e d e m e u r a i e n t visibles, c o m m e u n e inscription p a r f a i t e m e n t
dechiffrable.
" U n aveugle p o u r r a i t la lire!" disait Pedro.
"C'est la femme lithographique, cette M a t h i l d e , " a j o u t a i t le petit
Finet. . . .
"Toi q u i as i n v e n t e l'hysterie, P a u l i n e , " lui disait Pedro, "tu n'as pas a,
toi, la possibility de servir de papier lettres vivant!" (312)

Mathilde was completely anesthetic; and when the desired characters were traced
on her white skin, soft as a child's skin, immediately at the spot touched by the
doctor's nail or pencil, a red welt appeared so prominently that by touching the
characters, one could recognize the letter that [the doctor] had just written there.
"A trophic disorder that will last several hours," said the head doctor. "It is a
rather frequent phenomenon." . . .
And for several hours, the characters traced on this white skin remained visible,
like a perfectly decipherable inscription.
"A blind man could read it!" said Pedro.
"This Mathilde is a lithographic woman," added Finet. . . .
"Even you who invented hysteria, Pauline," said Pedro, "you don't have that
the ability to serve as living writing paper'."

As M a t h i l d e s hysterical body b e c o m e s a text to be d e c i p h e r e d by t h e a t t e n -

d a n t spectators, Claretie's text b e c o m e s a n inscription o n a w o m a n ' s body, an al-
legory of t h e narrative a p p r o p r i a t i o n of hysteria. H e r e as m o r e generally, t h e ex-
pressive faculties of t h e hysterical body are o v e r d e t e r m i n e d . M a t h i l d e is n o t only
a textual w o m a n b u t "a lithographic w o m a n . " A n d h e r status as text a n d visual art
object is f u r t h e r c o m p o u n d e d by t h e narrative context, w h i c h t u r n s t h e m e d i c a l
d e m o n s t r a t i o n into a staged spectacle a n d M a t h i l d e s displayed body into living
theater.
In t h e hysteric's h y p e r f e m a l e , hyperexpressive body, sex a n d text are joined.
M a t h i l d e s " p e a u b l a n c h e , d ' u n e d o u c e u r pareille u n e p e a u d ' e n f a n t " ["white
skin, soft as a child's skin"] is at o n c e a sexual a n d a textual marker: a sign of f e m i -
ninity, h e r w h i t e skin s h o u l d also b e read as a writing surface, a b l a n k p a r c h m e n t
or t a b u l a rasa. E a c h t i m e t h e sensual aspect recurs (in t h e repetition of " p e a u
b l a n c h e , " in t h e i m p l i e d scratch of t h e doctor's nail, a n d in t h e verbs " t o u c h e r "
FIGURE 2. Although neither woman
nor hysteric, this patient is described by his
doctors as very nervous, excessively emotional,
and deplorably impressionableand so
predisposed to demographic manifestations.
(Published in F. Allard and H. hieige, Archives
g e n e r a t e s d e m e d e c i n e 2, 1898; photo B.I.M.,
Universite Rene Descartes, Paris.)
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
24 a n d "tter"), it is in t h e service of writing; for w h a t is b e i n g t o u c h e d , h a n d l e d , or
scratched into b e i n g is t h e flesh m a d e word.
As t h e doctor writes u p o n t h e "living writing paper" presented by M a t h i l d e ' s lit-
erally i m p r e s s i o n a b l e flesh, h e r w o m a n ' s hysterical b o d y underwrites Claretie's
text; it gives f o r m a n d authority to t h e writing, reading, a n d interpretive processes
involved in textual p r o d u c t i o n . 6 T h e inscription o n M a t h i l d e s skin, a text in t h e
text of t h e novel, e m b l e m a t i z e s t h e semiotic valorization of t h e n i n e t e e n t h -
c e n t u r y hysterical body, w h i c h writers perceived as a system of signs, a n a l p h a b e t
of gestures to b e pressed into narrative service.
A n d yet, even w h i l e i m p l y i n g t h e crucial role played by t h e hysterical b o d y in
t h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y novel, Claretie's text does its u t m o s t to c o m p l i c a t e i t t h a t
is, to suggest t h a t this body is never simply semiotic. It emits messages, b u t it also
receives t h e m . Let m e elaborate by c o n s i d e r i n g this body-text as p r o d u c t i o n rather
t h a n p r o d u c t . W h e n t h e doctor puts his m a r k o n t o M a t h i l d e s flesh, t h e raised red
letter t h a t appears evokes a b r a n d , a sign b u r n e d into t h e flesh. T h e allusion to
b r a n d i n g w i t h i n this allegory of t h e hysterical flesh m a d e naturalist word points to
an i m p o r t a n t c o n n e c t i o n b e t w e e n l a n g u a g e a n d power, discourse a n d possession. 7
It r e m i n d s us o n c e a g a i n p a c e Aragon a n d B r e t o n , w h o eulogized hysteria as a
" s u p r e m e m e a n s of expression"that w h e n we are given t h e hysterical b o d y to
"read" in place of language, w e are always in fact reading s o m e o n e else's s u p e r i m -
posed text. 8
T h e interplay of hysteric discursivity a n d m e c h a n i s m s of control is everywhere
i m p l i e d in this passage. Hysteria b e c o m e s discursive w h e n t h e doctor i m p r i n t s his
message o n t h e b l a n k pad of M a t h i l d e s body. T h i s scenario, w h i c h apposes writ-
ing a n d blankness, pencil a n d paper, speech a n d speechlessness, m a l e mastery a n d
childlike s u b m i s s i o n (the child explicitly c o n n o t e d by t h e w o m a n ' s " p e a u d ' e n -
fant") is c o n g r u e n t with t h e traditional heterosexual oppositions of W e s t e r n m e t a -
physics: m a l e / f e m a l e , active/passive, s u b j e c t / o b j e c t , techne/physis, m i n d / b o d y ,
a n d so o n . 9 A l t h o u g h M a t h i l d e crosses over into discursivity, any c l a i m for a de-
c o n s t r u c t i o n of traditional d i c h o t o m i e s resulting f r o m t h e fact that h e r b o d y be-
6
A l t h o u g h I a m speaking of a n authority that derives f r o m t h e clinical d o m a i n , it is to b e taken in sharp
c o u n t e r d i s t i n c t i o n to t h e scientific or medical authority w h i c h Jean Starobinski, a m o n g others, refers
to in his preface to Victor Segalen, Les Cliniciens es lettres (Paris: Fata M o r g a n a , 1980), 17- T h e a u -
thority of t h e hysterical body is a counterauthority, a source of t r u t h whose power derives f r o m its hid-
d e n value, its implicit contestation of received truths.
7 s e e E l a i n e Scarry's fascinating analysis of the d y n a m i c s of power c o n t a i n e d in t h e relationship be-
tween t h e body a n d language, in The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World (Oxford:
O x f o r d University Press, 1985).
Louis Aragon a n d A n d r e Breton, "Le C i n q u a n t e n a i r e de l'hysterie," La Revolution surreahste 4(15
March 1 9 2 8 ) : 2 0 .
9 For a n elaboration o n this dichotomy, see H e l e n e Cixous and C a t h e r i n e C l e m e n t , La Jeune Nee
(Paris: 10/18, 1975), 1 1 5 - 2 0 .
FIGURE 3. Doctors fascinated by
dermographism often used the sign of
the devil in their writing experiments.
The clarity of this photograph suggests
that it may have been retouched.
(Published in T. Barthelemy, E t u d e sur le
d e r m o g r a p h i s m e ; photo B.l.M.,
Universite Rene Descartes, Paris.)
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
26 c o m e s intelligible strikes m e as specious, for t h e potential scandal of t h e speaking
body is n e u t r a l i z e d by virtue of its p r o d u c t i o n by an external agent. In fact t h e body
does n o t speak; it is spoken, v e n t r i l o q u i z e d by t h e master text t h a t m a k e s it signify.
T h e w o m a n b e c o m e s a text, b u t she is a text within a text, a text framed as signify-
ing s o u r c e by a n o t h e r , m e d i a t i n g text.
T h e d e r m o g r a p h i c t a b l e a u f r a m e d by C l a r e t i e s text c o n t a i n s w i t h i n it, however,
a b l i n d spot t h a t o p e n s a possibility for t h e semiotic process to e l u d e a u t h o r i a l c o n -
trol, subverting classic paradigms a n d m e t a p h o r i c structures. For a l t h o u g h t h e text
speaks insistently of t h e visibility, legibility, a n d t r a n s p a r e n c y of t h e letters o n
M a t h i l d e s skin, it s i m u l t a n e o u s l y occults t h e m . T h e message is never seen, read,
or d e c i p h e r e d for us. M a t h i l d e s signifying body, i n h a b i t i n g t h e u n e x a m i n e d gap
b e t w e e n C l a r e t i e s novel a n d t h e doctor's "perfectly d e c i p h e r a b l e inscription" t h e n
constitutes a n e l e m e n t of excess, an inarticulate, u n r e a d a b l e s p a c e a textual
s y m p t o m . W e m i g h t speak of Les Amours d'un interne as a hysterical novel be-
c a u s e t h e hysteria t h e m a t i z e d t h e r e eventually attacks t h e narrative, p r o p a g a t i n g
its silences, its excesses, its i n c o h e r e n c e s .
T h e p h a n t o m letters carried by Mathilde's body d o n o t n e e d to b e read to m a k e
k n o w n t h e threat they bear, a threat d i m m e d by t h e e m p h a t i c paleness of h e r skin
b u t that c a n be articulated in t h e f o r m of a question: w h a t w o u l d h a p p e n if t h e hys-
terical b o d y n o longer allowed itself to b e signed, labeled, diagnosed, b u t if, i n s u b -
ordinate, itself b e c o m e a creator, a p r o d u c e r of m e a n i n g , this body a s s u m e d its
o w n power a n d w e n t o n to deliver a n u n e x p e c t e d , even fatal message? W h a t w o u l d
this message b e t h i s message that u n c a n n i l y recalls t h e " q u e l q u e c h o s e d'au
dela" t h a t separated f r o m "literal reality" to i n s i n u a t e itself into t h e preface of t h e
n o v e l a n d w h y does it inspire s u c h fear?
It is critical to r e m e m b e r that t h e hysterical d e r m o g r a p h i c inscription is a text
that m u s t be replaced in t h e vaster context of t h e body-text, a c o n c e p t or p e r h a p s
m o r e accurately a n i n t u i t i o n whose sources are lost in t h e mists of t i m e a n d t h a t
m a n i f e s t s itself in s u c h varied d o m a i n s as p o p u l a r w i s d o m a n d science, by s u c h di-
verse n o t i o n s as p a l m reading a n d t h e genetic code. B u t t h e best illustration of t h e
body-text (the o n e that is b o t h m o s t graphic a n d m o s t revealing) w o u l d be t h e ap-
p a r a t u s t h a t figures in Kafka's "In t h e Penal C o l o n y " : writing i m p l e m e n t a n d tor-
t u r e i m p l e m e n t simultaneously, whose m a c a b r e f u n c t i o n is to inscribe in t h e flesh
t h e s e n t e n c e that t h e prisoner can read only w h e n dying of t h e w o u n d s inflicted by
t h e inscription. 1 0 T h i s s e n t e n c e , b o t h phrase a n d c o n d e m n a t i o n , is a violent figu-
ration of t h e s e n t e n c e every body bears. In o t h e r words, t h e b o d y ( w h i c h is to say,
t h e m a t e r i a l c o n d i t i o n of life) is this sentence: its scars, its graying hairs, its w r i n -
kles are t h e lexicon; its shiverings, its tremors, its d e a t h throes are t h e p u n c t u a t i o n .
10
Franz Kafka, "In t h e Penal Colony," in The Complete Stories, trans. Willa a n d E d w i n Muir, ed. N a -
h u m N . G l a z e r ( N e w York: S c h o c k e n , 1976), 1 4 0 - 6 7 .
FIGURE 4 . A dermographic woman who has
been inscribed, recto/verso, with her first and
last names: Angeline Donadieu.
(Published in M. Lannois, Nouvelle Iconographie
d e la S a l p e t r i e r e 14, 1901; photoB.l.M., Universite
Rene Descartes, Paris.)
FIGURE 5. A dermographic woman made
to bear the imprint of her own diagnosis:
demence precoce.
(Published in L. Trepsat, Nouvelle Iconographie de
la S a l p e t r i e r e 17, 1 9 0 4 ; photo Pauline Page.)
 THE TEXTUAL WOMAN AND T H E H Y S T E R I C A L NOVI
In t h e case of hysterical d e r m o g r a p h i s m , t h e inscription is d o u b l e ; o n e is c o n - i
f r o n t e d with an inscription t h a t covers a n o t h e r o n e a palimpsest of s o r t s a su-
p e r i m p o s e d text t h a t attempts to suppress t h e s e n t e n c e , t h a t originary (and d o u b t -
less final) text. For t h e message of a body semiotic in a n d by itselfwhatever t h e \
sexis d e a t h . W h e n c e d e r m o g r a p h i s m or invitation to a d u e l , struggle to t h e
d e a t h with d e a t h played o u t o n t h e field of t h e hysterical body. If t h e hysterical
b o d y is t h e c h o s e n g r o u n d for this battle, it is b e c a u s e this p a r a d i g m a t i c w o m a n ' s
body is, as everyone knows, c h a n g e a b l e , m a l l e a b l e , a n d impressionable. In t h e
anticipatory words of A n d r e a s C a p p e l l a n u s , w h o spoke t h e m s o m e seven c e n t u r i e s
earlier: "A w o m a n is just like m e l t i n g wax, w h i c h is always ready to take a n e w f o r m
a n d to receive t h e impress of anyone's seal." 1 1
B u t t h e soft w h i t e skin is only apparently a tabula rasa, an u n m a r k e d pad. It
bears a s e n t e n c e , always already e t c h e d a n d always already repressed, w h i c h u n -
predictably r e t u r n s f r o m b e y o n d t h e pale. T h a t is why it is so necessary to efface t h e
letters, reinscribe t h e body, prove that it c o u l d b e t h e bearer of a n o t h e r message,
t h a t it c o u l d be t h e work n o t of G o d , b u t of m e n . By m e a n s of an e m i n e n t l y Pro-
m e t h e a n gesture, clinicians a n d writers alike struggle to steal God's word, labor to
inscribe o n t h e hysterical body a n e w gospel, w h i c h w o u l d say: "And t h e flesh will
be m a d e word; it will b e c o m e t h e word of M e n . "

11
Andreas C a p p e l l a n u s , The Art of Courtly Love, ed. Frederick W. Locke, trans. J o h n Jay Parry ( N e w
York: Frederick Ungar, 1957), 50. (Written ca. 1186.)


2 THE DOCTORS' TALE

Nineteenth-Century Medical
Narratives of Hysteria

Lhomme, tel quil soit, est le mattre; nous sommes

1'intermediate entre lui et la bete, que Proudhon classait
ainsi: menagere ou courtisane. Je l'avoue, avec peine
toujours, nous sommes la caste part, rendue telle
travers les ages. Quand nous avons du courage, c'est un
cas pathologique; quand nous nous assimilons facilement
certaines connaissances, c'est un cas pathologique.
LOUISE MICHEL, MEMOIRES

# As readers of n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y fiction, especially realist a n d naturalist

novels, we are all f a m i l i a r with a u t h o r i a l prefaces t h a t explain e a c h a u t h o r s rep-
resentation of hysteria by d o c u m e n t i n g it: that is, by referring to c o n t e m p o r a r y
m e d i c a l treatises a n d by e v a l u a t i n g t h e novelistic portrayal of hysterics a c c o r d i n g
to t h e standards of c o n t e m p o r a r y diagnostic paradigms. Jean Starobinski has sug-
gested that t h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y novel t u r n e d to hysteria ( a m o n g o t h e r p a t h o -
logical models) to b o r r o w t h e s a n c t i o n of m e d i c a l discourse in t h e face of a crisis of
traditional authority:

D e q u e l l e autorite la litterature p o u v a i t j e l l e e n c o r e se prevaloir, vers

le m i l i e u d u XIXe si6cle, lo'rsque la verite passa sous la juridiction d u 1
physiologiste, d u c h i m i s t e , d u clinicien? . . . L a petite f o u l e q u i decide
d u c l i m a t intellectuel se d o n n a i t r e n d e z - v o u s . . . aux d e m o n s t r a t i o n s
de C h a r c o t . . . . Q u e restait-il la litterature, u n e fois les a n c i e n s
paradigmes esthetiques et m o r a u x d e v e n u s caducs? 1

1
Jean Starobinski, preface to Victor Segalen, Les Cliniciens es lettres (Paris: Fata M o r g a n a , 1980), 17.

30
 T H E D O C T O R S ' TALE
What authority could literature still exercise, toward the middle of the nineteenth 31
century, when truth moved into the jurisdiction of the physiologist, the chemist,
the clinician {The intellectual trendsetters were gathering at Charcot's
demonstrations. jWhere could literature turn, once the old aesthetic and moral
paradigms were worn out?

Starobinski's a c c o u n t of t h e literary a p p r o p r i a t i o n of clinical hysteria is a n a c c u -

rate historical description of t h e privileged role m e d i c i n e played in t h e h i e r a r c h i c
b e h a v i o r of two discourses. 2 W e see this n o t only in literary borrowings f r o m t h e
clinic, b u t in t h e response of t h e m e d i c a l e s t a b l i s h m e n t , w h i c h appropriated lit-
e r a t u r e o r m o r e accurately, reappropriated p a t h o l o g y i n a c u r r e n t of writing
i n t e n d e d to appraise a n d correct literary deviation f r o m m e d i c a l knowledge. U s i n g
a variety of c h a n n e l s i n c l u d i n g m e d i c a l theses, treatises, a n d t h e b i m o n t h l y Chro-
nique medicale, m e d i c a l surveillance of literary ventures into pathology b e c a m e a
b u r g e o n i n g i n t e r g e n r e t h a t k n e w few b o u n d s . M o v i n g f r o m c o n t e m p o r a r y to a n -
t e c e d e n t literature, t h e doctors alternately approved a n d disqualified t h e expertise
of their literary c o n f r e r e s a n d forebears. 3 In so doing, they reasserted their o w n a u -
thority in matters of pathology.
O u r c o n t e m p o r a r y critical a c c o u n t s of n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y fictional hysterics
often tacitly imitate t h a t century's m o d e l of scientific t r u t h a n d literary copy. 4 I m -
plicit in s u c h a m o d e l is t h e a s s u m p t i o n t h a t hysteria has a n objective existence
a n d even essence, a h i d d e n reality that o n e m i g h t locate s o m e w h e r e (in s o m e m e d -
ical lair) a n d p u t o n display. 5 Now, if we e c h o t h e doctors in this way, treating lit

2
1 w o u l d argue, however, that in t h e o v e r w h e l m i n g majority of cases, narrative energy was invested in
the hysteric far m o r e often t h a n in h e r a t t e n d a n t physician. In practice, literature was far less t e m p t e d
by the ostensibly c o m p e l l i n g authority of medical discourse t h a n it was by m e d i c i n e s discursive u n c o n -
scious: by hysteria as a disruptive force that m e d i c i n e b o t h mastered and indulged.
5
See Starobinski's preface to Segalens Les Cliniciens es lettres, 20-21.
4
T h e c o n t i n u i t y is n o t surprising in view of t h e fact that positivism a n d the m y t h of objectivity have be-
c o m e institutions of scientific writing in the twentieth century. See E m i l y Martin's The Woman in the
Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction (Boston: Beacon Press, 1987) for a n excellent discussion of
the power of m e t a p h o r to construct "scientific truths" a b o u t bodies.
5
1 use t h e m e t a p h o r advisedlynot only because hysteria is traditionally c o n c e p t u a l i z e d as an a n i m a l /
w o m b roving in its body/cage, b u t because it is difficult to forget the following rhetorical flourish deliv-
ered by C h a r c o t in o n e of his lessons on m a l e hysteria: " O l'hysterie va-t-elle se nicher? Je vous l'ai
m o n t r e e bien souvent, dans ces derniers temps dans la classe ouvriere, chez les artisans m a n u e l s , et je
vous ai dit qu'il fallait la c h e r c h e r e n c o r e sous les haillons chez les declassees, les m e n d i a n t s , les vaga-
bonds; d a n s les depots de m e n d i c i t e , les penitenciers, les bagnes peut-etre?" [ " W h e r e will hysteria m a k e
its nest? I have often showed it to you of late in t h e working class, in craftsmen, a n d I have told you t h a t
it is to be f o u n d u n d e r the rags of declasses, of beggars, of vagabonds, in workhouses, penitentiaries,
perhaps prisons?"] Hysteria h e r e b e c o m e s a nesting bird that c a n be lured o u t of its shady h i d i n g place. ~ . "y
J e a n - M a r t i n C h a r c o t , Leqons sur l'hysterie virile, ed. M i c h e l e O u e r d (Paris: Le S y c o m o r e , 1984), 237.
For an astute presentation of the mystification of hysteria t h r o u g h o u t the theory that constructs it, see
M a r t h a N o e l Evans, Fits and Starts: A Genealogy of Hysteria in Modern France (Ithaca: C o r n e l l U n i -
versity Press, 1991), 1 - 8 .
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
32 erature as simple h a n d m a i d e n to m e d i c i n e , passive bearer of a m i r r o r h e l d u p to
reflect or refract a master discourse that could potentially deliver t h e disease as a n
objective reality, we t h e n ignore m e d i c i n e s own differences f r o m itself: t h e ways in
w h i c h t h e m e d i c a l discourse of hysteria is, n o t u n l i k e narrative discourse, already
literary, a tissue of letters that always m e a n s m o r e t h a n it says, says m o r e t h a n it
m e a n s to say, a n d eludes its own a p p a r e n t mastery.
W h a t follows is a n a t t e m p t to r e e x a m i n e t h e relationship b e t w e e n m e d i c a l a n d
literary discourses of hysteria, to destabilize t h e distinctions b e t w e e n t h e m , a n d to
e r o d e t h e c o m p l e m e n t a r y n o t i o n t h a t t h e disease has a n objective albeit elusive
identity. I w a n t to d e c e n t e r t h e focus o n t h e Salpetriere, C h a r c o t , a n d t h e scien-
tific as "real" in order to trace hysteria s spread in b o t h clinic a n d novel as a m e t a -
p h o r participating in t h e i m a g i n a r y in w h i c h science a n d literature are equally e n -
gaged. 6 T h i s initial glance at hysteria's r e c u r r e n t figurations in t h e m e d i c a l writings
will o p e n t h e way for an u n d e r s t a n d i n g of why t h e disease was s u c h a c o m p e l l i n g
resource for narrative in general.
I will b e r e a d i n g a m e d l e y of n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y m e d i c a l texts o n hysteria f r o m
t h e perspective of a literary critic, s u p e r i m p o s i n g texts, seeking p a t t e r n in t h e rep-
etition a n d m o d u l a t i o n of their internal inconsistencies. M y texts span t h e n i n e -
t e e n t h century. T h e y i n c l u d e J.-B. L o u y e r - V i l l e r m a y s Traite des maladies ner-
veuses ou vapeurs, et particulierement de l'hysterie et de l'hypochondrie of 1816 a n d
his 1818 entry "Hysterie" in t h e Dictionnaire des sciences medicates; H. Landou-
zys Traite complet de l'hysterie, d a t i n g f r o m 1846; J. L. Brchet's 1847 Traite de
l'hysterie; P. Briquet's 1859 Traite clinique et therapeutique de l'hysterie; t h e 1874
entry "Hysterie" by G . B e r n u t z in t h e Dictionnaire de medecine et de Chirurgie pra-
tique; C h a r l e s Richet's 1880 Demoniaques d'aujourd'hui;J. Grasset's entry "Hys-
terie" in t h e 1889 Dictionnaire encyclopedique des sciences medicales; a n d selec-
tions f r o m C h a r c o t ' s Leqons, dating f r o m 1 8 8 8 - 8 9 . 7
T h e o r g a n i z a t i o n of m y observations corresponds n o t to t h e ritual m e d i c a l cat-
6
^ As S a n d e r L. G i l m a n has pointed o u t , "Medical iconography . . . borrows f r o m and c o n t r i b u t e s to
the general pool of images f o u n d in a c u l t u r e . " G i l m a n , Difference and Pathology: Stereotypes of Sex-
uality, Race, and Madness (Ithaca: C o r n e l l University Press, 1985), 28. ^
7
G . B e r n u t z , "Hysterie," in Dictionnaire de medecine et de Chirurgie pratique, ed. Jaccoud (Paris: Bail-
liere, 1874), vol. 18; J. L. Brchet, Traite de l'hysterie (Paris: Bailiiere, 1847);?. Briquet, Traite clinique
et therapeutique de l'hysterie (Paris: Bailliere, 1859); J e a n - M a r t i n C h a r c o t , L'Hysterie, ed. E . Trillat
(Toulouse: Privat, 1971), hereafter abbreviated as H; C h a r c o t , Legons Sur l'hysterie virile, hereafter ab-
breviated as L H V ; Joseph Grasset, "Hysterie," in Dictionnaire encyclopedique des sciences medicales,
ed. A. D e c h a m b r e a n d L. Lereboullet (Paris: Asselin & H o u z e a u / M a s s o n , 1889), vol. 15; H . L a n -
douzy, Traite complet de l'hysterie (Paris: Bailliere, 1846); J.-B. Louyer-Villermay, "Hysterie," in Dic-
tionnaire des sciences medicales (Paris: Panckoucke, 1818), vol. 23, hereafter abbreviated as DSM; J.-B.
Louyer-Villermay, Traite des maladies nerveuses ou vapeurs, et particulierement de l'hysterie et de l'hy-
pochondrie, 2 vols. (Paris: M e q u i g n o n , 1816); hereafter abbreviated as T M N ; C h a r l e s Richet, "Les D e -
m o n i a q u e s d ' a u j o u r d ' h u i , " R e v u e des deux mondes 37(15 January 1880). Page references to these m e d -
ical texts will appear parenthetically in the body of m y text.
 THE D O C T O R S ' TALE
egories used by t h e clinicians I a m reading a n d citing (symptoms, physical causes, 1 , 33
m o r a l causes, t r e a t m e n t , etc.), b u t to a n e x u s of cultural myths a b o u t w o m a n t h a t \
c u t across these divisions a n d let us glimpse t h e process by w h i c h gender identities >
are discursively c o n s t r u c t e d . Specifically, I will track across t h e m e d i c a l texts three-/'
phases of a tripartite effort to fix w o m a n ' s hysteria-producing difference: t o d e t e r -
m i n e or to d e f i n e it, to regulate or to stabilize it, a n d to repair or to a m e n d l t T A l o n g
t h e way, w e bear witness to t h e p r o d u c t i o n of a m e t a p h o r i c a l body t h a t c o m p l e t e l y
replaces t h e real body of t h e hysteric. In fact t h e increasing m e t a p h o r i c i t y of this
body paradoxically c o r r e s p o n d s to t h e m a t e r i a l i z i n g efforts of t h e doctors' descrip-
tions of it.

B u t before c o n t i n u i n g , I m u s t recognize m y o w n inevitable i m p l i c a t i o n in t h e

process of gender c o n s t r u c t i o n that I work to expose in these pages. T h e fact t h a t I
s e t o u t to show h o w g e n d e r is c o n s t r u c t e d does n o t stop m e t r y as I will from
endlessly speaking f r o m w i t h i n its constructs a n d ceaselessly r e c o n s t r u c t i n g it. T h e
m e t a p h o r i c i t y of this c h a p t e r i n small part a deliberate e c h o of t h e clinicians'
rhetoric, in greater part u n w i l l e d r e p r o d u c e s at points too n u m e r o u s to detail t h e
linguistic h e g e m o n y of t h e gendered body of t h o u g h t I ostensibly d e c o n s t r u c t . 8
Vanity leads m e to suggest that t h e g e n d e r i n g of m y o w n discourse is m o r e subtle
t h a n t h a t of t h e o n e I set o u t to expose; reason tells m e t h a t even if this were t h e
case, subtlety is n o c a u s e for celebration for those of us w h o w o u l d like to u n b i n d
t h o u g h t f r o m gender. I insist o n this p r o b l e m because it s h o u l d affect a r e a d i n g of
this c h a p t e r a n d of t h e g e n d e r e d body (of t h o u g h t , of language) t h a t it unveils.
W r i t large o n this body is t h e story of an O t h e r century, b u t it is implicitly o u r o w n
body, o u r own story, as well.
T h i s story is o n e t h a t I have preferred to "stage" rather t h a n write, w h i c h is to say
t h a t I have tried to let t h e clinicians speak, l i m i t i n g m y interventions as m u c h as
possible to t h e c h o i c e , o r g a n i z a t i o n , a n d f r a m i n g of their texts. It goes w i t h o u t say-
ing t h a t m y presentation of these texts is n o t i n n o c e n t , as will be evident in t h e play
b e t w e e n this a n d s u b s e q u e n t chapters, w h i c h revoice a n d m o d u l a t e a n d speculate
a b o u t t h e features of hysteria i n t r o d u c e d here.

DEFINING HYSTERIA

O n a regular basis t h r o u g h o u t t h e n i n e t e e n t h century, m e d i c a l writers prefaced

their remarks o n hysteria with a caveat c o n c e r n i n g t h e impossibility of t h e e n t e r -
prise. At m i d - c e n t u r y , B r c h e t c a u t i o n e d : "Avant de c h e r c h e r ce q u e s t l'hysterie,

8
Consider, for example, t h e case of literature acting as " h a n d m a i d e n to science, passively h o l d i n g u p a
m i r r o r to reflect or refract the master discourse" (32, supra) or that of literature "far less t e m p t e d " by t h e
authority of m e d i c a l discourse (31, supra, n o t e 2 ) a single case, in effect, for both examples d e f i n e lit-
e r a t u r e in t h e f e m i n i n e t e r m s of subordination to or seduction by a m a l e master.
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
34 essayons d e dire ce q u e l l e n e s t pas: cela n o u s serait plus facile" {346) ["Before seek-
ing w h a t hysteria is, let us say w h a t it isn't; t h a t is a n easier task"]. E v e n as late as
1889, a n d taking into a c c o u n t Charcot's work of ordering a n d classifying t h e dis-
ease, Joseph Grasset e c h o e d T h o m a s S y d e n h a m ' s s e v e n t e e n t h - c e n t u r y o p i n i o n
t h a t "l'hysterie est u n veritable protee q u i se presente sous a u t a n t de c o u l e u r s q u e
le c a m e l e o n " (241) ["hysteria is a veritable Proteus that shows as m a n y different
colors as a c h a m e l e o n " ] , a n d h e c o m p l a i n e d that t h e hysteria entry was "l'article de
ce D i c t i o n n a i r e le plus difficile faire clair et court" (240) ["the m o s t difficult arti-
cle in this D i c t i o n a r y to write clearly a n d concisely"].
A selection f r o m o n e doctor's s u m m a r y of causes is indicative of t h e persistent
classification of t h e disease as generally o v e r d e t e r m i n e d (and t h e r e f o r e a m o r -
phous). A c c o r d i n g to Louyer-Villermay, hysteria c o u l d be attributed to any o n e of
t h e following:

U n systeme u t e r i n a r d e n t et l a s c i f . . . le d e r a n g e m e n t d u t r i b u t
p e r i o d i q u e , la c o n t i n e n c e volontaire o u forcee, q u e l q u e f o i s l ' o n a n i s m e
. . u n e i m a g i n a t i o n b r l a n t e . . . u n c o e u r trop t e n d r e o u facile
e n f l a m m e r . . . u n e t e m p e r a t u r e excessive, et surtout e n c h a u d , u n e
exposition m e r i d i o n a l e , u n sol aride, des vents b r l a n s , Taction
p r o l o n g e e de rayons solaires, l'impression d u froid . . . les e m a n a t i o n s
m a r e c a g e u s e s et m e p h i t i q u e s . . . u n trop l o n g sejour a u l i t . . . l'abus des
p a r f u m s . . . les t r u f f e s . . . les m o u l e s . . . la vanille, la canelle, p e u t -
etre les fraises, les f r a m b o i s e s . . . des l a v e m e n s c o m p o s e s avec des plantes
drastiques, irritantes, v e n e n e u s e s . . . le d e r a n g e m e n t de nos secretions
o u e x c r e t i o n s . . . la l e c t u r e des r o m a n s . (DSM 231-35)

An ardent and lascivious uterine system . . . an unruly periodic tribute, voluntary

or forced continence, sometimes onanism . . . a burning imagination . . .an
overly tender or excitable heart. . . extreme temperatures, especially heat, a
southern exposure, arid soil, stinging winds, prolonged exposure to the sun's rays,
exposure to cold . . . swampy and noxious smells . . . too long a stay in bed . . .
overuse of perfumes. . .truffles. . .mussels. . . vanilla, cinnamon, maybe
strawberries and raspberries . . . enemas containing purgative, irritating, or
poisonous extracts . . . irregular secretions and excretions . . . the reading of
novels.

A disease w h o s e essential d e f i n i n g characteristic was t i m e a n d again given as in-

definability, w h o s e causes a n d s y m p t o m s were too n u m e r o u s to be c i r c u m s c r i b e d ,
a n d w h o s e m e t h o d s of t r e a t m e n t were limited only by t h e i m a g i n a t i o n , hysteria in
t h e n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y was an a c c o m m o d a t i n g vehicle for just a b o u t any idea or
 THE D O C T O R S ' TALE
entity o n e wished to c o n t a i n or displace. It was, in t h e words of o n e of its special- / ;
ists, Dr. C h a r l e s Lasegue, "la corbeille papier de la m e d e c i n e oil Ton jette-les
s y m p t o m e s i n e m p l o y e s " ["the wastepaper basket of m e d i c i n e w h e r e i r t h e r w i s e u n -
e m p l o y e d s y m p t o m s are thrown"]. As S u s a n Sontag has m o r e generally r e m a r k e d
a c e n t u r y later, "Any i m p o r t a n t disease w h o s e causality is murky, a n d for w h i c h
t r e a t m e n t is ineffectual, tends to be awash in significance." 9 Because of its associ-
ations with an infinite universe of physical a n d m o r a l causes, with open-
e n d e d n e s s , with malleability, hysteria was a ready vessel for m e d i c a l a n d literary j
a u t h o r s alike, a c r u c i b l e t h a t received t h e fears a n d desires of a c u l t u r e a n d m e l d e d [
t h e m into m y t h . 1 0
As t h e very representative q u o t a t i o n f r o m L o u y e r - V i l l e r m a y suggests, hysteria,
for t h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y i m a g i n a t i o n , h a d i n h e r e n t affinities with t h e body a n d
soul of w o m a n a n d c o u l d , therefore, u n d e r t h e various rubrics of causes, s y m p -
t o m s , predisposing c o n d i t i o n s , p r e v e n t i o n , a n d t r e a t m e n t , a c c o m m o d a t e a n ever-
increasing range of sexually related fantasies a n d anxieties. D o c t o r s were n o t i n -
c l i n e d to dissolve t h e t i m e - h o n o r e d b o n d b e t w e e n hysteria a n d f e m a l e a n a t o m y
a n d physiology, a l t h o u g h t h e association b e c a m e increasingly figurative as t h e
c e n t u r y wore o n . In 1818 L o u y e r - V i l l e r m a y f r a m e s his investigation by this q u e s -
tion: "Si n o u s d e m o n t r o n s qu'il existe u n e m a l a d i e d o n t l ' u t e r u s est le siege [sic], et
q u i est b i e n distincte de tous les desordres q u i p e u v e n t exister d a n s les organes g e n -
itaux d e l ' h o m m e ; n e sera-t-il pas evident q u e cette affection est exclusive c h e z la
f e m m e ? " ( D S M 228) ["If w e d e m o n s t r a t e that a m a l a d y exists w h o s e seat is t h e
u t e r u s , a n d w h i c h is q u i t e distinct f r o m any disorders of t h e m a l e genital organs,
will it n o t be obvious t h a t this is an exclusively f e m a l e ailment?"]. A n d in 1846
L a n d o u z y ' s treatise builds to t h e following r a p t u r o u s c o n c l u s i o n :

N o u s arrivons regarder l'appareil genital [de la f e m m e ] c o m m e siege

u n i q u e de l'hysterie; et, c h o s e r e m a r q u a b l e ! la c o n c l u s i o n l a q u e l l e n o u s
c o n d u i t l'analyse r a i s o n n e e des observations enregistrees p e n d a n t plus de
vingt siecles, se trouve etre la m e m e q u e celle d ' H i p p o c r a t e et des
p r e m i e r s pathologistes. (211)

We come to view the [female] genital apparatus as the unique seat of hysteria, and
wonder of wonders! the conclusion to which we are led by analysis of the recorded
observations of more than twenty centuries turns out to be the same as that of
Hippocrates and the earliest pathologists.

9
Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor ( N e w York: Farrar, Straus & G i r o u x , 1977), 58; C h a r l e s Lasegue,
cited in H e n r i C e s b r o n , Histoire critique de l'hysterie (Paris: Asselin & H o u z e a u , 1909), 198.
10
Hysteria was constructed in t h e stereotypical image of w o m a n and t h e n reified as capricious a n d elu-
sive, escaping or evading definition. As Evans has so beautifully shown, the causality of hysteria was
" m u r k y " because it was c o n s t r u c t e d that way (Fits and Starts, 2-3).
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
36 It was H i p p o c r a t e s , of course, w h o indelibly m a r k e d t h e disease with its u t e r i n e
c o n n o t a t i o n by n a m i n g it. Hysteria: t h e age-old appellation a n d t h e etymology
were n o t easily r e p u d i a t e d by a c e n t u r y adrift, c u t loose f r o m its heritage a n d c o n -
s e q u e n t l y obsessively respectful of derivations, of origins. O n this basis, L o u y e r -
V i l l e r m a y argued t h a t so-called hysterical s y m p t o m s observed in m a l e patients
c o u l d n o t possibly be a u t h e n t i c :

C a r le m o t hysterie i m p l i q u e la n o n - e x i s t e n c e de cette m a l a d i e c h e z
l ' h o m m e . O r , l ' i m p r o p r i e t e des t e r m e s etant, d a n s les sciences, la
p r e m i e r e entorse d o n n e e la raison, ce m o t n e saurait etre conserve, s'il
n e n o u s representait u n e idee exacte, celle d u n e m a l a d i e p r o p r e la
femme. ( D S M 230-31)

For the word hysteria implies the nonexistence of this malady in man. Now,
because incorrect terminology in the sciences fundamentally distorts truth, this
word could not be retained if it did not represent a true idea, that of a malady
proper to woman.

A n d in t h e latter years of t h e century, we find C h a r c o t still attesting to t h e force of

etymology as h e m a k e s it t h e e m b l e m of his battle against u t e r i n e theory: " R o m p r e
avec l'etymologie!" 1 1 ["Let us break with etymology!"].
T h e n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y did, however, m o v e away f r o m a strict c o n s t r u c t i o n of
etymology. B r c h e t explains:

C e n'est pas s e u l e m e n t p a r c e q u e l l e a u n u t e r u s q u e l l e y est sujette

[ l'hysterie], c'est parce q u e l l e a des nerfs a n a t o m i q u e m e n t et
p h y s i o l o g i q u e m e n t disposes cette f o r m e d'affection p a t h o l o g i q u e . . . .
Voil p o u r q u o i l ' h o m m e e f f e m i n e . . . sera expose avoir l'hysterie. (98)

It is not only because she has a uterus that she is subject to [hysteria]; it is because
she has nerves anatomically and physiologically prone to this kind of pathological
condition. . . . That is why the effeminate male . . . may become hysterical.

G . B e r n u t z , in t h e Dictionnaire de medecine et de chirurgie pratique, a t t e m p t s to

u p d a t e u t e r i n e theory:

C o m m e le v e u t la science m o d e r n e . . . la f e m m e est f e m m e par toutes

les parties d e son etre et n e l ' e s t pas u n i q u e m e n t par 1'uterus. . . .

11
C h a r c o t , cited by G e r a r d W a j e m a n in "Psyche de la f e m m e : N o t e sur l'hysterique a u XIXe siecle,'
Romantisme 1 3 - 1 4 ( 1 9 7 6 ) : 58.
 THE D O C T O R S ' TALE
L ' e c o n o m i e est s u b o r d o n n e e dans les d e u x sexes a u role q u i est departi 3
c h a c u n d'eux. . . . L ' h o m m e . . . s'est fait le roi de la terre, et il a plus o u
m o i n s civilise le m o n d e . L e role plus m o d e s t e de p e u p l e r 1'universL q u i
est departi la f e m m e , d o m i n e . . . t o u t e son e c o n o m i c , q u i est t o u t
a p p r o p r i e e la p e n i b l e f o n c t i o n de la m a t e r n i t e . Aussi l'ancien adaige
gynecologique: mulier id est quod est propter solum uterum, n'est-il vrai
q u ' la c o n d i t i o n de n e pas le p r e n d r e d a n s le sens restreint q u e lui
d o n n a i e n t nos predecesseurs, mais de lui attribuer u n e signification plus
g e n e r a l e , et de le faire servir e x p r i m e r q u e la f e m m e est t o u t e m a t e r n i t e ,
q u e son e c o n o m i e est t o u t e i m p r e g n e e de m a t e r n i t e . (184)

As modern science holds . . . woman is woman by every part of her being and not
uniquely by her uterus. . . . The economy of both sexes is subordinated to the role
dealt to each of them. . . .Man. . . has become king of the earth, and he has more
or less civilized the world. The more modest role of populating the universe, which
has been given to woman, dominates . . . her entire economy, which is entirely
adapted to the arduous function of maternity. Thus the old gynecological adage,
mulier id est quod est propter solum uterum, [woman is that which she is because
of her uterus alone] is true only on the condition that we do not take it in the
restricted sense our predecessors did, but that we attribute to it a more general
sense, and have it mean that woman is all maternity, that her economy is entirely
impregnated with maternity.

T h e m o d e r n i z e d , apparently e n l i g h t e n e d view of hysteria as a m a t e r n a l rather

t h a n a u t e r i n e m a l a d y does n o t fool us for long; t h e m e t o n y m i c m o v e f r o m u t e r u s
to m a t e r n i t y after all e c h o e s traditional m e t o n y m i c substitutions for t h e w o m b : in
F r e n c h , hysteria was also called mal de mere [mothersickness], a n d in E n g l i s h fits
of the mother a n d rising of the mother. In fact, t h e ostensibly less restrictive trans-
lation of t h e adage as " w o m a n is m a t e r n i t y " t u r n s o u t to be m o r e restrictive, be-
c a u s e by replacing "uterus" with "maternity," it converts f e m a l e biology into social
destiny, i m p r i s o n i n g w o m a n in a n a n a t o m i c a l a n d physiological cage securely
barred by r e d u n d a n c y : " w o m a n is all m a t e r n i t y . . . h e r e c o n o m y is entirely i m -
p r e g n a t e d with maternity." T h e m e t a p h o r of i m p r e g n a t i o n is all t h e m o r e "preg-
n a n t , " to e c h o t h e r e d u n d a n c y , b e c a u s e it suggests that t h e m a t e r n a l i z a t i o n of
w o m a n , like i m p r e g n a t i o n , is n o t a simple t e s t i m o n y to nature's way, b u t records
t h e work of a m a n .
As t h e doctors shift f r o m u t e r u s to maternity, f r o m f e m a l e structure to f u n c t i o n ^
a n d , correlatively, social role, their attempts to d e l i m i t hysteria as a f e m a l e b u t n o t
necessarily u t e r i n e c o m p l a i n t repeatedly t u r n into attempts to d e f i n e f e m i n i n i t y
a n d f e m a l e sexuality a n d to find u l t i m a t e distinctions b e t w e e n m a l e a n d f e m a l e
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
38 sexuality a n d roles. B e h i n d t h e explicit q u e s t i o n " W h y does hysteria b e l o n g to
w o m e n ? " are t h e deeper, u n a s k e d , b u t implicit questions, " W h a t is a w o m a n ? "
a n d " W h a t is sexual difference?" 1 2
In a n essentializing i n t r o d u c t i o n to a c h a p t e r h e calls " E t u d e s d u p h y s i q u e et
d u m o r a l d e la f e m m e " ["Studies of t h e physical a n d m o r a l n a t u r e of w o m a n " ] ,
B r c h e t a n n o u n c e s his intent to present " u n e idee de la f e m m e , de son p h y s i q u e ,
de ses facultes et de son caractere" ["an idea of w o m a n , of h e r p h y s i q u e , h e r
faculties, a n d h e r character"] a n d to p o i n t o u t "les caracteres essentiels q u i lui
sont propres, q u i servent la faire distinguer, la faire ce q u e l l e est" (63) ["the es-
sential traits t h a t b e l o n g to her, that serve to distinguish her, that m a k e h e r w h a t
she is"]. His prose b u i l d i n g to a m a w k i s h pitch, Brchet writes a c u r i o u s o d e to
d i f f e r e n c e (between t h e sexes) t h a t is s i m u l t a n e o u s l y a portrait of w o m a n as
monolith:

T o u t e s les parties de son corps p r e s e n t e n t les m e m e s differences: toutes

respirent la f e m m e ; le f r o n t , le n e z , les yeux, la b o u c h e , les oreilles, le
m e n t o n , les joues. . . . Si n o u s portons nos regards l'interieur, et q u a
1 aide d u scalpel n o u s m e t t i o n s d e c o u v e r t les organes, les tissus, les
fibres, n o u s r e n c o n t r o n s p a r t o u t . . . la m e m e difference. . . . Aussi
les f e m m e s s e m b l e n t jetees d a n s u n m o u l e c o m m u n : o n r e n c o n t r e c h e z
elles b e a u c o u p m o i n s de varietes de c o n s t i t u t i o n q u e c h e z l ' h o m m e .
Les exceptions sont u n e m e p r i s e de la n a t u r e . (64)

All parts of her body present the same differences: all exude woman; the brow, the
nose, the eyes, the mouth, the ears, the chin, the cheeks. . . . If we look on the
inside, and, with the help of the scalpel, bare the organs, the tissues, the fibers,
everywhere we encounter. . . the same difference. . . . Thus women seem cast in
a common mold: we find much less constitutional variety in them than in men.
Any exceptions are a mistake of nature.

T h e tactic of m a k i n g all w o m e n o n e a n d t h e same, t h r o u g h a n d t h r o u g h , in order

to create a n essential w o m a n radically different f r o m m e n is a c o m m o n f e a t u r e of
these treatises; t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n of a very overstated distinction between m e n and
12
Clearly these questions are not c o n f i n e d to t h e doctors' texts; they are a m o n g the d o m i n a n t c o n c e r n s
of t h e century. T h e i r philosophers were Nietzsche, P r o u d h o n , and S c h o p e n h a u e r ; their sociologist,
L o m b r o s o ; their essayist, M i c h e l e t ; their novelists, too n u m e r o u s to detail. In any case these n a m e s are
merely representative. M i c h e l F o u c a u l t has written a few lapidary pages o n t h e u b i q u i t o u s n i n e t e e n t h -
century obsession with sexual identity in his i n t r o d u c t i o n to the English edition of the m e m o i r s of a
y o u n g h e r m a p h r o d i t e , Herctine Barbin: Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth-
Century French Hermaphrodite, trans. Richard M c D o u g a l l , ed. M i c h e l F o u c a u l t ( N e w York: Pan-
t h e o n , 1980), vii-xvii.
I

\ T H E D O C T O R S ' TAL
w o m a n serves to mask t h e possibility of an u n c o n t r o l l a b l e variability within the 3
category of w o m a n a n d , correlatively, w i t h i n t h e category of m e n . ' ^ M o r e o v e r ,
t h e r e c u r r e n t a n d m e t h o d i c a l a t t r i b u t i o n of w o m a n ' s f r i g h t e n i n g d i f f e r e n c e to h e r
m a t e r n a l destiny serves to c i r c u m s c r i b e a n d c o n t a i n i f at t i m e s only b a r e l y
w h a t is otherwise m a r k e d as pathological. B r c h e t c o n t i n u e s :

N o u s n e devons pas le dissimuler, la d i f f e r e n c e est b e a u c o u p plus g r a n d e

p e n d a n t l'ge de la p u b e r t e , p e n d a n t 1 age des a m o u r s . La f e m m e ,
c h a r g e e d e la plus g r a n d e et de la plus laborieuse t c h e de la g e n e r a t i o n ,
s e m b l e alors n e vivre q u e p o u r cet acte et son produit. T o u t en elle par
c o n s e q u e n t doit presenter u n e organisation q u i s'y rapporte. (65-66)

We must not hide it; difference is much greater during the years of puberty and
the years of love. Woman, charged with the greatest and most arduous task of
generation, seems then only to live for this act and its product. Therefore,
everything about her must be organized accordingly.

F e m a l e difference, maternity, a n d pathology are allied in a close a n d u n s t a b l e

relationship. W h e r e m a t e r n i t y n o longer divides f e m a l e sexuality f r o m pleasure,
t h e never entirely reliable buffer b e t w e e n difference a n d pathology disappears.
L o u y e r - V i l l e r m a y lists a wide range of experiences that c a n lead to hysteria, -
p r e s u m a b l y b e c a u s e of their titillating effect o n a w o m a n . A m o n g t h e m are t h e
following:

U n grand n o m b r e de couvertures i m p r i m a n t a u x organes g e n e r a t e u r s

u n e sorte d ' e r e t h i s m e . . . Faction des sinapismes, de l'urtication . . . et
s u r t o u t . . . Taction des c a n t h a r i d e s . . . les v e t e m e n s tres-etroits. . . les
b a i n s t i e d e s . . . l'exces o u l ' h a b i t u d e des a l i m e n s a p h r o d i s i a q u e s o u
d o u e s d ' u n e excitation speciale sur l'appareil genital. (DSM 232)

A great number of covers excessively stimulating the reproductive organs . . . the

effects of mustard plasters, of being whipped with nettles . . .and above all the
effects of Spanish fly . . . tight clothing . . . lukewarm baths, excessive or habitual
consumption of foods that are aphrodisiacs or have an especially exciting effect on
the genitalrea.

n
As Barbara J o h n s o n has m o r e generally remarked, " T h e differences between entities (prose and po-
etry, m a n a n d w o m a n , literature and theory, guilt a n d i n n o c e n c e ) are shown to be based on a repression
of differences within entities, ways in w h i c h a n entity differs f r o m itself." TheCritical Difference: Essays
in the Contemporary Rhetoric of Reading (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980), x-xi.
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
40 B r c h e t gives a m o r e d r a m a t i c e x a m p l e of t h e risks of f e m a l e sexual pleasure. In a
clinical observation h e tells of a w o m a n w h o s e hysterical fit was b r o u g h t o n by sex-
ual c l i m a x . By way of c o n c l u s i o n h e registers his a s t o n i s h m e n t t h a t this is n o t a
m o r e f r e q u e n t o c c u r r e n c e . A l t h o u g h h e does n o t agree with those a u t h o r s w h o
regard hysteria as a m o m e n t of orgasm, h e finds it h a r d to dispute t h e fact
t h a t "les jouissances de l ' a m o u r . . . portent b e a u c o u p s u r les nerfs, e t . . . predis-
p o s e n t a u x affections nerveuses et l'hysterie" (173) ["sexual pleasure . . . weighs
heavy o n t h e nerves . . . a n d creates a predisposition toward n e r v o u s states a n d
hysteria"].

REGULATING HYSTERIA: SECRETIONS AND EXCRETIONS

W o m a n is predisposed toward hysteria by every sex-specific aspect of h e r physiol-

ogy. T h e doctors generally c o n c u r that puberty, m e n s t r u a t i o n , pregnancy, c h i l d -
birth, lactation, a n d m e n o p a u s e are particularly risk-ridden, a l o n g with c o i t u s
b u t also c o n t i n e n c e . 1 4 M e d i c a l experts consistently stress t h e special i m p o r t a n c e of
surveying m e n s t r u a t i o n , m o n i t o r i n g its regularity, a n d a t t e n d i n g p r o m p t l y to elis-
or a m e n o r r h e a , to w h i c h they attribute a t e m p o r a r y hysteria t h a t a l m o s t always
disappears, B e r n u t z assures, "avec l'etablissement regulier d e la m e n s t r u a t i o n "
(280) ["when m e n s t r u a t i o n is regulated"]. T h i s e m p h a s i s o n regulating m e n s t r u a -
tion is especially interesting in t h e original F r e n c h texts b e c a u s e t h e m o s t c o m -
m o n l y used expression for m e n s t r u a t i n g , etre reglee, also m e a n s "to b e well or-
d e r e d , steady, stable, fixed." Paradoxically, it is f r o m t h e very m o m e n t a w o m a n
begins to m e n s t r u a t e , b e c o m e s reglee, regulated, fixed in h e r (female) role, that
h e r entire b e i n g is o p e n to derangementthat is, m o s t immediately, to m e n s t r u a l
d i s t u r b a n c e s , b u t also to t h e vaguer, m o r e general u n r u l i n e s s translated by hyste-
ria. It t h e n seems clear t h a t t h e specific p r e o c c u p a t i o n with m e n s t r u a l disorders
h i d e s a m o r e f u n d a m e n t a l anxiety a b o u t m e n s t r u a t i o n as disorder, or t h e essential
disorder of t h e f e m a l e c o n d i t i o n .

T h e c o n c e r n a b o u t m e n s t r u a l d y s f u n c t i o n extends to e m b r a c e t h e potential dis-

t u r b a n c e of w o m a n ' s every secretion a n d excretion. L o u y e r - V i l l e r m a y lists t h e fol-
lowing, in a d d i t i o n to m e n s t r u a l irregularities, as p r i m e causes of hysteria:

L e d e r a n g e m e n t de nos secretions o u excretions, de la transpiration . . .

les l e u c o r r h e e s , leur acrete, l e u r e x t r e m e a b o n d a n c e o u leur

14
T h e r e is a r u n n i n g debate in t h e clinical texts a b o u t w h e t h e r n u n s or prostitutes are m o r e susceptible
to hysteria. For m o r e o n n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y constructions of that other p h a n t a s m a t i c figure, t h e pros-
titute, w h i c h often intersect with constructions of hysterics, see C h a r l e s B e r n h e i m e r , Figures of III Re-
pute: Representing Prostitution in Nineteenth-Century France (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1989).
I

T H E D O C T O R S ' TA
i n t e r r u p t i o n , les catarrhes d u vagin . . . peut-etre aussi la retention d u n e
l i q u e u r spermatique o u spermatiforme . . . l'omission d u n e saignee
h a b i t u e l l e , la t e n d a n c e vers u n flux h e m o r r h o i d a l ou sa suppression,
e n f i n des h e m o r r h a g i e s s p o n t a n e e s o u artificielles trop a b o n d a n t e s . . .
u n e s u r a b o n d a n c e de bile ou de sues intestinaux. (DSM 232-33)

The derangement of our secretions, excretions, or perspirations . . . leukorrhea, its

acridity, its overabundance or interruption, vaginal catarrhs . . . maybe also the
retention of a spermatic or spermatiform liquid . . . the omission of a regular
bloodletting, the tendency toward hemorrhoidal discharge or its suppression,
finally, overabundant spontaneous or artificially-induced hemorrhages . . .
excessive bile or intestinal juices.

T h e s e bodily fluids c o m b i n e with others in patterns of drips a n d flow t h a t serve as

h a r b i n g e r s or aftereffects of t h e hysterical fit. T h e crisis is a n n o u n c e d , a c c o r d i n g to
L o u y e r - V i l l e r m a y , by various effluvia:

U n e u r i n e a b o n d a n t e , les excretions utero-vaginales, a c c o m p a g n e e s

parfois d ' u n e sensation v o l u p t u e u s e . . . les retours d u flux m e n s t r u a l
. . . u n e effusion de l a r m e s considerable . . . les clous, les f u r o n c l e s , les
abces, les sueurs, les diarrhees, la salivation. (DSM 249)

Abundant urine, utero-vaginal excretions sometimes accompanied by a

voluptuous sensation . . . recurrences of menstrual flow . . . heavy flow of
tears . . . carbuncles, boils, abcesses, sweat, diarrhea, salivation.

S i m i l a r signs a n n o u n c e t h e attack's c o n c l u s i o n :

[Une] effusion de larmes, envies f r e q u e n t e s d ' u r i n e r , emission a b o n d a n t e

d ' u n e u r i n e claire et l i m p i d e , e c o u l e m e n s m u q u e u x o u s p e r m a t i q u e s
f o u r n i s par le vagin o u l'uterus, a c c o m p a g n e s parfois d ' u n e sensation
voluptueuse. (DSM 258)

[An] outpouring of tears, frequent desire to urinate, abundant emission of clear

and limpid urine, mucus or spermatic discharges from the vagina or the uterus,
sometimes accompanied by a voluptuous sensation.

T h e doctors repeatedly p a i n t w o m a n as i n c o n t i n e n t slave to h e r secretions, u n -

able to control h e r d r i p p i n g , flowing, spurting, o o z i n g bodily fluids. T h e p h a n t a s - .
m a t i c n a t u r e of t h e portrait b e c o m e s especially clear w h e n t h e m e d i c a l narratives
 I

MEDICAL S T O R I E S
42 diverge f r o m t h e h a b i t u a l c o n f i g u r a t i o n s to expand o n m o r e u n u s u a l f o r m s of t h e
general p a t t e r n . T h u s Grasset reports o n t h e weekly attacks of a particular
h y s t e r i c : " C h a q u e fois elle avait u n e c e n t a i n e d ' e t e r n u e m e n t s ; l ' e c o u l e m e n t q u i
t o m b a i t des n a r i n e s suffisait t r e m p e r u n m o u c h o i r " (305) ["Each t i m e she
sneezed a h u n d r e d sneezes; t h e d r i p p i n g f r o m h e r nose was e n o u g h to soak a h a n d -
kerchief"]. A n d with undisguised fascination along with a dose of s e n s a t i o n a l i s m ,
B r i q u e t tells of a case of galactorrhea, or hypersecretion of milk:

A u m o i n d r e m o u v e m e n t , le lait s e n e c h a p p a i t [du sein] c o m m e d ' u n

arrosoir. . . . La pression e n fait darder le lait en jets m u l t i p l e s , et des
q u e la pression vient cesser, le lait c o u l e c o n s t a m m e n t goutte goutte,
aussi la m a l a d e le recueille a u m o y e n d ' u n vase q u e l l e s u s p e n d sa
c e i n t u r e . . . . Q u a n d la m a l a d e se leve ou q u a n d elle s'assied sur son lit,
les gouttes de lait f o n t place des jets n o m b r e u x . (482-83)

At the slightest movement, milk spurted [from her breastJ as from a watering
can. . . . Pressure makes the milk shoot out in multiple streams, and as soon as
the pressure lets up, the milk flows constantly drop by drop; therefore, the patient
collects it in a container that she hangs at the waist. . . . When she gets up or when
she sits on her bed, the drops of milk give way to numerous cascades.

I w a n t to e m p h a s i z e at this p o i n t that we are talking n o t only a b o u t hysterics b u t

also a b o u t f e m a l e traits t h a t predispose toward hysteria, a n d finally a b o u t general
f e m a l e characteristics. W e m u s t consider t h e m as c o n s t i t u t i n g a sliding scale be-
c a u s e they exist, in these m e d i c a l writings, o n a c o n t i n u u m with n o clear breaks,
as Grasset r e m i n d s us: " S a n s vouloir m a n q u e r ici de galanterie, je ferai r e m a r q u e r
q u e la p l u p a r t des traits de ce caractere des hysteriques n e sont q u e l'exageration d u
caractere de la f e m m e . O n arrive ainsi concevoir l'hysterie c o m m e l'exageration
d u t e m p e r a m e n t f e m i n i n " (331) ["Although I d o n ' t w a n t to be u n g a l l a n t , I m u s t
p o i n t o u t h e r e t h a t m o s t traits of t h e hysterical character are only a n exaggeration
of w o m a n ' s character. W e t h e n c o m e to c o n c e i v e of hysteria as t h e exaggeration of
t h e f e m i n i n e personality"]. So we find t h a t it is an almost i m p e r c e p t i b l e step f r o m
w o m a n ' s secretory a b n o r m a l i t i e s to t h e pathology of n o r m a l f e m a l e secretions.
B r c h e t points t h e way, in a s u m m a r y of f e m a l e secretory difference:

T o u t le m o n d e sait avec q u e l l e facilite les l a r m e s c o u l e n t c h e z la f e m m e ,

c o m b i e n la transpiration et la perspiration c u t a n e e sont faciles et
a b o n d a n t e s , c o m b i e n la digestion est rapide, c a u s e de la f o r m a t i o n plus
p r o m p t e d u sue gastrique et de la secretion plus p r o m p t e aussi de la bile;
c o m b i e n e n f i n les u r i n e s secretees s e m b l e n t se presser de s'amasser d a n s la
vessie p o u r etre plus tot evacuees. (67)
 THE D O C T O R S ' TALE
Everyone knows how easily woman's tears flow, how ready and abundant are 43
woman's transpiration and perspiration, how quick is her digestion because of her
more rapid formation of gastric juice and her more rapid secretion of bile; finally,
how urine, once secreted, seems in a hurry to collect in the bladdenin order to be
more quickly eliminated. \

T h e s e excesses are n o t c o n f i n e d to t h e secretory a n d excretory systems; they find <

their a n a l o g u e in a series of m o r a l characteristics that t h e m e d i c a l meta persistently
treat as a n incontrovertible eternal f e m i n i n e . T h e link b e t w e e n t h e physiological
a n d m o r a l levels is to be f o u n d in woman's ready a n d a b u n d a n t tears, s i m u l t a n e o u s
t e s t i m o n y to t h e u n c o n t r o l l a b l e flow of h e r secretions a n d t h e c o n s t a n t overflow of
her emotions and her imagination.

REGULATING HYSTERIA: LOGORRHEA

O n e of t h e m o s t insistent aspects of f e m a l e effusiveness is verbal i n c o n t i n e n c e .

Hysterics are, n o t unexpectedly, hyperbolically loquacious: they deliver a n irre-
pressible flow of words a n d noises t h a t s o m e t i m e s takes t h e s t r u c t u r e d f o r m of fic-
tions a n d lies. R i c h e t describes t h e overpowering urge hysterics have to tell tales:
" R i e n n e l e u r plait plus q u e . . . de raconter des histoires a b s o l u m e n t fausses, . . .
d ' e n u m e r e r t o u t ce qu'elles n ' o n t pas fait, t o u t ce qu'elles o n t fait, avec u n l u x e in-
croyable d e faux details" (344) [ " N o t h i n g pleases t h e m m o r e t h a n to tell utterly
false stories, to e n u m e r a t e all they haven't d o n e , all they have, with a n incredible
excess of false detail"]. B e r n u t z notes t h e use, by hysterics, of a n o t h e r kind of so-
cially u n a c c e p t a b l e speech: "L'interposition involontaire d a n s la c o n v e r s a t i o n . . .
de m o t s grossiers o u d e b l a s p h e m e s , q u i r e v i e n n e n t c h a q u e instant sans qu'elles
puissent, si b i e n elevees qu'elles soient, s e n d e f e n d r e " (246) [ " T h e i n v o l u n t a r y
interposition in conversation . . . of dirty words or profanity, w h i c h constantly
reappear, leaving {the hysterics} u n a b l e to offer any resistance, however well
b r o u g h t u p t h e y m a y be"].
T h e doctors represent hysterical voice as r e m a r k a b l e n u t only for its effusiveness
b u t for its i n c o h e r e n c e . C h a r c o t tersely s u m m a r i z e s an era of m e d i c a l o p i n i o n t h a t
sees hysterical discourse as n o t a b l e for its a b s e n c e , o n t h e o n e h a n d ( a p h o n i a ,
aphasia), a n d for its insignificant (if irrepressible) presence, o n t h e other: "Vous
voyez c o m m e n t c r i e n t les hysteriques. O n p e u t dire q u e c'est b e a u c o u p de b r u i t
p o u r rien" ( H 119) ["You see h o w hysterics shout; o n e m i g h t say it is a lot of noise
for n o t h i n g " ] . Hysterics l a u g h or cry indiscriminately, sing or speak n o n s e n s e
words, m a k e a n i m a l noises, a n d give free rein to u n s e e m l y body sounds: h i c c u p s ;
and borborygmi (stomach rumblings) are most f r e q u e n t l y cited. Louyer- i
V i l l e r m a y remarks: "Les m a l a d e s p l e u r e n t i n v o l o n t a i r e m e n t o u jettent des eclats
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
44 de rire; q u e l q u e f o i s elles c h a n t e n t o u t i e n n e n t . . . des propos i n c o h e r e n t s " ( T M N
57) ["Patients cry involuntarily or burst into gales of laughter; s o m e t i m e s they sing
or speak . . . incoherently"]. L a n d o u z y observes in s o m e patients incessant lo-
quacity, w h i c h in o t h e r patients less articulately appears as u n c o n t r o l l a b l e bark-
ing, h i c c u p s , or s h a r p cries (3275.). B e r n u t z , too, reports barking a n d also e n t i r e
e p i d e m i c s of m e o w i n g (246).
T h e doctors' representation of hysterical voice is a caricature of culturally ac-
cepted p e r c e p t i o n s of f e m a l e voice, for if h u m a n voice is situated b e t w e e n m i n d
a n d m a t t e r " b e t w e e n body a n d l a n g u a g e , " in t h e words of G u y R o s o l a t o w o m -
an's voice is skewed so far to t h e side of corporeality as to all b u t d e n y t h e o t h e r e n d
of t h e c o n n e c t i o n . 1 5 T h e voice of hysteria that sings a n d cries to t h e m e d i c a l m e n ,
l a u g h s a n d burps, m e o w s a n d barks, grunts a n d babbles, is t h e negative d o u b l e of
accepted patriarchal speech: devoid of t h e control a n d signifying clarity of a d u l t
language, it is replete with t h e affective a n d s o n o r o u s properties t h a t t h e doctors re-
n o u n c e d w h e n they e n t e r e d linguistic m a n h o o d . Kaja Silverman's words a b o u t
t h e c i n e m a t i c p r o d u c t i o n of f e m a l e v o i c e w o r d s that are equally p e r t i n e n t to t h e
clinical p r o d u c t i o n of hysterical voicewill h e l p m e to elaborate: " T h e child
'finds' its ' o w n ' voice by introjecting t h e mother's voice, [and t h r o u g h a s y m m e t r i -
; cal gesture] t h e m a l e subject subsequently 'refines' his ' o w n ' voice by p r o j e c t i n g
o n t o t h e mother's voice all t h a t is u n a s s i m i l a b l e to t h e paternal position. . . .
W h a t m u s t b e jettisoned is t h e vocal a n d auditory 'afterbirth' w h i c h t h r e a t e n s to
c o n t a m i n a t e t h e order a n d system of 'proper' speech." 1 6 As S i l v e r m a n suggests,
a n d as t h e m e d i c a l texts c o n f i r m , f e m a l e voice is c o n s t r u c t e d as a kind of deposi-
tory for t h e h u m a n vocal properties repudiated (but obscurely desired) by m e n . 1 7
B u t w h a t especially fascinates m e in this c o m m e n t a r y is t h e c h o i c e of "afterbirth"
as a m e t a p h o r for a certain vocality. Literally, t h e afterbirth is, of course, t h e e n -
s e m b l e of p l a c e n t a a n d fetal m e m b r a n e s expelled f r o m t h e u t e r u s after birth. T h a t
w h i c h was prior to life, a n d t h e n n o u r i s h e d it, c h a n g e s place: it leaves last, a n d it
leaves as waste m a t e r i a l . Waste is t h e flip side of creating; t h e afterbirth, by any
o t h e r n a m e , is t h e placenta. T h e analogy with m a t e r n a l l a n g u a g e , disintegrated
into its c o m p o n e n t s o u n d s , is clear. So, too, I will argue, is a n analogy with hyste-
ria ( u n d e r s t o o d as a m e t o n y m y for t h e uterus, for t h e m o t h e r , a n d , m o r e generally,
for w o m a n as these texts c o n s t r u c t her). T h e p a t h f r o m voice to u t e r u s is p r e p a r e d
by t h e clinicians, w h o repeatedly signal affinities b e t w e e n t h e f e m a l e vocal a n d sex
organs. L o u y e r - V i l l e r m a y speaks of "les rapports s y m p a t h i q u e s q u i existent e n t r e

15
G u y Rosolato, "La Voix: E n t r e corps et langage," Revue frangaise de psychanalyse 37(1974): 7 5 - 9 4 .
See C h a p t e r 5 for a fuller discussion of f e m a l e voice.
16
Kaja S i l v e r m a n , The Acoustic Mirror: The Female Voice in Psychoanalysis and Cinema (Blooming-
ton: I n d i a n a University Press, 1988), 81.
17
S i l v e r m a n m o r e pejoratively calls f e m a l e voice a " d u m p i n g g r o u n d for disowned desires, as well as
for t h e r e m n a n t s of verbal i n c o m p e t e n c e . " Acoustic Mirror, 81.
 T H E D O C T O R S ' TALE
l ' u t e r u s et le larynx" (TMN, 107) ["the close relationship that exists b e t w e e n t h e 4
u t e r u s a n d t h e larynx"], a n d yet m o r e strongly states: "L'uterus a u n e g r a n d e i n f l u -
e n c e sur le larynx" ( T M N , 204) [ " T h e u t e r u s has a strong i n f l u e n c e o n t h e lar-
ynx"]. M e t a p h o r i c c o n n e c t i o n s b e t w e e n t h e v o i c e b o x / t h r o a t / n e d c a n d v a g i n a / I
uterus/cervix are retained f r o m antiquity well into t h e n i n e t e e n t h century. 1 8
Before I go o n , let m e m e n t i o n a n etymological detail t h a t I borrow f r o h r M a r - '
t h a N o e l E v a n s . T h e n e u t e r plural of hystera (the G r e e k word for uterus, f r m
w h i c h t h e English hysteria derives), hysteria, literally "things of t h e u t e r u s , " "sig- j
nifies t h e p l a c e n t a , or more precisely, the afterbirth."19 T h e etymological c o n n e c - !
tions a m o n g t h e words hysteria, uterus, placenta, a n d afterbirth suggest to m e a n
u n c a n n y record, in l a n g u a g e , of a well-preserved cultural c o n s t r u c t i o n . Briefly
stated, t h e p r o d u c t i o n of hysteria follows t h e evolution of t h e afterbirth. N u r t u r i n g
is discarded; t h e idol falls. Hysteria is a f o r m a t i o n that answers to b o t h reverence
a n d disgust: like t h e a f t e r b i r t h / p l a c e n t a , it d e p e n d s u p o n c o n t r a d i c t i o n a n d para-
dox. Hysteria always c o m e s back to s u c h structures of a m b i g u o u s a n d a m b i v a l e n t
t h o u g h t . I t o o shall r e t u r n to t h e m .
Before m o v i n g too far b e y o n d t h e range of babble a n d noise, I w a n t to say o n e
m o r e word a b o u t a n i m a l sounds. Rather, I shall let B e r n u t z a n d Briquet say it for
m e , for b o t h of these doctors link m e o w i n g to ventriloquy, in a c u r i o u s m o v e t h a t
constitutes t h e dark u n d e r s i d e of their texts: t h e textual u n c o n s c i o u s m a k i n g a
fleeting a p p e a r a n c e in t h e text. B e r n u t z breaks off a discussion of hysterical bark-
ing a n d m e o w i n g to offer t h e following suggestion: " O n devrait, suivant Briquet,
r a p p r o c h e r de ces m i a u l e m e n t s , q u i se p r o p a g e n t par c o n t a g i o n , u n e a u t r e espece
d e bruits, consistant d a n s u n e sorte d e v e n t r i l o q u i e " (246) ["Following Briquet,
o n e s h o u l d link these m e o w i n g s , w h i c h spread by c o n t a g i o n , to a n o t h e r kind of
noise, w h i c h consists of a sort of ventriloquy"]. W h e n we follow his reference to
B r i q u e t , w e find a n a t t e m p t to explain in scientific t e r m s (specifically, t h a t t h e
noises are p r o d u c e d by c o n v u l s i o n s of t h e respiratory muscles) t h e v e n t r i l o q u a l
p h e n o m e n o n ( a l s o s y n o n y m o u s l y c a l l e d "engastrimisme") that, h e c o n t i n -
ues, was mistakenly u n d e r s t o o d d u r i n g t h e "so-called" possession at L o u d u n as t h e
devils voice: "C'est lenga'strimisme . . . q u i a fait croire q u e le diable parlait d a n s
leurs corps" (320) ["It was ventriloquy . . . t h a t led to t h e belief t h a t t h e devil was
speaking in their bodies"]. A n d Briquet closes his c o m m e n t a r y by again associating
cat noises with v e n t r i l o q u y a n d s u b s u m i n g b o t h to scientific explanation: " D a n s
ces cas, le jeu a n o r m a l des m u s c l e s respirateurs produisait f o r t u i t e m e n t , ce q u e les
engastrimistes n e f o n t qu'apres u n e c e r t a i n e etude; l'art de la v e n t r i l o q u i e se lie,

18
See T h o m a s L a q u e u r , Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud (Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1990), 36. I a m grateful to W a y n e K o e s t e n b a u m for sharing a n u n p u b l i s h e d paper
a b o u t voice a n d sexuality.
19
Evans, Fits and Starts, 4; m y emphasis.
 Jr/frrmt? cart
R f m f f . rr7/)fihiZts

/
Safkm'
"Vctol <rnlt
Tmtriik &
&rm

" ftM

if Ton}*'

FIGURE 6 . This nineteenth-century

illustration of the opening of the larynx could
easily be taken for a view of the external female
genitals. Assimilations of female vocal and
sexual organs were not uncommon.
(Published in Max Mller, Lectures on the Science
of L a n g u a g e 2, 1865; photo Pauline Page.)
 T H E D O C T O R S ' TALE
c o m m e o n le sait, l'art d ' i m i t e r les cris des a n i m a u x : d u m i a u l e m e n t la ventrilo- 47
q u i e il n'y a q u ' u n pas" ( 3 2 0 - 2 1 ) ["In s u c h cases, t h e a b n o r m a l action of t h e res-
piratory m u s c l e s fortuitously p r o d u c e s w h a t ventriloquists p r o d u c e only after c o n -
siderable study; t h e art of ventriloquy is linked, as w e know, to t h e art of i m i t a t i n g
a n i m a l sounds: f r o m m e o w i n g to v e n t r i l o q u y is only a step"].
N o w , a l t h o u g h scientific e x p l a n a t i o n explicitly t r i u m p h s in t h e cited passages
by B e r n u t z a n d Briquet, t h e excursus t h r o u g h possession, m e w i n g w o m e n , a n d
bodies v e n t r i l o q u i z e d by t h e devil gives us a great deal to reflect u p o n a l o n g t h e
way. T h e passages work together to c o n f l a t e a n c i e n t a n d m o d e r n c o n c e p t s of ven-
triloquy. T h e older, literal sense of t h e t e r m refers to t h e practice of speaking f r o m
t h e belly, or a p p e a r i n g to d o so. By extension, t h e ventriloquist w o u l d be o n e w h o
has a n evil spirit speaking f r o m w i t h i n . T h e m o d e r n sense of t h e t e r m w h i c h was
already c u r r e n t in t h e early n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y s e p a r a t e s subject a n d o b j e c t of
ventriloquy, m a k i n g t h e v e n t r i l o q u i z i n g agent external to t h e body f r o m w h i c h
s p e e c h appears to e m a n a t e . If t h e doctors' c o m p a r i s o n of hysterical a n i m a l noises
to v e n t r i l o q u y is to c o n f i r m their physiological e x p l a n a t i o n of s u c h s o u n d s ( c o n -
vulsions of t h e respiratory muscles), t h e n v e n t r i l o q u y m u s t be u n d e r s t o o d in its ar-
c h a i c sense, in w h i c h s u b j e c t a n d object c o i n c i d e . But if w e consider t h e c o m p a r -
ison in t h e context of t h e doctors' references to ventriloquy as a n "art" r e q u i r i n g
" c o n s i d e r a b l e study," we are instead within t h e context of t h e m o r e c u r r e n t sense
of v e n t r i l o q u y as p e r f o r m a n c e . In this case we m a k e a distinction b e t w e e n s u b j e c t
a n d o b j e c t of s p e e c h . If hysterical m e o w i n g is like t h e art of ventriloquy, w e m a y
well w o n d e r w h a t diabolical or m e d i c a l p e r f o r m e r is at work.

T h e c u r i o u s intersection of science, sorcery, a n d ventriloquy in these excerpts

reveals a flicker of u n c e r t a i n t y in t h e p r e d o m i n a n t l y positivistic discourse of hys-
teria. Bodies are spoken, science behaves like art, a n d pathology is n o t clearly dis-
t i n g u i s h a b l e f r o m possession. S c i e n c e a n d its a r c a n e d o u b l e engage in a contest of
voices t h a t has n o clear issue. If, as retrospective m e d i c i n e asserted, hysteria was
t h e devil's ventriloquist at L o u d u n a n d at o t h e r scenes of ostensible possession,
t h e n conversely, t h e devil c o u l d give hysteria voice, a n d t h e doctors, devil's advo-
cates, m i g h t t h e n speak n o t only for their c o n s c i o u s rational selves, b u t for a n d
f r o m a n alien p o i n t of view.
S u c h m o m e n t s of self-implication are exceedingly rare; far m o r e typical is t h e
p r e s e n t a t i o n of hysterical voice as an u n r e s t r a i n e d interiorized force that m u s t be
stopped. U n a b l e to h o l d h e r t o n g u e , helpless to c o n t a i n t h e flood of fictions,
words, yaps, a n d cries endlessly welling u p within h e r a n d spilling out, t h e
n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y hysteric presents an e x t r e m e version of t h e i m a g e of "leaking
vessel" traditionally associated with t h e verbally a n d sexually excessive w o m a n . 2 0
S m a l l w o n d e r , t h e n , t h a t R i c h e t c o m p a r e s t h e hysterical attack to a d r i p p i n g p i p e
to be t u r n e d o n or off with t h e aid of a faucetlike ovarian compressor:
20
Patricia M e y e r Spacks, Gossip (Chicago: University of C h i c a g o Press, 1986), 3 9 - 4 0 .
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
48 P o u r p r e n d r e u n e c o m p a r a i s o n g r a s s i e r e , m a i s i n t e l l i g i b l e , il s e m b l e q u e
la c o m p r e s s i o n d e l ' o v a i r e s o i t l ' a t t a q u e d ' h y s t e r i e c o m m e u n r o b i n e t
est l ' e c o u l e m e n t d ' u n t u y a u r e m p l i d'eau. Si o n t o u r n e le robinet,
l ' e c o u l e m e n t cesse pour reprendre des qu'on a de n o u v e a u remis le
r o b i n e t d a n s la p o s i t i o n p r i m i t i v e . (3 56)

To make a gross but understandable comparison, it seems that ovarian compression

is to the hysterical attack as a faucet is to a dripping, water-filled pipe. If one turns
the faucet, the dripping stops, only to begin again once one has turned the faucet
back to its original position.

REGULATING HYSTERIA: MOBILITY

T h e f e m i n i n e or h y s t e r i c a l p e r s o n a l i t y ( e i t h e r t e r m w i l l d o ) is n o t o n l y e x c e s s i v e
and incontinent, like f e m a l e physiology, b u t a g a i n analogouslyinconstant
a n d v o l a t i l e , i n n e e d o f r e g u l a t i o n . " V o y e z e n e f f e t c o m b i e n la s e n s i b i l i t e e t la
m o b i l i t e s o n t d i f f e r e n t e s c h e z la f e m m e , " says B r c h e t , " e i l e c h a n g e d ' i d e e s , d e
s e n t i m e n t s , d ' i m p r e s s i o n s , a v e c u n e r a p i d i t e i n c o n c e v a b l e " ( 6 8 , 7 1 ) [ " L o o k at h o w
d i f f e r e n t w o m a n ' s s e n s i t i v i t y a n d m o b i l i t y are. . . . H e r i d e a s , h e r f e e l i n g s , h e r
i m p r e s s i o n s c h a n g e w i t h i n c o n c e i v a b l e rapidity"]. F i x e d b y m e d i c a l o p i n i o n ( t h a t
is, d e t e r m i n e d ) as a m o b i l e c r e a t u r e , w o m a n n e e d s still m o r e fixing (regulating,
stabilizing) to a p p r o a c h t h e m a l e n o r m . In t h e words o f B e r n u t z , "l'organisme
f e m i n i n . . . j o u i t d ' u n e m o b i l i t e t r e s - r e m a r q u a b l e , q u i c o n t r a s t e a v e c la fixite et
la s t a b i l i t e , q u i c a r a c t e r i s e l ' o r g a n i s m e m a s c u l i n " ( 1 8 5 ) ["the f e m i n i n e o r g a n i s m
. . . is e n d o w e d w i t h q u i t e a r e m a r k a b l e m o b i l i t y , w h i c h c o n t r a s t s w i t h t h e fixity
a n d stability that characterize t h e m a l e organism"].

W o m a n ' s m o b i l e personality, her fickleness, is i n t h e h y s t e r i c o f c o u r s e o n l y e x -

a g g e r a t e d , B e r n u t z c o n t i n u e s , b e c o m i n g " u n e i m p r e s s i o n n a b i l i t e excessive . . .
u n e m o b i l i t e i n t e l l e c t u e l l e anormale" ( 2 2 7 ; m y e m p h a s i s ) ["an excessive impres-
sionability . . . an a b n o r m a l intellectual mobility"]. T h e mobility that the doctors
p e r s i s t e n t l y c i t e as a f e m a l e property, c a u s e a n d s y m p t o m o f h y s t e r i a , is, o n t h e
o n e h a n d , a m e d i c a l r e c o d i n g , a s c i e n t i f i c s a n c t i o n i n g o f a n a g e - o l d a d a g e ("la
d o n n a e m o b i l e " ) , a n d , o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , a n u p d a t e d r e p l a y o f t h e t r a d i t i o n a l at-
t r i b u t i o n o f h y s t e r i a t o a w a n d e r i n g w o m b . B u t t h e r e is m u c h m o r e at s t a k e h e r e ;
t h e f o c u s o n t h e v a g a r i e s o f w o m a n ' s m i n d a n d t h e t r a v e l s o f h e r u t e r u s s e r v e s to
o c c u l t p o l i t i c a l i s s u e s r e l a t e d t o t h e f e a r t h a t w o m a n w i l l n o t stay i n h e r p l a c e
w i t h i n the h o m e , the family, a n d society, a n d the threat that, m o v i n g outside
t h e s e t r a d i t i o n a l s t r u c t u r e s , s h e w i l l d i s l o c a t e o s t e n s i b l y fixed s o c i a l b o u n d a r i e s
and values.
 T H E D O C T O R S ' TALE
W h e n w e recall t h a t p u b l i c s e c o n d a r y e d u c a t i o n for girls in F r a n c e w a s a l m o s t 4'
n o n e x i s t e n t until the C a m i l l e S e e L a w of 1880,21 and that t h r o u g h o u t the c e n t u r y
t h e rallying cry for a d v o c a t e s o f w o m e n ' s rights w a s better e d u c a t i o n , literacy, a n d
t h e o p e n i n g o f t h e liberal professions to w o m e n , w e c a n understand t h e m e d i c a l
establishment's repeated attribution of hysteria to excessive e d u c a t i o n a n d , cor-
rectively, to the reading of novels-as a defensive gesture, a n attempt to keep ex-
isting s o c i a l b o u n d a r i e s in p l a c e . B r c h e t advises against " l ' e d u c a t i o n q u ' o n fait
d o n n e r a u x j e u n e s p e r s o n n e s [ q u i ] . . . leur inspir[e] des s e n t i m e n t s s o u v e n t b i e n
d i f f e r e n t s d e c e u x q u ' e l l e s d e v r a i e n t avoir d a n s l e u r p o s i t i o n s o c i a l e " ( 8 8 ) ["the e d -
u c a t i o n g i v e n to y o u n g w o m e n {that} . . . inspires feelings o f t e n q u i t e different
f r o m t h o s e b e f i t t i n g their social position"] a n d traces a particular c a s e t o just s u c h
d e p l o r a b l e o r i g i n s : " e d u c a t i o n r e c h e r c h e e , b e a u c o u p t r o p r e c h e r c h e e p o u r la fille
d ' u n h o n n e t e artisan, q u i n e devait pas aspirer u n rang trop a u - d e s s u s d u sien"
( 1 0 3 ) [ " f i n e e d u c a t i o n , m u c h t o o fine f o r t h e d a u g h t e r o f a n o r d i n a r y a r t i s a n , w h o
s h o u l d n o t aspire to rise a b o v e h e r o w n s t a t i o n i n life"]. A n d R i c h e t m o r e b r o a d l y
s t a t e s : "A P a r i s . . . o u l e s j e u n e s filles d e s c l a s s e s i n f e r i e u r e s e t d e la petite
b o u r g e o i s i e r e g o i v e n t u n e e d u c a t i o n s u p e r i e u r e l e u r etat s o c i a l , l'hysterie est tres
f r e q u e n t e " ( 3 4 6 ) ["In P a r i s . . . w h e r e y o u n g l a d i e s o f t h e l o w e r c l a s s e s a n d t h e p e -
tite bourgeoisie are educated beyond their social standing, hysteria is very
frequent"].

T h a t t h e p a t h o l o g y i s s u e is a l s o a s e x i s s u e is o f c o u r s e p a t e n t ; w h a t n o w b e g i n s
t o b e c l e a r is t h a t it is a c l a s s i s s u e as w e l l . G r a s s e t e x h o r t s : " N e f a i s o n s p a s d e d e -
classes, f o r m o n s les e n f a n t s regarder toujours a u - d e s s o u s d'eux p o u r p l a i n d r e et
aider, a u l i e u d e regarder t o u j o u r s a u - d e s s u s p o u r soupirer et e n v i e r . . . et n o u s
d i m i n u e r o n s l e n o m b r e d e s h y s t e r i q u e s " ( 3 3 4 ) ["Let's n o t m a k e d e c l a s s e s ; l e t s
m o l d o u r c h i l d r e n to l o o k b e l o w t h e m s e l v e s to pity a n d to h e l p , instead o f l o o k i n g
a b o v e to sigh a n d to desire, a n d w e will r e d u c e t h e n u m b e r o f hysterics"]. This
t r a n s m u t a t i o n o f - s e x u a l p a t h o l o g y i n t o c l a s s p a t h o l o g y is n o w h e r e a s c l e a r a s i n
C h a r c o t ' s l e s s o n s o n m a l e hysteria, w h e r e , as M i c h e l e O u e r d h a s o b s e r v e d , l o w e r -
class marginality replaces f e m a l e eccentricity:

L e s h o m m e s hysteriques e u x , puisqu'ils n e sont pas d e s f e m m e s , n e

p e u v e n t avoir cette mobilite de caractere. lis seront d o n e des instables
s o c i a u x , tel c e m a l a d e q u i a exercie u n e v i n g t a i n e d e m e t i e r s , tels c e s
v a g a b o n d s q u i s o n t c o n d a m n e s ferrance t o u t e l e u r v i e . . . . F i n a l e m e n t ,
la c l a s s e o u v r i e r e est i m a g i n e e d a n s l e g r a n d c o r p s s o c i a l d e la R e p u b l i q u e
fin d e s i e c l e c o m m e l ' u t e r u s m i g r a t e u r d e l ' h y s t e r i q u e t r a d i t i o n n e l l e . 2 2

21
Claire Goldberg Moses, French Feminism in the Nineteenth Century (Albany: State University of
N e w York Press, 1984), 1 7 4 - 7 8 .
22
M i c h e l e O u e r d in her introduction to Jean-Martin Charcot, L H V , 2 6 - 2 7 .
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
50 Male hysterics, not being female, cannot possess that mobility of character. They
will, therefore, be socially unstable, like the patient who exercised some twenty
occupations, or the vagabonds condemned to wander all their lives. . . .Finally,
the working class is imagined, in the great social body of the fin de siecle Republic,
like the migrating uterus of traditional hysteria.

T h e l a n g u a g e i n w h i c h C h a r c o t d e s c r i b e s h i s m a l e h y s t e r i c s is b y n o w f a m i l i a r ;
"declasses, m e n d i a n t s , vagabonds, degeneres, desequilibres" ["declasses, mendi-
c a n t s , v a g a b o n d s , d e g e n e r a t e s , u n b a l a n c e d p e o p l e " ] are r e c u r r i n g t e r m s that all
h a v e to d o w i t h d i s p l a c e m e n t or instability. L i k e hysterics o f t h e m o r e t r a d i t i o n a l
f e m a l e variety, C h a r c o t ' s m e n are i n p e r p e t u a l m o t i o n , h a v e n o f i x e d c e n t e r : "lis
n'ont pas d e d o m i c i l e fixe. . . . II m e n e u n e v i e e r r a n t e . . . . II v i t d e l a p r o f e s s i o n
d e c h a n t e u r d e s r u e s , d a n s la b a n l i e u e d e P a r i s . . . c o u c h a n t p a r - c i p a r - l " ( L H V
2 3 7 - 4 4 ) ["They have no fixed abode. . . . H e lives a w a n d e r i n g life. . . . He
m a k e s h i s l i v i n g as a street singer, o n t h e outskirts o f Paris . . . s l e e p i n g h e r e a n d
there"].

T h i s , o f c o u r s e , is a n o t h e r c a s e o f s o c i a l c o n s e r v a t i s m t h a t is b e i n g p r a c t i c e d i n
t h e n a m e o f p a t h o l o g y o r p o w e r t h a t is m a s q u e r a d i n g as d i a g n o s i s . 2 3 W h e n t h e c l i -
nicians separate the n o r m a l f r o m the a b n o r m a l , they also designate a fixed, stable
c e n t e r o f society as distinct f r o m a d e v a l u e d periphery; society's u n a c c e p t a b l e e l e -
m e n t s are e x i l e d as m o b i l e , d e v i a n t , e c c e n t r i c . B y t h e latter part o f t h e c e n t u r y t h e
hysteria l a b e l w a s a n a t t e m p t to p i n d o w n or arrest t h e u p w a r d l y m o b i l e desires o f
various social outcasts. T h e s e marginalized e l e m e n t s c o m e to i n c l u d e n o t o n l y
t h o s e p e r c e i v e d as i n f e r i o r by s e x or by class, b u t by race as w e l l . C h a r c o t a m o n g
o t h e r s c o m e s t o a s s o c i a t e h y s t e r i a w i t h J u d a i s m . H e r e is h i s d e s c r i p t i o n o f o n e o f
h i s p a t i e n t s : "II e s t m , c o n s t a m m a n t , p a r u n b e s o i n i r r e s i s t i b l e d e s e d e p l a c e r , d e
v o y a g e r , s a n s p o u v o i r s e fixer n u l l e part. . . . II e s t I s r a e l i t e , r e m a r q u e z - l e b i e n " 2 4
[ " H e is c o n s t a n t l y m o v e d b y a n i r r e s i s t i b l e n e e d t o m o v e a b o u t , t o t r a v e l , w i t h o u t
b e i n g able to settle d o w n a n y w h e r e . . . . H e is J e w i s h , n o t e it w e l l " ] . T y p e d a s u n -
settled, u n d i s c i p l i n e d , a n d unstable, t h e u n e m p o w e r e d classes a n d races are ef-
f e m i n i z e d , a n d hystericized by analogy to w o m a n .

T h r o u g h o u t t h e century, however, the prototypical f e m a l e hysteric c o n t i n u e s to

be the c o n s u m i n g center of m e d i c a l attention; ill-defined and unstable, s h e pre-
s e n t s a p e r s i s t e n t c h a l l e n g e t o m e d i c a l m e n , w h o o f t e n find t h e m s e l v e s called
u p o n i n t h e l i n e o f d u t y t o d o u b l e as r e p a i r m e n . H a v i n g f o l l o w e d e f f o r t s t o d e f i n e
a n d t h e n to regulate f e m i n i n e d i f f e r e n c e , I w o u l d like to t u r n briefly n o w to at-
t e m p t s at repair.

23
It is probably true that power always takes on other trappingsat least w h e n it works most effec-
tivelyand, correlatively, that diagnosis always vehiculates power. My deferred feminist perspective
makes this example of the medicalization of power particularly blatant for me.
24
C h a r c o t , L H V , 231, 236; see also Briquet, Tratte, 103; Grasset, "Hysterie," 264.
 THE D O C T O R S ' TALE
5
REPAIRING HYSTERIA

L a n d o u z y , in his historical o v e r v i e w o f c u r e s for hysteria, offers t h e f o l l o w i n g :

II f a u t lire l e s a n c i e n s a u t e u r s p o u r s e f a i r e u n e i d e e d e s i n n o m b r a b l e s
recettes inventees contre rhysterie. L'une des plus infaillibles consistait
e n u n petit s a c h e t c o n t e n a n t des testicules d e renard pulverises. P l a c e a u
c o u , c e s a c h e t t r i o m p h a i t l ' i n s t a n t d e t o u t e a f f e c t i o n h y s t e r i q u e . . . . II
n'est p a s j u s q u a u p e n i s h u m a i n , q u i , d e s s e c h e e t pris e n p o u d r e , n'ait e t e
p r o c l a m e souverain contre cette maladie. (294)

One must read the ancient authors to get an idea of the innumerable prescriptions
invented to cure hysteria. One of the most infallible consisted of a small bag
containing pulverized fox testicles. Hung around the neck, this bag instantly
routed any hysterical condition. . . . Even the human penis, dried and powdered,
has been declared a powerful cure for this malady.

A l t h o u g h L a n d o u z y and his contemporaries do not themselves subscribe to such

p r i m i t i v e c u r e s , t h e y d o c o l l e c t i v e l y c o n t i n u e to e n d o r s e w h a t m i g h t b e u n d e r -
s t o o d a s a n o t h e r v e r s i o n o f t h e s a m e t h i n g . I n L o u y e r - V i l l e r m a y s w o r d s , "[l'hys-
t e r i e ] c e d e p r e s q u e t o u j o u r s l ' u n i o n d e s sexes" ["{hysteria} a l m o s t a l w a y s y i e l d s t o
sexual union"]. Or, in t h e words used to describe a particular b u t c o m m o n case:
" E l l e c h o i s i t u n m a r i j e u n e et t r e s - a m o u r e u x , d e v i n t b i e n t o t e n c e i n t e , et se retablit
parfaitement" ( D S M 2 6 0 , 2 4 4 ) ["She c h o s e a y o u n g a n d very l o v i n g h u s b a n d ,
s o o n b e c a m e pregnant, a n d was c o m p l e t e l y cured"].

T h e p r a c t i c e o f p r e s c r i b i n g h u s b a n d a n d / o r b a b y t o treat or w a r d o f f t h e h y s t e r -
i c a l state s p e a k s n o t o n l y t o t h e b e l i e f t h a t w o m a n n e e d s t o b e fixed i n h e r p l a c e
( c o n f i n e d to t h e h o m e ) b u t also to the belief in a f e m a l e place that n e e d s to b e
fixed, a f e m a l e part t h a t is d a m a g e d o r m i s s i n g . I n a r e v e a l i n g c h o i c e o f w o r d s ,
B r c h e t t r a c e s w o m a n ' s t e n d e n c y t o w a r d h y s t e r i a to " u n e m o d i f i c a t i o n s p e c i a l e
p h y s i o l o g i q u e d e s o n s y s t e m e n e r v e u x " (cjy) ["a s p e c i a l p h y s i o l o g i c a l m o d i f i c a t i o n
o f h e r n e r v o u s s y s t e m " ] . T h e d i f f e r e n c e between t h e s e x e s is i n t e r p r e t e d as a f e m a l e
" m o d i f i c a t i o n " or alteration o f t h e m a l e m o d e l , f e m a l e d i f f e r e n c e or d e v i a t i o n
from a m a l e s t a n d a r d . W e l l b e f o r e F r e u d t r a n s l a t e d s e x u a l d i f f e r e n c e as f e m a l e c a s -
t r a t i o n , c l i n i c i a n s w e r e i n f a c t if n o t i n n a m e e n g a g e d i n s i m i l a r i n t e r p r e t i v e strat-
e g i e s , a n d w e r e r e a d i n g h y s t e r i a as t h e d r a m a t i c o u t w a r d s i g n o f a n o t h e r w i s e
v e i l e d f e m a l e loss.

T h e i m p l i c i t a s s o c i a t i o n o f h y s t e r i a a n d w h a t w o u l d later b e l a b e l e d " f e m a l e
castration" recurs, in varying forms, t h r o u g h o u t n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y clinical writ-
i n g s o n t h e d i s e a s e . I n t h e Dictionnaire des sciences medicates, the "proof" of hys-
 I

MEDICAL S T O R I E S
52 teria's f e m a l e exclusivity yields castration as a n inevitable corollary. Louyer-
Villermay gives the following lesson in comparative a n a t o m y in explanation of
w o m a n ' s p r e d i s p o s i t i o n t o t h e m a l a d y : " L e s o r g a n e s d e la g e n e r a t i o n n e p e u v e n t
etre r e t r a n c h e s d a n s le sexe, tandis q u e l'appareil genital, t o u t exterieur chez
l ' h o m m e , et charge d e f o n c t i o n s plus limitees, s e m b l e f o r m e r u n systeme c o m m e
isole, et qui p e u t etre e n l e v e f a c i l e m e n t " ( D S M 2 2 9 ) ["The f e m a l e reproductive
organs c a n n o t b e c u t off, w h i l e the m a l e genital apparatus, entirely external a n d
charged with m o r e l i m i t e d f u n c t i o n s , s e e m s to f o r m a n isolated system that c a n
easily be removed"]. A l t h o u g h woman's reproductive organs have the dual advan-
tage o f b e i n g less v u l n e r a b l e a n d m o r e important t h a n man's, their role, t h e a u t h o r
continues, is s h o r t - l i v e d , w h i l e m a n ' s p r o c r e a t i v e a p t i t u d e s g o o n indefinitely,
"comme si la nature avait voulu etablir une compensation" ["as if nature had
wanted to establish a compensation"}. T h e assigning of hysteria to w o m e n must
e v i d e n t l y b e v i e w e d as a n a t t e m p t t o e q u i l i b r a t e t h e l o t o f t h e t w o s e x e s o r , more
a c c u r a t e l y , t o i n d e m n i f y m e n f o r a p e r c e i v e d i m b a l a n c e . If p r o l o n g e d f e r t i l i t y is
nature's c o m p e n s a t i o n t o m e n for t h e less c o m p l i c a t e d role p l a y e d by their genital
o r g a n s , t h e n , i n a n a l o g o u s f a s h i o n , t h e a s s i g n i n g o f h y s t e r i a t o w o m e n is n a t u r e ' s
c o m p e n s a t i o n t o m e n f o r i n c u r r i n g t h e g r e a t e r risk o f l o s s . H y s t e r i a , t h e n , is a n a l -
ternative f o r m o f castration visited u p o n w o m e n by m e n : "nature's compensa-
t i o n , " or m a l e r e v e n g e for t h e u n f a i r p r o t e c t i o n o f t h e f e m a l e r e p r o d u c t i v e organs.

In a n o t h e r c u r i o u s passage, L o u y e r - V i l l e r m a y associates hysteria w i t h castra-

tion via the effects of this disease o n the voice. V o i c e m o d i f i c a t i o n s b r o u g h t a b o u t
by hysteria ( a n d o t h e r u t e r i n e d i s t u r b a n c e s ) are t e s t i m o n y , t h e d o c t o r says, to t h e
c l o s e a n d e x c l u s i v e relationship b e t w e e n t h e f e m a l e genital organs a n d v o i c e or-
g a n s . H e adds: " L ' i n f l u e n c e q u ' e x e r c e sur la v o i x d e l ' h o m m e u n e o p e r a t i o n bar-
bare n e p e u t i n f i r m e r cette o p i n i o n ; ces c h a n g e m e n t s sont le resultat d ' u n e vio-
l e n c e exterieure, tandis q u e c e u x q u e n o u s avons notes . . . sont le produit d e
p h e n o m e n e s naturels"25 ["The i n f l u e n c e exerted o n man's v o i c e by a barbarous o p -
e r a t i o n c a n n o t i n v a l i d a t e this o p i n i o n ; t h e s e c h a n g e s are t h e result o f e x t e r n a l vi-
o l e n c e , w h i l e t h o s e w e h a v e n o t e d . . . are t h e p r o d u c t o f natural p h e n o m e n a " ] .
T h e doctor's efforts to d i s t i n g u i s h b e t w e e n v o i c e c h a n g e in m e n ' a n d w o m e n in ef-
fect work to assimilate the two; the m e r e m e n t i o n of the v o i c e - m o d i f y i n g c o n s e -
q u e n c e s o f castration in this context suggests that the uterine alteration responsible
f o r f e m a l e v o c a l c h a n g e is a n a l o g o u s t o c a s t r a t i o n , t h e d i f f e r e n c e h e r e b e i n g t h a t
m a l e c a s t r a t i o n is a n " e x t e r n a l v i o l e n c e " w h i l e f e m a l e c a s t r a t i o n is a " n a t u r a l p h e -
n o m e n o n , " the ordinaryif p a t h o l o g i c a l c o n d i t i o n of w o m a n , a kind of c o n -
g e n i t a l d e f e c t . 2 6 It is a p h e n o m e n o n w h o s e v i o l e n c e a n d b r u t a l i t y a r e n a m e d b u t

25
Louyer-Villermay, T M N , 209; see also 204, 107.
26
In o n e very u n u s u a l case reported by Brchet, male hysteria is associated with castration. Apparently
female castration can be "carried" by male hysterics:
 T H E D O C T O R S ' TALE
d e n i e d a n d i n w h i c h it is d i f f i c u l t t o a v o i d r e a d i n g a p r o j e c t i o n o f t h e p r o d u c t i o n o f 53
t h e castrato's v o i c e f e m a l e v o i c e b e a r i n g t h e m a r k o f d i f f e r e n c e as c a s t r a t i o n .
W h e n p o n d e r i n g t h e s e r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s o f h y s t e r i c a l v o i c e , it is a g a i n u s e f u l t o i n -
v o k e t h e m e t a p h o r o f t h e afterbirth: a shared b l o o d sign o f t h e u n b e a r a b l e reversi-
b i l i t y o f l i f e a f t e r b i r t h is r e a s s i g n e d a s t h e O t h e r s b l e e d i n g l a c k .

T h e m y t h o f hysteria h e r e f e e d s i n t o a n d f u s e s w i t h t h e larger story t h e n i n e -

t e e n t h c e n t u r y w a s t e l l i n g i t s e l f a b o u t s e x u a l d i f f e r e n c e ; it p r o v i d e d o n e m e a n s o f
n e u t r a l i z i n g t h e t h r e a t o f f e m a l e a l t e r i t y . H o w e v e r , t h e e f f o r t t o fix f e m i n i n e i d e n - i
t i t y c a n n o t a v o i d a l s o fixing m a s c u l i n e i d e n t i t y , f o r t h e p r o c e s s w h e r e b y w o m a n is
c o n s t r u c t e d as a l i e n to m a n s i m u l t a n e o u s l y e n c l o s e s m e n in a n i n f l e x i b l e m o l d
that lacks e v e r y t h i n g that d e f i n e s w o m e n . T o r e m e d y these lacks, w i t h o u t a d m i t -
ting t h e m , their incorporation in/as w o m e n m u s t be alternately enshrined and
degraded.

P a r a d o x i c a l l y , t h e n , it is p r e c i s e l y t h e r e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f w o m a n a s s e x u a l l y d i s -
figured O t h e r (as h y s t e r i c ) t h a t e n a b l e s h e r t o b e t r a n s f i g u r e d a s o r a c u l a r v o i c e o r
m a n t i c text. T h e a p p a r e n t inferiority, mutability, alterity o f f e m a l e n a t u r e c o n s t i - )
tutes a n a b s e n c e t h a t c a n e a s i l y b e r e f o r m u l a t e d as p o t e n t i a l p r e s e n c e , a lack t h a t f \
c a n be transformed into promised s u p p l e m e n t a blank that c a n be filled i n as
sign. T h u s B r c h e t associates hysterical d e l i r i u m w i t h "des exaltations singulieres,
bizarres, e l o q u e n t e s , et m e m e p o e t i q u e s de I m a g i n a t i o n " ( 2 8 5 - 8 6 ) ["singular,
bizarre, e l o q u e n t , a n d i n d e e d p o e t i c states o f exaltation"], a n d L a n d o u z y n o t e s t h e
following:

D a n s l'hysterie . . . o n a q u e l q u e f o i s r e n k r q u e des attaques surprenantes

par 1 e l o c u t i o n c o m m e i n s p i r e e , et par l e g r a n d i o s e d e s p e n s e e s d e

E n t r e autres faits d'hysterie chez les h o m m e s , je ne puis oublier celui dont j'ai ete le temoin
dans l'infirmerie d'un etablissementauquel jetais attache. . . . Le malade pouvait avoir 30
ans. II prenait des crises extraordinairement violentes et il perdait connaissance. Plusieurs
h o m m e s ne pouvaient pas le contenir. . . . Dans u n e de ses crises, le malade en se d^battant,
appliqua involontairement un c o u p violent sur le testicule droit de l'infirmier. Cette glande fut
p e n d a n t 24 heures, le siege d u n e douleur atroce q u e rien ne put calmer. Alors la douleur
s'apaisa. Mais en m e m e temps le testicule avait disparu, il avait ete absorbe, je ne trouvai plus
q u e le cordon et quelques fragments de lepididyme. (Brchet, 1 9 2 - 9 3 )

Among other manifestations of hysteria in men, I cannot forget the one I witnessed in the
infirmary of an establishment I was affiliated with. . . . The patient was about thirty. He
was overcome by extraordinarily violent fits and he lost consciousness. Several men could not
restrain him. . . . During one of his fits, the patient, as he struggled, involuntarily struck the
attendant's right testicle with great force. For twenty-four hours this gland was the site of intense
pain that nothing could assuage. Then the pain subsided. But at the same time the testicle had
disappeared; it had been absorbed; I could only find the spermatic cord and some fragments of
the epididymus.
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
54 certaines malades; ce q u i faisait dire D i d e r o t , q u e dans le delire
hysterique, la f e m m e revient sur le passe, q u e l l e lit d a n s l'avenir et q u e
tous les t e m p s lui sont presents. Rien q u i se t o u c h e d e plus p r e s . . . q u e
l'extase, les visions, les propheties, les revelations, la poesie f o u g u e u s e et
l'hystericisme. (84-85)

Sometimes hysterical attacks . . . are noteworthy due to an elocution that seems

inspired, and the grandiose nature of patients' thoughts; this is what led Diderot to
say that in hysterical delirium, woman returns to the past, reads the future, and
sees all times at once. Nothing is as interrelated . . . as ecstasy, vision, prophecy,
revelation, inspired poetry, and hystericism.

By m e a n s of a fetishistic reversal, t h e n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y recuperates its hysteri-

cized margins: indefinability is e n d o w e d with t h e portent of m e a n i n g , secretions
carry secrets, e m o t i o n a l overflow suggests lyrical flow, d e l i r i u m is t h e t r o u b l e d
voice of revelation, a n d speech loss o p e n s t h e space of a n incommunicable
sublime.
B u t it is w o r t h e m p h a s i z i n g t h a t hysteria s voice c a n b e valorized as signifying
source only w h e n it has b e e n negatively i n t r o d u c e d w i t h i n t h e p h a l l i c order: t h a t
is, o n c e it has b e e n fetishized. T h i s m e a n s that to associate t h e hysteric with ex-
pressivity or c o m m u n i c a t i o n is to d e n y recognition of a n o t h e r l a n g u a g e , a n o t h e r
voice w h o s e lack or loss c a n only be refigured as p r i m a l p l e n i t u d e . In o t h e r words,
t h e process I have called t h e transfiguration of hysteria is always a m e d i a t e d pro-
cess: t h e c o n v e r s i o n of hysterical s y m p t o m into literary sign always involves t h e
m e d i a t i o n of a c o n t r o l l i n g discourse w h o s e own story is at stake in t h e c o n v e r s i o n
process. T h i s k n o w l e d g e I t h i n k obliges us to a p p r o a c h t h e poetics of hysteria with
h e i g h t e n e d critical vigilance. W h e n hysteria is diagnosed (by doctors, surrealists,
or others) as a " s u p r e m e m e a n s of expression," 2 7 we m u s t reply, " W h o s e expres-
sion?" W h e n letters of b l o o d or ink appear o n otherwise m u t e hysterical bodies, we
m u s t seek t h e nail or p e n t h a t inscribed t h e m . A n d t o speak finally in t h e doctors'
t o n g u e w h e n leaking pipes are transfigured as lyrical vessels, we m u s t bear wit-
ness to t h e h a n d t h a t t u r n s t h e faucet. 2 8
27
Louis Aragon a n d A n d r e Breton, "La C i n q u a n t e n a i r e de l'hysterie," La Revolution surrealiste 4(15
M a r c h 1928): 22.
28
T h i s is admittedly n o t a n easy h a n d to find. Does it represent language? C u l t u r e ? Power? Are all three
t h e s a m e thing?
 READING WOMEN
The Novel in the Text of Hysteria

My recent reading has caused me for some reason to

remember myself as I was when a young girl, reading
high Romances and seeing myself simultaneously
as the object of all knights' devotionan unspotted
Guenevereand as the author of the Tale. I wanted to
be a Poet and a Poem, and now am neither. . .
I hit on something I believe when I wrote that
I meant to be a Poet and a Poem. It may be that this
is the desire of all reading women.

A. S. B Y A T T , POSSESSION

Virtually every n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y m e d i c a l text o n hysteria offers a pro-

p h y l a c t i c to t h e (implicitly m a l e ) reader seeking to protect his wife, daughter, or
w o m a n patient f r o m t h e ravages o f the f e m a l e c o n d i t i o n . T h e barrier that physi-
c i a n s r e c o m m e n d a l m o s t u n a n i m o u s l y is i l l i t e r a c y . T o b e s u r e , t h e b a n o n l e t t e r s
r a n g e s w i t h m e d i c a l o p i n i o n f r o m g r e a t e r t o l e s s e r i n c l u s i v i t y ( t h e w r i t t e n w o r d is
c a t e g o r i c a l l y a n a t h e m a in s o m e quarters, b u t in others n e w s p a p e r s a n d p i o u s texts,
for e x a m p l e , are a c c e p t a b l e e x c e p t i o n s ) . O p i n i o n c o n v e r g e s , h o w e v e r , w h e r e the!
n o v e l is c o n c e r n e d : a c o m m o n t h r e a d l i n k s t h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y h y s t e r i a t e x t s !
to t h e work o f a certain S a m u e l - A u g u s t e Tissot, a n e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y Swiss phy-^
s i c i a n w h o d e c l a r e d t h a t a n y d a u g h t e r e x p o s e d to a n o v e l at a t e n d e r a g e w o u l d
c o m e d o w n w i t h h y s t e r i a s e v e r a l y e a r s later. E v e r y d o c t o r c i t e s T i s s o t , b u t t h e r e is
a revealing v a r i a n c e f r o m text to text in t h e matter of f r a m i n g the i n c u b a t i o n pe-
riod a n d e v e n n a m i n g the specificity o f the disease: s o m e treatises give the critical
a g e s as t e n a n d fifteen, o t h e r s a s fifteen a n d t w e n t y , still o t h e r s a s t e n a n d t w e n t y ;
s o m e predict hysteria, s o m e nervosity, s o m e the vapors. Clearly his w a r n i n g h a d

55
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
56 b y t h e e a r l y n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y b e c o m e a m e d i c a l a x i o m s o f a m i l i a r t h a t it n e e d e d
o n l y to b e r o u g h l y paraphrased rather t h a n q u o t e d verbatim.1 In factTissot's thread
leads n o t o n l y t h r o u g h o u t b u t o u t s i d e t h e c l i n i c a l literature, l o s i n g itself in t h e vas-
ter s o c i a l f a b r i c w h e r e w e find r e a d i n g , w o m e n , a n d h y s t e r i a k n o t t e d i n t o t h e t e x -
ture of the time.

IL N E F A U T PAS Q U E LES F E M M E S S A C H E N T LIRE:

SUBVERSION A N D THE N O V E L

A h a l f - c e n t u r y b e f o r e Madame Bovary's 1 8 5 6 staging of popular c o n c e p t i o n s of

t h e fine m a d n e s s t h a t a f f l i c t s f e m a l e r e a d e r s a n d t h e s p e c i a l h e l l t o w h i c h t h e y a r e
doomed, Sylvain Marechals 1 8 0 1 t r a c t , Projet d'une loi portant defense d'ap-
prendre lire aux femmes [Plan for a law forbidding women to learn to read) (re-
p r i n t e d p o s t h u m o u s l y i n 1 8 5 3 a s II ne faut pas que les femmes sachent lire [Women
must not learn how to read]) c o m p i l e d a culture's received ideas a b o u t women,
b o o k s , a n d t h e d r e a d e d c o n s e q u e n c e s o f t h e i r u n i o n . 2 T h e a s s o c i a t i o n is n o t n e w
t o t h e n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y ; it is at l e a s t p a r t l y r o o t e d i n t h e t i m e - h o n o r e d t h e o l o g i -
cal precept that equates ignorance and i n n o c e n c e , book k n o w l e d g e and carnal
k n o w l e d g e , a n d in the equally l o n g theological and secular tradition of misogyny.5
B u i l d i n g u p o n t h e s e t r a d i t i o n s is a w e l l - e s t a b l i s h e d s t r a i n o f n o v e l c r i t i c i s m t h a t
r e a c h e s a c r e s c e n d o i n t h e e i g h t e e n t h - c e n t u r y quereile du roman, resounding
s u m m a r i l y i n R o u s s e a u ' s p r e f a t o r y p r o n o u n c e m e n t i n La Nouvelle Heloise: "Ja-
m a i s fille c h a s t e n'a l u d e r o m a n " ["A c h a s t e girl h a s n e v e r r e a d a n o v e l " ] . 4

It is, however, the more immediate ideological subtext that gives the
n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y n e x u s o f w o m e n a n d n o v e l s its n o t a b l e v i r u l e n c e . I n v i e w o f :
f e m i n i s t c l a i m s t h r o u g h o u t t h e c e n t u r y for e d u c a t i o n , literacy, a n d t h e o p e n i n g o f
the liberal professions to w o m e n , w e n e e d to reevaluate the increasing attribution
of hysteria to excessive e d u c a t i o n a n d , correlatively, to the reading of n o v e l s
as a d e f e n s i v e g e s t u r e , a n a t t e m p t to k e e p rapidly e r o d i n g s o c i a l b o u n d a r i e s in
place. T h e specter of d e m o c r a c y l o o m s o m i n o u s l y in n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y France '
p r e c i s e l y b e c a u s e t h e n e w o r d e r m i g h t a l l o w n o s p e c t e r s , n o t a g h o s t o f a n erst-
w h i l e s y s t e m o f d i s t i n c t i o n s . In this l i g h t g e n d e r d i f f e r e n c e a p p e a r s as o n e o f t h e

1
In fact I have not been able to locate the source of the quotation. In addition to De la sante des gens de
lettres and Traite des nerfs et de leurs maladies, which are the likeliest places for such a warning to ap-
pear, Tissot's works include L'Onanisme: Dissertation sur les maladies produites par la masturbation
and Traite de l'epilepsie.
2
Sylvain Marechal, Projet d'une loi portant defense d'apprendre lire aux femmes (Paris: Masse, 1801).
5
See Michael Danahy, The Feminization of the Novel (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1991).
4
For an excellent presentation of the querelle du roman, see Georges May, he Dilemme du roman au
XVIIle siecle (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963).
 READING WOMEN
last b a s t i o n s a g a i n s t c h a o s r e m a i n i n g , 5 t h o u g h t h e i n c r e a s i n g v i g i l a n c e w i t h w h i c h 57
t h e b o u n d a r i e s o f g e n d e r - a l i g n e d p u b l i c a n d private s p h e r e s are m a i n t a i n e d after
t h e r e v o l u t i o n speaks to their fragility a n d t h e feared interpenetrability o f purport-
edly separate spheres.6 T h e thoroughness of cultural border policing c a n be eval-
u a t e d b y its i n s t i t u t i o n a l i z a t i o n i n p o s t r e v o l u t i o n a r y F r a n c e a s a d i s c o u r s e ( i n t h e
F o u c a u l d i a n s e n s e ) n o t s o m u c h d e s c r i p t i v e as c o n s t i t u t i v e o f t h e s o c i a l o r d e r . A r -
t h u r S c h o p e n h a u e r ' s i n f l u e n t i a l "Essai sur les f e m m e s , " w i d e l y d i s s e m i n a t e d in
F r e n c h l i t e r a r y c i r c l e s o n c e it w a s t r a n s l a t e d i n 1 8 8 0 , t a u g h t a l e s s o n ("II n e d e v r a i t
y avoir a u m o n d e q u e des f e m m e s d'interieur" ["There s h o u l d o n l y b e h o u s e w i v e s
i n t h e w o r l d " ] ) t h a t w a s a r g u a b l y s o w e l l r e c e i v e d a s t h e o r y b e c a u s e it w a s a l r e a d y <
e v e r y w h e r e in p l a c e as p r a c t i c e , m e s h e d w i t h i n t h e fabric o f s o c i e t a l m o r e s . 7 W e
h e a r it a n t i c i p a t e d , f o r e x a m p l e , i n a n o t h e r e s s a y " S u r l e s f e m m e s , " t h i s o n e w r i t -
t e n by t h e m o r a l i s t M a d a m e G u i z o t a n d r e p r o d u c e d in a n 1 8 6 6 c o n d u c t b o o k for'
g i r l s a b o o k written by w o m e n evidently inculcated with the doctrine of dichot-
o m o u s spheres a n d t h e c o n c o m i t a n t rhetoric o f f e m a l e interiority:

L ' i m a g i n a t i o n d ' u n h o m m e s ' e l a n c e s u r t o u s l e s p o i n t s o u il p e u t

a t t e i n d r e ; l ' i m a g i n a t i o n d ' u n e f e m m e se c o n c e n t r e sur c e q u i p e u t la
t o u c h e r ; e i l e c o n n a i t p a r f a i t e m e n t t o u t c e qui est e n d e d a n s et a u x
e n v i r o n s d ' e l l e - m e m e , e i l e voit p e u et m a l c e qui s e n e l o i g n e . . . . II e s t
b i e n d e s s e c r e t s d e m o r a l e q u e l a b o n t e s e u l e a p p r e n d l a v e r t u ; il e n e s t
m i l l e q u e la s e n s i b i l i t e r e v e l e s e u l e la b o n t e , c'est la l e d o m a i n e d e s
f e m m e s , q u ' e l l e s l e c u l t i v e n t : c'est la, c'est d a n s l e u r propre m a n o i r q u e s t
p o u r e l l e s la s o u r c e i n e p u i s a b l e d e r i c h e s s e s , e l l e s n e f e r o n t q u e p e r d r e
a i l l e u r s c e q u ' e l l e s y o n t a m a s s e , il e s t si rare q u ' u n e f e m m e g a g n e
q u e l q u e c h o s e sortir d e c h e z e i l e ! 8

A man's imagination leaps toward all points he can reach; a woman's imagination
concentrates on what touches her; she knows well what is within and around

5
Genevieve Fraisse quotes this curious formulation of a qualified will to equality from G r a c c h u s Ba-
b e u f s 1796 Manifeste des egauxedited by Marechal: "Qu'il ne soit plus d'autre difference parmi les
h o m m e s q u e celle de l g e et du sexe" ["Let there be n o other difference between m e n than that of age
and sex"]. Fraisse, Muse de la raison: La democratic exclusive et la difference des sexes (Paris: Alinea,
1989), 23.
6
For an informative discussion of the m a i n t e n a n c e of separate spheres, see Lynn H u n t , " T h e Unstable
Boundaries of the French Revolution," in A History of Private Life, trans. Arthur G o l d h a m m e r , ed.
Michelle Perrot, vol. 4 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Belknap Press, 1990) and Claire Gold-
berg Moses, French Feminism in the Nineteenth Century (Albany: State University of N e w York Press
1984).
7
Arthur Schopenhauer, Essai sur les femmes, trans. Jean Bourdeau, ed. Didier Raymond (Paris: Al-
can, 1884; reprint, Paris: Actes Sud, 1987), 3 ; .
8
M a d a m e G u i z o t in M a d a m e A. Tastu, Lectures pour les jeunes filles (Paris: Didier, 1866), 148.
 I

MEDICAL S T O R I E S
58 herself, she ill perceives whatever is at a distance from her. . . . There are many
moral secrets that goodness alone teaches to virtue; there are thousands that
sensitivity reveals solely to goodness; let women cultivate that sphere, which J
belongs to them; it is there in their own abode that they will find the inexhaustible j
source of riches; they will only lose elsewhere what they have amassed there. It is so I
seldom that a woman has anything to gain by leaving the house! I

I M e d i c a l warnings about the subversive potential of reading w o m e n m u s t then

| initially b e read against a political a g e n d a o f stability a n d c o n t a i n m e n t that o f t e n
^ h a s r e c o u r s e t o a s c a r e r h e t o r i c o f e r r a n c y a n d t r a n s g r e s s i o n . 9 It is p e r f e c t l y i n k e e p -
i n g w i t h s u c h a d i s c o u r s e that Dr. L a n d o u z y q u a l i f i e s n o v e l s as "toutes c e s d e v i a -
t i o n s litteraires . . . q u i i m p r i m e n t p r e s q u e n e c e s s a i r e m e n t u n e d i r e c t i o n v i c i e u s e
l ' e s p r i t , l a s e n s i b i l i t e e t a u x a f f e c t i o n s d e s j e u n e s filles" ["all t h o s e l i t e r a r y d e v i a -
tions . . . that almost necessarily imprint a vicious direction o n the m i n d , the sen-
s i t i v i t y , a n d t h e f e e l i n g s o f y o u n g girls"] 1 0 a n d t h a t D r . B r c h e t w a r n s a g a i n s t a n e d -
u c a t i o n unsuited to w o m e n ' s subordinate social position, w h i c h will encourage
" c e f a i b l e d e l ' e s p r i t h u m a i n p o u r g r a n d i r e t s ' e l e v e r , p o u r s o r t i r d e sa s p h e r e " ["this
f o i b l e t h a t l e a d s t h e h u m a n s p i r i t t o g r o w , r i s e u p , a n d l e a v e its s p h e r e " ] . 1 1

T h e age-old association of hysteria with the mobility of w o m e n ' s bodies a n d

s p i r i t s ( t h e w a n d e r i n g w o m b , c a p r i c i o u s n e s s , i n c o n s t a n c y ) is n o t s o m u c h rede-
fined i n t h e n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y as d e l i t e r a l i z e d , c o n c e p t u a l l y r e f i n e d n o w i n so-
ciopolitical terms (upward and outward mobility, d o m e s t i c restlessness, roving
thoughts, driving a m b i t i o n , a n d t h e potential d i s p l a c e m e n t of gender, class, a n d
f a m i l y s t r u c t u r e s ) . / T h e h y s t e r i a d o c t o r s , i n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h t h i s r e f i n i n g a n d re-
c a s t i n g o f f e m a l e m o b i l i t y , n o l o n g e r s e e k t o r e a f f i x t h e v a g r a n t w o m b t o its p o i n t
of origination, but to e n w o m b w o m a n , to c o n f i n e her o n c e m o r e w i t h i n the do-
m e s t i c s p h e r e b y b i n d i n g n o t h e r f e e t , b u t h e r m i n d / F o r h y s t e r i a is c a u s e d , i n t h e
progressive terms of nineteenth-century medicine, b y "la r e a l i t e i n f e r i e u r e au
r e v e " [ " r e a l i t y t h a t f a l l s s h o r t o f d r e a m i n g " ] , a s if i n e c h o t o F l a u b e r t ' s e l l i p t i c a l
e t i o l o g y o f E m m a B o v a r y s m a l a d y : "[l]es r e v e s t r o p h a u t s , . . . [l]a m a i s o n t r o p
etroite" ["her o v e r e x a l t e d d r e a m s , h e r t o o c r a m p e d h o m e " ] . 1 2 Reality's h o u s e c o u l d
t h e n very w e l l split apart at t h e b e a m s , u n l e s s m e a s u r e s b e t a k e n t o i m p e d e t h e e x -
p a n s i o n o f its i n h a b i t a n t d r e a m s .

9
For some astute c o m m e n t s on vagabondage as a social disease, see Kristin Ross, The Emergence of
Social Space: Rimbaud and the Paris Commune (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1988),
55-59-
l0
H . Landouzy, Traite complet de l'hysterie (Paris: Bailliere, 1846), 264.
" J - L. Brchet, Traite de l'hysterie (Paris: Bailliere, 1847), 88.
12
Charles Richet, "Les D e m o n i a q u e s d'aujourd'hui," Revue des deux mondes 37 (15 January 1880):
356; Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, ed. Jacques Suffel (Paris: G a m i e r F l a m m a r i o n , 1979), 141;
trans. Paul de M a n (New York: Norton, 1965), 77.
 READING WOMEN
T h e r e is a telling irony in perceiving reading as t h e e m b l e m a t i c escape w e a p o n 59
with w h i c h t h e iconoclastic f e m a l e m e n a c e hacks h e r way o u t of t h e h o u s e of cul-
ture, for as N a n c y A r m s t r o n g has argued, t h e novel was o n e of t h e p r i m a r y instru-
m e n t s used to carve o u t t h e d o m e s t i c order a n d to delimit it as woman's d o m a i n .
T h e novel t h e n b e c o m e s a two-edged sword, a force of domesticity a n d privatism
so effective in its work of isolating a n d separating h o m e f r o m t h e heartless world
that t h e i n t e n d e d h a v e n b e c o m e s an inscrutable lair. Privacy breeds secrecy; as t h e
d o m e s t i c sphere is m o r e a n d m o r e w i t h d r a w n f r o m t h e p u b l i c , ever interiorized
t h e better to establish discipline a n d control, it c o u c h e s t h e growing possibility of
a n other, i n n e r world t h a t eludes surveillance. 1 5
S o w e m i g h t say of the n o v e l a n d of the w o m a n w h o reads i t w h a t Freud said
a b o u t t h e w o r d heimlich, s p e c i f i c a l l y , t h a t it "is n o t u n a m b i g u o u s , b u t b e l o n g s t o
t w o s e t s o f i d e a s , w h i c h . . . a r e . . . v e r y d i f f e r e n t : o n t h e o n e h a n d , it m e a n s w h a t
is f a m i l i a r a n d a g r e e a b l e , a n d o n t h e o t h e r , w h a t is c o n c e a l e d a n d k e p t o u t o f
sight."14 W e c a n think of that l o c u s classicus of n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y painting, the
w o m a n r e a d i n g b e f o r e a w i n d o w , as a g r a p h i c illustration o f t h e a m b i g u o u s role at-
t r i b u t e d t o t h e n o v e l ; for t h e h i d d e n w o r l d e n c l o s e d in t h e b o o k (or p e r h a p s i n t h e
w o m a n r e a d i n g t h e b o o k ) is p r o j e c t e d o u t w a r d , r e f l e c t e d b y t h e l a n d s c a p e r e p r e -
s e n t e d o n t h e other side of t h e w i n d o w : a world that ought perhaps to have re-
mained secret, and yet comes to light. Or w e could m o r e specifically think about
M a n e t ' s Gare Saint-Lazare, w h i c h e v o k e s t h e reader's s e c r e t w o r l d t h r o u g h an
i r o n grill t h a t bars h e r f r o m h e r o w n s c e n e o f r e a d i n g , i m m o b i l i z e s h e r at t h e very
site o f travel, l o c k e d in a m o m e n t o f i n n e r journey. T h e a m b i g u i t i e s i n h e r e n t in
s u c h s c e n e s a r e w e l l s u m m a r i z e d i n Madame Bovary by Leon's m a n i p u l a t i v e mir- i
roring o f E m m a ' s o w n response to reading: " O n se p r o m e n e i m m o b i l e dans des
pays q u e l'on croit voir" [ " W i t h o u t h a v i n g to m o v e , w e walk t h r o u g h t h e c o u n t r i e s

13
N i n a Baym s contention, which I adopt but displace here, is that the novel (in America) supports the
ideology of h o m e as fortress against the world by domesticating pleasure, but simultaneously jeopar-
dizes this ideology by fostering individualism and solitude. Baym, Novels, Readers, and Reviewers.- Re-
sponses to Fiction in Antebellum America (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984), 5 0 - 5 1 . I am argu-
ing here for an element that escapes, or threatens to elude, the institutionalization of power that Nancy
Armstrong so well describes. See Nancy Armstrong, Desire and Domestic Fiction (Oxford: Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 1987).
For contemporary accounts of m a l e reactions to w o m e n reading which are analogous to nineteenth-
century representations of reading as otherworldly, see Janice Radway s Reading the Romance: Women,
Patriarchy, and Popular Literature (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1984). O n e of
Radway s informants offers the following commentary on her husband's reactions to her activities: "For
a while D a n was not thrilled that I was reading a lot. Because I think m e n do feel threatened. T h e y want
their wife to be in the room with t h e m . And I think my body is in the room but the rest of m e is not"
(89).
14
S i g m u n d Freud, " T h e ' U n c a n n y , ' " in The Standard Edition of the Complete Works of Sigmund
Freud, trans. James Strachey, A n n a Freud, Alix Strachey, and Alan Tyson, ed. James Strachey, 24 vols.
(London: Hogarth Press, 1955), 17:224-25.
FIGURE 7 . Edouard Manet.
Gare Saint-Lazare. 1873.
(Photo 1 9 9 3 , National Gallery of Art,
Washington. Gift of Horace Havemeyer in
memory of his mother, Louisine W Havemeyer.)
 READING WOMEN
15
of o u r i m a g i n a t i o n " ] . If t h e a m b i g u i t i e s i n s u c h r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s o f r e a d i n g i n i - 61
tially c o r r e s p o n d to t h e u n c e r t a i n p o w e r of n o v e l s in w o m e n ' s lives, t h e y m o r e f u n -
damentally express the ambivalence of t h e cultural imaginary that produced
t h e m : a n a m b i v a l e n c e a b o u t a g e n r e a n d a g e n d e r o n c e c o n s t r u c t e d as c o n s t i t u t i v e
of h o m e a n d h e a r t h b u t t h a t s o m e h o w d e v e l o p e d m u c h like t h e m e a n i n g of
heimlich, w h i c h c a m e t o c o i n c i d e w i t h its o p p o s i t e , unheimlichin s u c h a way as
to a u g u r the destruction of that cultural h o m e .

LES LIAISONS ILLICITES: S E D U C T I O N A N D T H E N O V E L

T h e c r u x o f m y a r g u m e n t until this p o i n t has b e e n that t h e identification of fe-

m a l e d e r a n g e m e n t w i t h b o o k s c a n b e e x p l a i n e d as a p r o j e c t i o n o f m a l e fears re-
g a r d i n g t h e p o t e n t i a l p o w e r o f a literate sisterhood. T h i s a r g u m e n t m a k e s s e n s e ,
b u t it d o e s n o t e x p l a i n e n o u g h . It d o e s n o t s u f f i c i e n t l y a b s o r b t h e i n s i s t e n t p r e s e n c e
o f t h e n o v e l i n t h e t e x t o f h y s t e r i a , a n d it d o e s n o t e x p l a i n a c u r i o u s t u r n a b o u t : t h e
n o v e l p l a y s t h e s a m e s e d u c t i v e r o l e i n c l i n i c a l h y s t e r i a t h a t h y s t e r i a p l a y s i n the:'
novel. W h i l e novelists consistently conflate hysteria and eroticism, equating hys-f
terics a n d s e d u c t r e s s e s a practice doctors are q u i c k to d i s c r e d i t c l i n i c i a n s e r o t - |
icize the novel and the act of reading with a v e h e m e n c e and persistence bordering
o n the obsessive.) D o c t o r s trace the t e n d e n c y of novels to i n d u c e disease directly to
t h e i r p o w e r t o s e d u c e \ A s D r . B e r n u t z p l a i n l y s t a t e s i n 1 8 7 4 , "II e s t m a l h e u r e u s e -
m e n t c e r t a i n q u e c e s livres o n t u n e i n f l u e n c e sur le m o r a l , et q u ' o n p e u t l e u r attri-
b u e r u n certain n o m b r e des liaisons illicites, qui, c o m m e n o u s l'avons v u plus
h a u t , e n g e n d r e n t u n si g r a n d n o m b r e d e c a s d ' h y s t e r i e " [ " U n f o r t u n a t e l y , it is c e r -
tain that these books i n f l u e n c e morality, a n d w e c a n attribute to t h e m a g o o d n u m -
b e r o f illicit affairs, w h i c h , as w e h a v e s e e n , e n g e n d e r s o m a n y c a s e s o f hysteria"].16
Paradoxically, h o w e v e r , s o m e of the very doctors w h o protest t h e novel's seduc-,
t i v e w i l e s a n d d e n o u n c e its r o l e i n t h e e t i o l o g y o f h y s t e r i a a c t i v e l y c o n t r i b u t e t o its
production. Doctors H. Beaunis, A. Binet, Charles Richet, and Charcot himself!
w e r e all c l o s e t novelists; their p u b l i s h e d fiction appeared pseudonymously.17 H o w j
a r e w e t o i n t e r p r e t t h i s p r o f e s s i o n a l a n d m o r a l d o u b l i n g ? Is t h i s s i m p l y a c a s e o f h y -
p o c r i s y ? If s o , is t h e b a d f a i t h s i t u a t e d i n t h e d o c t o r a s w r i t e r o r i n t h e w r i t e r a s d o c -
t o r ? Is it p o s s i b l e t h a t t h e d o c t o r s t u r n e d n o v e l i s t s i n a F r a n k e n s t e i n i a n a t t e m p t t o
create n e w e x p e r i m e n t a l subjects? In an entrepreneurial attempt to stimulate busi-

15
Flaubert, Madame Bovary, 117; trans, de M a n , 59.
16
G . Bernutz, "Hysterie," in Dictionnaire de medecine et de Chirurgie pratique, ed. Jaccoud (Paris: Bail-
liere, 1874), 2 8 1 - 8 2 .
' ' C h a r c o t ' s fiction has not, to the best of my knowledge, been published; manuscripts exist at the C h a r -
cot Library at the Salpetriere Hospital. For a provocative case study of the p h e n o m e n o n of doctor/
writer doubling, see Jacqueline Carroy, "Dedoublements: L'enigmatique recit d ' u n docteur i n c o n n u , "
Nouvelle revue de psychanalyse 42 (Fall 1990): 151-71.
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
62 ness? In a D o n J u a n e s q u e m o v e to s e d u c e ready victims? O r instead, did t h e nov-
elists k n o w better t h a n to believe w h a t they as doctors professed a b o u t t h e inevita-
ble p a t h leading w o m e n f r o m novels to s e d u c t i o n a n d hysteria? I have n o answers
to these questions, w h i c h in their very irresolution invite s p e c u l a t i o n a b o u t t h e
gender of t h e novel-reading p u b l i c a n d a b o u t t h e workings of t h e a u t h o r - r e a d e r se-
duction model.
R e c e n t research a b o u t t h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y reading p u b l i c in fact challenges
traditional a s s u m p t i o n s linking novels to a p r e d o m i n a n t l y f e m a l e a u d i e n c e . James
S m i t h Allen presents statistical e v i d e n c e that literacy rates for w o m e n lagged be-
h i n d those for m e n u n t i l well into t h e n i n e t e e n t h century, a n d h e c a u t i o n s even
t h e n against c o n f u s i n g t h e history of literacy with t h e history of reading, w h i l e M i -
c h a e l D a n a h y a n d Lise Q u e f f e l e c separately offer cogent a r g u m e n t s suggesting
that t h e f e m i n i z a t i o n of t h e novel's p u b l i c is a p h a n t a s m a t i c p r o j e c t i o n of t h e gen-
dered p a r t i t i o n i n g of c u l t u r e rather t h a n a reflection of real readership. 1 8 T h e r e is
a slippage f r o m t h e c o n s i d e r a t i o n of w o m a n as t h e novel's sole reader to that of
w o m a n as its privileged reader a n d t h e n o n to w o m a n as t h e privileged i m a g e of its
reader, so t h a t t h e general reading p u b l i c is very easily a n d subtly s u b s u m e d u n d e r
t h e sign of t h e f e m i n i n e . In this way t h e verifiably m a l e c o m p o n e n t of t h e novel's
p u b l i c is n o t so m u c h d e n i e d as s u c h , b u t f e m i n i z e d .
If t h e novel reader is n o t necessarily a w o m a n , b u t is rather only p h a n t a s m a t i -
cally f e m i n i n e , w h a t h a p p e n s to t h e traditional s e d u c t i o n s c e n a r i o t h a t we have
grown a c c u s t o m e d to a c c e p t i n g as t h e novel's implicit c o n t r a c t with its reader? 1 9 I
.would like to address this q u e s t i o n obliquely by way of a d e t o u r t h r o u g h a short
novel by C h a r l e s E p h e y r e , Soeur Marthe.20 E p h e y r e , w h o was m o r e c o m m o n l y
k n o w n , a n d w h o m we h a v e already m e t , as Dr. C h a r l e s Richet, was o n e of C h a r -
cot's interns at t h e Salpetriere a n d in t h e late 1870s i n t r o d u c e d h i m to h y p n o -
tism. 2 1 R i c h e t also wrote, u n d e r his own n a m e , various treatises a n d articles o n
s o m n a m b u l i s m , hysteria, a n d general psychology. Soeur Marthe, o n e of several
novels by E p h e y r e / R i c h e t (whose other literary ventures i n c l u d e d poetry, fables,
a n d theater), appeared in 1889 in t h e Revue des deux mondes.
Soeur Marthe tells a m u l t i l a y e r e d story a b o u t d o u b l i n g a n d d i v i d i n g . T h e e p o n -

18 James Smith Allen, In the Public Eye: A History of Reading in Modern France, 1 8 0 0 - 1 9 4 0 (Prince-
ton: Princeton University Press, 1991), 5 5 - 8 2 . See Danahy, Feminization of the Novel, and Lise Q u e f -
felec, "Le Lecteur du r o m a n c o m m e lectrice: Strategies romanesques et strategies critiques sous la
M o n a r c h i e de Juillet," Romantisme 53 (1986): 9 - 1 0 .
19
Ross C h a m b e r s and Sarah Kofman have written provocative pages on seduction and the novel. See
C h a m b e r s , Story and Situation: Narrative Seduction and the Power of Fiction (Minneapolis: University
of Minnesota Press, 1984) and Kofman, "Seductions, essai sur La Religieuse de Diderot," in Seduc-
tions: De Sartre Heraclite (Paris: Galilee, 1990).
20
C h a r l e s Epheyre [Charles Richet], Soeur Marthe, Revue des deux mondes 93 (15 May 1889):
384-431.
21
Carroy, "Dedoublements," 151-71.
 READING WOMEN
y m o u s M a r t h e is t h e s a i n t l y h a l f o f a s p l i t p e r s o n a l i t y , t h e o t h e r s i d e o f w h i c h is a 6!
t e m p t r e s s n a m e d A n g e l e w h o e m e r g e s w h e n t h e n u n is h y p n o t i z e d . T h e t e x t p l a y s '
w i t h n a m e a s s o c i a t i o n s b y c a l l i n g its a n g e l i n t h e h o u s e o f t h e L o r d " M a r t h e " ( a l -
l u d i n g a n t i t h e t i c a l l y t o t h e w o r l d l y sister o f t h e b i b l i c a l s t o r y ) , w h i l e g i v i n g t h e a n -
g e l ' s n a m e t o t h e s e d u c t r e s s . T h i s r a t h e r o b v i o u s t r a n s p o s i t i o n is t h e c o v e r f o r t h e
textual i n v e r s i o n o f m a l e a n d f e m a l e lead roles: a l t h o u g h t h e f e m a l e o b j e c t o f t h e
p l o t is m o s t o b v i o u s l y s p l i t , t h e m a l e s u b j e c t is i n f a c t a n i n h e r e n t l y d i v i d e d figure
a s w e l l (as a r e t h e n a r r a t o r a n d t h e a u t h o r ) . L a u r e n t , t h e d o c t o r p r o t a g o n i s t , a t s e v -
eral p o i n t s e v o k e s h i s o w n d u a l i s t i c n a t u r e ( " n o u s s o m m e s t o u s , p l u s o u moins,
r e s s e m b l a n s c e s s o m n a m b u l e s " ["we all m o r e or less r e s e m b l e somnambul-
ists"]) 2 2 a n d b e c o m e s q u i t e c l e a r l y a d i v i d e d s o u l w h e n s t r i v i n g t o r e s i s t t h e d i s a r m -
ing appeal of the passionate n u n . Torn b e t w e e n a kind of o c e a n i c feeling that over-
c o m e s h i m w h e n h e is w i t h M a r t h e / A n g e l e a n d a ( n o t e n t i r e l y p l a u s i b l e ) f e a r o f
legal reprisals s h o u l d h e e l o p e w i t h her, h e orders A n g e l e (to w h o m M a r t h e h a s
c e d e d in a s o m n a m b u l i s t trance) never to reappear.

N o w , w h i l e L a u r e n t ' s m o t i v a t i o n f o r r e p u d i a t i n g A n g e l e is e x p l i c i t l y g i v e n a s
f e a r a fear w e are i n v i t e d t o p l a c e u n d e r t h e p a t e r n a l s i g n o f t h e L a w ("Tidee d e la
c o u r d'assises. . . l'epouvant[ait]. . . . T o u t e s les s e v e r i t e s d e la l o i r e t o m b e r a i e n t
s u r l u i " [ " t h e i d e a o f t h e a s s i z e c o u r t filled h i m w i t h d r e a d . . . . T h e h a r s h e s t p e n -
alties o f t h e l a w w o u l d fall u p o n h i m " ] ) e v e r y t h i n g e l s e s u g g e s t s that h e flees
2
A n g e l e / M a r t h e a s t h e e m b o d i m e n t o f a n e n g u l f i n g m a t e r n a l p r e s e n c e . ' It is h e r
m u s i c that initially and repeatedly sweeps over Laurent, o v e r w h e l m s h i m . Lau-
r e n t l i s t e n s to h e r at t h e o r g a n "avec r a v i s s e m e n t " ["with r a p t u r e " ] a n d t h e nar-
r a t o r e m p h a t i c a l l y s p e c i f i e s h e r r a v i s h i n g r e p e r t o i r e : G o u n o d ' s Ave Maria and
R o s s i n i ' s Stabat Mater.1* L a u r e n t is a m a n o f s c i e n c e w h o s e a m b i v a l e n t a t t r a c t i o n
t o t h e m y s t e r i o u s d e p t h s o f t h e h u m a n s p i r i t a n d p a s s i o n s is e x p r e s s e d e a r l y i n t h e
n o v e l : "II s e s e n t a i t a t t i r e , e n m e m e t e m p s q u ' e f f r a y e , p a r c e s p r o f o n d e u r s i n o u i ' e s ,
a b i m e s s a n s fin o u t o u t e s t i n c o n n u " [ " H e w a s s i m u l t a n e o u s l y a t t r a c t e d b y a n d
a f r a i d o f t h e s e u n h e a r d - o f d e p t h s , b o t t o m l e s s a b y s s e s w h e r e a l l is u n k n o w n " ] . He
r e a c t s t o t h e y o u n g w o m a n ' s m u s i c w i t h a s i m i l a r a m b i v a l e n c e : "II s ' a b a n d o n n a i t
au c h a r m e de cette m u s i q u e delicieuse. . . . II c r a i g n a i t d e m o n t r e r q u e l p o i n t il
avait ete e m u " ["He a b a n d o n e d h i m s e l f to t h e c h a r m of this d e l i c i o u s m u s i c . . . .
H e w a s afraid to s h o w h o w m u c h h e h a d b e e n m o v e d " ] . 2 5 T h e narrative, itself di-
v i d e d , offers t w o d i f f e r e n t orders o f e x p l a n a t i o n for Laurent's fear, orders that w e
m i g h t a n a c h r o n i s t i c a l l y n a m e O e d i p a l a n d p r e - O e d i p a l , a n d t h a t are s i m i l a r l y at

22
E p h e y r e , Soeur Marthe, 395.
25
Ibid., 4 0 5 - 6 .
24
Ibid., 387, 403. Later, w h e n he regrets having banished Angele and tries desperately (and unsuccess-
fully) to s u m m o n her, Laurent plays Mozart's Requiem, shortly before declaring, "Elle est morte,
morte!" ["She is dead, dead!"] (419, 421).
25
I b i d . , 385, 387.
MEDICAL S T O R I E S
64 work in d e t e r m i n i n g Laurent's a m b i v a l e n t sexual a n d aesthetic responses. T h e
d o u b l e d , divided s t r u c t u r e has still a n o t h e r repercussion; Laurent's i n t e r n a l split
( h e is a skeptical m a n of science b u t also a passionate adventurer) is externally rep-
licated by t h e c o u p l e L a u r e n t / G e o r g e , w h e r e G e o r g e t h e steady m a r r i e d f r i e n d
serves as a foil to his friend's m o r e d o m i n a n t a d v e n t u r o u s t e n d e n c i e s .
B u t these m u l t i p l e divisions h i d e b e h i n d t h e focal M a r t h e / A n g e l e split, w h i c h
cries o u t for a t t e n t i o n . G i v e n that this m i n o r variation o n t h e a n g e l / w h o r e sce-
n a r i o replicates o n e of t h e m o s t h a c k n e y e d of m a l e fantasies, we c a n n o t b u t w o n -
der a b o u t t h e d a n g e r o u s seductive lure t h a t doctors s u c h as R i c h e t / E p h e y r e attrib-
uted to novels (such as this one?) left in t h e h a n d s of n u b i l e y o u n g w o m e n . I w o u l d
a r g u e that only a w o m a n "readfing] in drag," to borrow S u s a n W i n n e t t ' s phrase,
c o u l d possibly be s e d u c e d by s u c h m a l e fantasies, in w h i c h w o m a n is " n e i t h e r a n
i n d e p e n d e n t subjectivity n o r a desiring agent b u t , rather, an e n a b l i n g position"
sustaining a n a priori state of affairs " b e t w e e n m e n . " 2 6 T h i s bypassing of w o m e n is
n o w h e r e clearer t h a n in Sylvain Marechal's Projet d'une loi portant defense d'ap-
prendre lire aux femmes [Plan for a law forbidding w o m e n to learn to read],
w h i c h explicitly addresses itself "Aux C h e f s de maison; A u x Peres d e Familie; et
a u x Maris" ["To H e a d s of H o u s e h o l d s ; to Fathers; a n d to Husbands"], c o n t i n u i n g ,
"vous t i e n d r e z d o n e la m a i n ce R e g l e m e n t ; il vous interesse plus p e u t - e t r e e n c o r e
q u e les f e m m e s q u i en sont l'objet p r i n c i p a l " ["you reach o u t in support of this R u l -
ing; it is q u i t e possibly of greater interest to you t h a n to w o m e n w h o are its principal
object"]. 2 7 If t h e novel-reading p u b l i c is p h a n t a s m a t i c a l l y f e m i n i z e d , r e a d i n g de-
sire m a y n o n e t h e l e s s b e c o n s t r u e d as generically m a l e .

As we begin to c o n f r o n t t h e strange hybrid reader that e m e r g e s f r o m these clin-

ical forays into w o m e n a n d t h e novel, t h e q u e s t i o n of w h a t we c a n expect to learn
h e r e a b o u t g e n d e r a n d reading needs to be very carefully f r a m e d . I w a n t t h e r e f o r e
to digress briefly in order to f r a m e an a p p r o a c h that will orient t h e pages to follow.
A child of eleven or twelve seeking m o r a l c o m p e n s a t i o n for t h e task of baby-
sitting for a slightly y o u n g e r sister p r e s u m e d t h e right to supervise t h e y o u n g e r
girl's television c u r r i c u l u m . T h i s m e a n t , m o s t f u n d a m e n t a l l y , b a n i s h i n g h e r f r o m
t h e r o o m with an a d m o n i t o r y "this is n o t for y o u " w h e n e v e r , in t h e c o u r s e of a
m o v i e , a d i m m i n g of lights p r o m i s e d a sex scene or a q u i c k e n i n g of m u s i c a n -
n o u n c e d violence. W h i l e t h e younger girl obediently repaired to an a d j o i n i n g
r o o m , h e r older sister w o u l d r e m a i n before t h e screen, transfixed by an e m o t i o n a l
c u r r e n t w h o s e e l e m e n t of u n e a s e I strongly suspect a n d w h o s e c o m p o n e n t of fas-
c i n a t i o n I q u i t e clearly r e m e m b e r f o r I was that child. I reveled in m y u n c e r t a i n
power.

26
Susan W i n n e t t , " C o m i n g U n s t r u n g : W o m e n , M e n , Narrative, a n d Principles of Pleasure," P M L A
105 (May 1990): 507.
27
M a r e c h a l , Projet d'une loi, i-ii.
 READING WOMEN
T o t h e q u e s t i o n of w h a t t h e s e c h i l d h o o d e p i s o d e s told a b o u t m y sisters interest 65
in, r e a d i n e s s for, or responses to televised sex a n d v i o l e n c e , I w o u l d h a v e t o a n s w e r
today (with t h e insight of two decades of hindsight) " n o t a t h i n g . " O n t h e contrary,
I w o u l d h a v e to a d m i t t h a t t h e s c e n a r i o s I w a s d i r e c t i n g for m y s e l f a n d m y sister
( m y self a n d m y a l t e r e g o ) " y o u leave, I s t a y " w e r e c o m p r o m i s e s w h o s e f o r -
m a t i o n revealed t h e a m b i v a l e n t intensities of m y o w n p r e p u b e s c e n t fantasies: t h e
f e a r o f w h a t is d e s i r e d a n d t h e s e d u c t i v e n e s s o f w h a t is c o n d e m n e d .

I suspect m u c h adult c e n s o r s h i p bears a strong r e s e m b l a n c e to this very s i m p l e

c h i l d s p a t t e r n . T h e m e c h a n i s m t h a t a l l o w s d e s i r e a n d fear t o b e d e n i e d , p r o j e c t e d ,
and thereby m a s t e r e d b u t also s i m u l t a n e o u s l y i n d u l g e d h e l p s to explain the
doctors' fascinated prohibition of the novel. T h e a n e c d o t e elucidates, too, the fu-
tility o f a n y a t t e m p t t o a n a l y z e a e s t h e t i c r e c e p t i o n ( b e it t e l e v i s i o n v i e w i n g o r n o v e l
reading) w h e n the o n l y e v i d e n c e available c o n c e r n s censorship of this experi-
e n c e u n l e s s t h e f o c u s s h i f t s t o t h e c e n s o r ' s o w n r e l a t i o n s h i p to t h e c e n s o r e d a e s -
t h e t i c o b j e c t o r e x p e r i e n c e . T h i s is w h e r e t h e s y n t a c t i c o s c i l l a t i o n o f m y c h a p t e r t i -
tle b e c o m e s i m p o r t a n t , s h i f t i n g o u r reading of s u b j e c t a n d o b j e c t p o s i t i o n s in
" R e a d i n g W o m e n . " F o r if n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y d i a t r i b e s a g a i n s t w o m e n a n d r e a d -
ing don't m u c h advance our understanding of women's ways of reading, they d o
m o v e u s by l e a p s a n d b o u n d s i n t o q u e s t i o n s o f h o w m e n r e a d w o m e n , a n d a l s o
h o w m e n read reading.

As I b e g i n to speculate o n these questions, I want, however, to s u p p l e m e n t the

t a b o o c o n j u n c t i o n o f w o m e n a n d reading w i t h a third t e r m that has b e e n i m p l i c i t
in m y a r g u m e n t until this point: space. In w h a t follows I w a n t to suggest that the
fantasized c o u p l i n g o f w o m e n a n d reading (expressed hyperbolically by hysteria
a n d t h e n o v e l ) wraps a r o u n d a participatory b o d y of anxiety a b o u t spatial processes
and relationships: presence and absence, mobility and immobility, distance and
f u s i o n , interior a n d exterior, b o u n d a r i e s , c o n q u e s t , possession, separation, a n d \
l o s s . I w i l l b e l o o k i n g at t w o c o n c e p t u a l t r a d i t i o n s t h a t , I w i l l a r g u e , are n o t s e p a - |
rate: o n t h e o n e h a n d , t h e p e r c e p t i o n o f s p a c e as a f e m i n i n e ( a n d p a r t i c u l a r l y m a -
t e r n a l ) p r o v i n c e as o p p o s e d t o a v i s i o n o f t i m e as t h e father's d o m a i n ; a n d o n t h e
o t h e r h a n d , t h e c o n c e p t i o n o f r e a d i n g as a n a c t i v i t y o r i e n t e d i n s p a c e . (I a m n o t a l -
l u d i n g h e r e t o r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s b y d i f f e r e n t f o r m a l i s m s o f t h e n o v e l ' s s t r u c t u r e as a l -
t e r n a t e l y s p a c e o r t i m e b o u n d , b u t rather t o t h e spatial s t r u c t u r e o f t h e r e a d i n g
process.)

C o n s i d e r t h e f o l l o w i n g c i t a t i o n s as p r e t e x t for s o m e c o m m e n t s o n t h e i n t e r -
w e a v i n g s o f w o m e n , reading, a n d space. I selected m y corpus by a kind o f cross-
r e a d i n g a reading across gender, genre, a n d t i m e i n the belief that o n l y by
r e a d i n g a c r o s s c a t e g o r i e s , i n b e t w e e n t h e l i n e s , as it w e r e , c a n w e b e g i n t o u n d e r -
s t a n d w h a t h a s b e e n w o m e n ' s p l a c e i n t e x t u a l s p a c e , a n d t h i n k a b o u t w h a t it m i g h t
m e a n to read otherwise.
MEDICAL STORIES

U N E CARTOGRAPHIE DES COITS: SPACE A N D T H E N O V E L

" ' F a t h e r ' s t i m e , m o t h e r ' s s p e c i e s , ' as J o y c e p u t it; a n d i n d e e d , w h e n e v o k i n g t h e

n a m e a n d d e s t i n y o f w o m e n , o n e t h i n k s m o r e o f t h e space generating and forming
t h e h u m a n s p e c i e s t h a n o f time, b e c o m i n g or history." S o speaks Julia Kristeva,
f r a m i n g Joyce.28 Dr. L o u y e r - V i l l e r m a y contrasts the f e m a l e a n d m a l e reproduc-
tive systems in terms of a similar spatiotemporal d i c h o t o m y in his 1818 entry
" H y s t e r i e " i n t h e Dictionnaire des sciences medicates. H e describes the uterus, in
c o m p a r i s o n t o its m a l e c o u n t e r p a r t , a s " s i t u e b e a u c o u p p l u s p r o f o n d e m e n t " ["sit-
u a t e d m u c h m o r e d e e p l y " ] a n d a s c r i b e s t o it " [ u n e ] i n f l u e n c e e x t r a o r d i n a i r e , [ u n e ]
sorte d ' e m p i r e " ["{an} extraordinary i n f l u e n c e , {a} k i n d o f e m p i r e " ] , w h i c h spatial
a d v a n t a g e h e h a s t i l y c o u n t e r b a l a n c e s as h e c e l e b r a t e s m a l e r e p r o d u c t i v e l o n g e v i t y :
"Apres q u a r a n t e a n s , la f e m m e n'est p l u s a p t e d e v e n i r m e r e , t a n d i s q u e l ' a p t i t u d e
p r o c r e e r s e p r o l o n g e c h e z l ' h o m m e p r e s q u e i n d e f i n i m e n t , c o m m e si l a n a t u r e
a v a i t v o u l u e t a b l i r u n e c o m p e n s a t i o n " ["After a g e f o r t y , w o m a n c a n n o l o n g e r b e -
c o m e a m o t h e r , w h i l e t h e a b i l i t y t o p r o c r e a t e is p r o l o n g e d i n m a n a l m o s t i n d e f i -
nitely, as if n a t u r e h a d w a n t e d t o grant c o m p e n s a t i o n " ] . 2 9

John Donne more aggressively spatializesindeed, territorializesfemale

a n a t o m y in his elegy "To H i s Mistris G o i n g to Bed":

O my America! my new-found-land,
M y k i n g d o m e , safeliest w h e n with o n e m a n man'd,
M y M y n e of precious stones, M y Emperie,
H o w blest a m I in this discovering thee!30

I n t h e n o v e l Femmes, P h i l i p p e Sollers's n a r r a t o r h e t o o a t r a i l b l a z e r r e l a t e s
o n e o f h i s c o n q u e s t s . A s h e e x p l o r e s w h a t h e c a l l s "le f o u r abstrait d e la j o u i s s a n c e
i n c u r v e e " [ " t h e a b s t r a c t k i l n o f c u r v e d d e l i g h t " ] , h e m u s e s : "II y a l o n g t e m p s q u e je
p e n s e q u ' u n e v e r i t a b l e c a r t o g r a p h i e d e s coi'ts s e r a i t s o u h a i t a b l e " ["I've always
thought a cartography of coitus w o u l d be a good idea"]and the context makes
c l e a r t h a t o n t h i s c a r t o g r a p h e r ' s m a p , " c o i t u s " is a s y n e c d o c h i c l a b e l f o r i n n e r f e -
m a l e s p a c e . 3 1 A n d S e a n C o n n e r y , a b o u t t o b e t r a y h i s n a t i v e E n g l a n d i n The Russia

28
Julia Kristeva, "Women's T i m e , " trans. Alice Jardine and Harry Blake, Signs 7 ( A u t u m n 1981): 15.
29
J.-B. Louyer-Villermay, "Hysterie," in Dictionnaire des sciences medicales, vol. 23 (Paris: Pan-
ckoucke, 1818), 2 2 8 - 2 9 .
30
John D o n n e , Elegie XIX, "To His Mistris Going to Bed," in John Donne: Poetry and Prose, ed. Frank
J. Warnke (New York: R a n d o m House, M o d e r n Library, 1967), 96.
51
Philippe Solleis, Femmes (Paris: Gallimard, 1983), 29; trans. Barbara Bray, u n d e r t h e title Women
(New York: C o l u m b i a University Press, 1990), 19.
 READING WOMEN
House, turns to M i c h e l l e Pfeiffer playing his Russian girlfriend and begins to m a k e 67
l o v e t o h e r w i t h t h e s e w o r d s : "You're m y only country now."32
G a s t o n B a c h e l a r d , i n La Poetique de l'espace, domesticates female geographies,
writing that before b e i n g cast into the world, T h o m m e est d e p o s e dans le b e r c e a u
d e la m a i s o n . E t t o u j o u r s , e n n o s reveries, la m a i s o n est u n g r a n d b e r c e a u " [ " m a n
is d e p o s i t e d i n t h e c r a d l e o f t h e h o u s e . A n d a l w a y s i n o u r d r e a m s , t h e h o u s e is a
g r e a t c r a d l e " ] . H e e l a b o r a t e s : " Q u a n d o n r e v e la m a i s o n n a t a l e , d a n s l ' e x t r e m e
p r o f o n d e u r d e la r e v e r i e , o n p a r t i c i p e c e t t e c h a l e u r p r e m i e r e , c e t t e m a t i e r e
b i e n t e m p e r e e d u paradis materiel" [ " W h e n w e d r e a m of o u r h o u s e o f birth, in the
d e e p e s t r e v e r i e , w e p a r t a k e o f t h a t first w a r m t h , o f t h a t w e l l - t e m p e r e d m a t t e r t h a t
is p a r t o f m a t e r i a l p a r a d i s e " ] . 3 3 W h i l e h o m e is e x p l i c i t l y a n d r e p e a t e d l y d e s i g n a t e d )
a s t h e l o c u s o f d r e a m i n g , t h e m e t a p h o r i c a l f a s h i o n i n g o f h o m e as w o m b t h r o u g h - t
o u t the essay places d r e a m a n d dreamer m o r e pointedly w i t h i n maternal space. f
, T h i s p a r t i c u l a r s l i p p a g e c o m e s as n o surprise for readers o f F r e u d , w h o earlier dis-
c o v e r e d a n "unheimlich place" c o i n c i d i n g with "the e n t r a n c e to the f o r m e r heim
[ h o m e ] o f all h u m a n b e i n g s . " For F r e u d b e f o r e B a c h e l a r d , this h o m e / w o m b w a s
also t h e site o f m a l e d r e a m i n g : " W h e n e v e r a m a n d r e a m s o f a p l a c e or a c o u n t r y
a n d says to h i m s e l f . . . T v e b e e n h e r e b e f o r e / w e m a y interpret t h e p l a c e as b e i n g
his m o t h e r s genitals or her body."34

B a c h e l a r d places his study u n d e r the b a n n e r of "l'espace h e u r e u x " ["happy

s p a c e " ] , w h i c h h e r e n a m e s " t o p o p h i l i e , " t h e r e b y i m p l y i n g if n e v e r n a m i n g the
possibility of a n o t h e r kind of relationship to (maternal) space that w o u l d be called
" t o p o p h o b i e . " 3 5 W e find t h e s e t w o r e l a t i o n s h i p s at t i m e s o v e r l a p p i n g , a t t i m e s a l -
t e r n a t i n g , b u t v i r t u a l l y a l w a y s i n h e r e n t l y i n s e p a r a b l e . T h i s is t o s a y t h a t t h e r e c -
o r d o f m a l e a p p r o a c h e s t o f e m a l e s p a c e is f r a u g h t w i t h a m b i v a l e n c e , w i t h w i d e
s w i n g s b e t w e e n a f f e c t i v e p o l e s , b u t rarely, i f e v e r , w i t h n e u t r a l i t y . Correlatively,
t h e pattern that b e g i n s to e m e r g e f r o m a review o f this record suggests that w e
s h o u l d m o r e specifically speak about the b o u n d i n g , dividing, invading, sealing
( a n d s o o n ) o f s p a c e t h a n o f s p a c e p e r s e , f o r it is b y m e a n s o f s u c h r e p r e s e n t a -
t i o n a l s t r a t e g i e s t h a t w o m a n is s p a t i a l i z e d a n d t h e r e s u l t a n t r e g i o n s a m b i v a l e n t l y
confronted.

W i t n e s s the hysteria clinicians' play with this space in the guise of the discovery/
e x p l o r a t i o n / c o n q u e s t o f f e m a l e pathology. M e d i c a l reports o f e x p e r i m e n t a l t e c h -
n i q u e s ( a m o n g t h e m m a n u a l stimulation and penetration of the genitals; tugging
o n p u b i c hair; t h e l a y i n g o n o f h a n d s , l e e c h e s , c u c u m b e r a n d z u c c h i n i slices) s u g -

52
The Russia House, dir. Fred Schepisi, screenplay by Tom Stoppard, M G M , 1990.
" G a s t o n Bachelard, La Poetique de l'espace (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1957), 2 6 - 2 7 .
34
Freud, " T h e ' U n c a n n y , ' " Standard Edition, 245.
35
Bachelard, La Poetique de l'espace, 17.
 I

MEDICAL S T O R I E S
68 J gest an a p p r o a c h to internal f e m a l e topographies m o d e l e d o n n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y
I i m p e r i a l i s t d o c t r i n e s : t e r r i t o r i a l e x p l o r a t i o n , i n v a s i o n , a n d c o l o n i z a t i o n . It is a s if
/ outer space, merely involuted, had b e c o m e inner space, leaving u n c h a n g e d the
spirit o f d i s c o v e r y a n d c o n q u e s t t h a t l i n g e r s still i n t w e n t i e t h - c e n t u r y m e d i a for-
mulations of s u c h a mission: "To boldly go where n o m a n has g o n e before."36
N o w certain reading experiences, a c c o r d i n g to reported a c c o u n t s , s o u n d a great
d e a l l i k e t h e d o c t o r s ' v o y a g e s i n t o f e m a l e s p a c e . H e r e is R o b e r t D a r n t o n o n r e a d i n g
t h e h i s t o r y o f b o o k s : "In t h e b r i e f s p a n o f t w o d e c a d e s , t h e h i s t o r y o f b o o k s h a d b e -
c o m e a r i c h a n d v a r i e d field o f s t u d y . . . s o r i c h . . . t h a t it n o w l o o k s l e s s l i k e a
field t h a n a t r o p i c a l r a i n f o r e s t . T h e e x p l o r e r c a n h a r d l y m a k e h i s w a y a c r o s s it. A t
every stop h e b e c o m e s entangled in a luxuriant undergrowth of journal articles
a n d disoriented by the crisscrossing of disciplines. . . . T h e history of books has
b e c o m e s o c r o w d e d . . . t h a t o n e c a n n o l o n g e r s e e its g e n e r a l c o n t o u r s . " 3 7 D a r n -
ton's r e a c t i o n t o t h e e n t a n g l i n g t e x t u a l u n d e r b r u s h h o w e v e r r i c h , h o w e v e r l u x -
u r i a n t i s retreat. H e m o v e s q u i c k l y to separate h i m s e l f f r o m t h e d i s t r a c t i n g c h a -
otic clasp o f h i s l u s h tropical forest, p o s i n g b o u n d a r i e s a n d e r e c t i n g classificatory
l i n e s : " T o g e t s o m e d i s t a n c e f r o m i n t e r d i s c i p l i n a r i t y r u n r i o t . . . it m i g h t b e u s e f u l
to p r o p o s e a general m o d e l for a n a l y z i n g [the subject]."38
G e o r g e s Poulet describes a n initially similar textual e n c o u n t e r that e n d s other-
w i s e . H e r e is P o u l e t ' s w o r d o n b o o k s :

L i s e z - m o i , s e m b l e n t - i l s d i r e . Je r e s i s t e m a l a l e u r d e m a n d e . . . .

D ' a v e n t u r e l e s e n t i m e n t q u ' i l s m ' i n s p i r e n t , je l e p r o u v e p r o p o s . . . de

vases et d e statues. . . . N'est-ce pas parce qu'ils m e d o n n e n t l'illusion
q u ' i l y a q u e l q u e c h o s e e n e u x q u e je p o u r r a i s p e r c e v o i r e n l e s r e g a r d a n t
sous u n autre angle?. . . Q u e l est c e d e d a n s , c e l a m ' i n t r i g u e et m e f o r c e
tourner autour d'eux, c o m m e pour trouver l'entree d ' u n e c h a m b r e
s e c r e t e . M a i s il n ' y a p a s d ' e n t r e e ( s a u f l ' o u v e r t u r e a u s o m m e t d u v a s e , q u i
n'est d'ailleurs q u ' u n f a u x orifice). L e vase et la statue s o n t c l o s . lis
m ' o b l i g e n t rester a u d e h o r s . . . . P r e n e z u n livre, a u c o n t r a i r e , v o u s l e
v e r r e z s'offrir, s'ouvrir. . . . L e l i v r e n e s ' e n f e r m e p a s d a n s s e s p r o p r e s
c o n t o u r s ; il n e s'y i n s t a l l e p a s c o m m e d a n s u n e f o r t e r e s s e . . . . E n t r e v o u s
e t l u i l e s b a r r i e r e s t o m b e n t . V o u s e t e s e n l u i , il e s t e n v o u s .

36
T h e allusion, of course, is to the weekly voice-over introduction to the 1960s television series "Star
Trek." I a m told that the introduction to o n e of its contemporary sequels, "Star Trek: T h e Next G e n e r -
ation," has boldly altered the original mission and now proclaims, in gender-correct obedience to
changing forms, "To boldly go where n o one has gone before."
37
Robert D a r n t o n , " W h a t Is the History of Books?" in Reading in America: Literature and Social His-
tory, ed. C a t h y N . Davidson (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989), 29.
38
Ibid., 29.
 READING WOMEN
Read me, they seem to say. I find it hard to resist their appeal. . . . This feeling they 69
give meI Sometimes have it with . . . vases and statues. . . . Isn't it because they
give me the illusion that there is something in them which, from a different angle,
I might be able to see? . . . What this interior might be, that is what intrigues me
and makes me circle around them, as though looking for the entrance to a secret
chamber. But there is no such entrance (save for the mouth of the vase, which is not
a true entrance since it gives access only to a little space to put flowers in). So the
vase and the statue are closed. They oblige me to remain outside. . . . O n the other

hand, take a book, and you will find it offering, opening itself. . . .A book is not
shut in by its contours, is not walled-upas in a fortress. . . . the barriers fall away
between you and it. You are inside it, it is inside you . . ,39

Poulet's rhetorical m o d e l presents n o i m m e d i a t e l y apparent difference f r o m D a r n -

t o n s : a b o o k is a s p a c e t o b e p e n e t r a t e d , a c h a m b e r t o b e e n t e r e d , a b a r r i e r t o b e
r u p t u r e d . T h e d i f f e r e n c e is n o t s i m p l y P o u l e t ' s g r e a t e r ( o r a t l e a s t m o r e unre-
s e r v e d l y e x p r e s s e d ) p l e a s u r e , b u t a b l u r r i n g o f b o u n d a r i e s at just t h e p o i n t ( o f p o -
tential fusion, indistinction, m e r g i n g ) w h e r e D a r n t o n draws t h e line(s). Darnton
frets a b o u t l o s i n g s i g h t o f s p e c i f i c c o n t o u r s w h i l e P o u l e t c e l e b r a t e s s u c h a l o s s o f
s e l f - e n c l o s e d c o n t o u r s . P o u l e t ' s i n i t i a l t a k i n g p o s s e s s i o n o f t e x t u a l s p a c e r e v e a l s it-
self to b e f i n a l l y as m u c h a d i s p o s s e s s i o n or a b a n d o n m e n t o f self, a m e r g i n g or c o n -
f u s i o n o f c a t e g o r i e s o f s e l f a n d o t h e r , i n s i d e a n d o u t ( " y o u a r e i n s i d e it, it is i n s i d e
you"). S o m e t h i n g h a p p e n s in t h e course o f Poulet's description of reading that has
the effect of replacing a m o d e l of incursion and border crossing by o n e of absorp-
t i o n a n d b o u n d l e s s n e s s . Poulet's initial tired entry i n t o a b o o k a n a l o g o u s to a w o m -
an's b o d y u n e x p e c t e d l y p r o c e e d s t o d i s p l a c e s t e r e o t y p i c a l a l i g n m e n t s o f m a l e r e a d -
i n g w i t h b o u n d s e t t i n g o r b r e a k i n g , a n d f e m a l e r e a d i n g ( e s p e c i a l l y as e x e m p l i f i e d
by t h e n o v e l ) w i t h f u s i o n a n d identity loss, by b l u r r i n g d i s t i n c t i o n s b e t w e e n t h e
two paradigms.

I want to emphasize, however, the more general persistence of a well-

entrenched cultural m o d e l organized along bipolar lines of gender, genre, and
m o d e o f r e a d i n g . L e t u s c o n s i d e r a c o n t e m p o r a r y g e n r e c o n s t r u c t e d as a n t i t h e t i c a l
to t h e n o v e l . S e r g e T i s s e r o n p r e s e n t s t h e c o m i c strip as a g e n r e preferred by b o y s
b e c a u s e its f o r m i n v i t e s t r a n s g r e s s i o n , d e f i e s t h e l a w o f l o g i c a l n a r r a t i v e u n f o l d i n g .
T h e c o m i c s t r i p o f f e r s a f r e e d o m t o s k i p f r o m f r a m e t o f r a m e , w h i c h is f u r t h e r e l a b -
orated by T i s s e r o n as a n i n h e r e n t r o o t l e s s n e s s o f t h e g e n r e , a h o m e l e s s n e s s s p e c i -
fied as a r e p u d i a t i o n o f m o t h e r a n d w o m a n : "Les h e r o s d e [ b n d e d e s s i n e e ] n ' o n t

,9
G e o r g e s Poulet, "Phenomenologie de la conscience critique," in La Conscience critique (Paris:
Corti, 1971), 276 77; trans, as "Criticism and the Experience of Inferiority," in The Structuralist Con-
troversy, ed. Richard Macksey and E u g e n i o D o n a t o (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,
1972), 5 6 - 5 7 ; trans, modified.
 I

MEDICAL S T O R I E S
70 p r a t i q u e m e n t jamais de parents ni de m a i s o n La m a i s o n , c'est la c a s e , un
c o n t e n a n t q u i n e d o i t r i e n la m e r e n i la f e m i n i t e " [ " C o m i c strip h e r o e s practi-
c a l l y n e v e r h a v e p a r e n t s or a h o u s e . . . . T h e i r h o u s e is t h e f r a m e , a c o n t a i n e r t h a t
o w e s n o t h i n g t o m o t h e r o r t o f e m i n i n i t y " ] . 4 0 H e r e at l a s t t h e n o v e l c o n f r o n t s its
m a s c u l i n e counterpart: a genre w h o s e formal structure of b o u n d e d frames suggests
a m o d e l o f r e a d i n g a s s e p a r a t i o n , b o r d e r m a k i n g a n d b r e a k i n g , d i s c o n n e c t i o n . If
t h e n o v e l e n c l o s e s , s h e l t e r s , a b s o r b s its r e a d e r , t h e c o m i c s t r i p o f f e r s i n s t e a d , i n t h e
w o r d s o f p s y c h o a n a l y s t C a t h e r i n e M u l l e r , " u n u n i v e r s e n a p e s a n t e u r , q u i p e u t sa-
t i s f a i r e u n f a n t a s m e a r c h a i q u e e t m a s c u l i n : c e l u i d ' u n m o n d e s a n s u t e r u s " ["a
w e i g h t l e s s u n i v e r s e that c a n satisfy a n a r c h a i c a n d m a s c u l i n e p h a n t a s m : that o f a
41
w o r l d w i t h o u t uterus"]
T h e s i m u l t a n e o u s c o n t a i n e d n e s s a n d c a p a c i o u s n e s s o f t h e n o v e l are e m p h a -
s i z e d b y J e a n L a r n a c , w h o ( i n 1 9 2 3 ) d e f i n e s it a s " u n m o u l e e l a s t i q u e o u l ' o n j e t t e
t o u t c e q u e I m a g i n a t i o n , si d e v e r g o n d e e q u e l l e s o i t , p e u t s u g g e r e r . S a n s d o u t e
[c'est] p o u r q u o i il c o n v i e n t si b i e n a u x f e m m e s , e n n e m i e s d e t o u t e c o n t r a m t e "
["an e l a s t i c m o l d i n w h i c h o n e casts w h a t e v e r t h e i m a g i n a t i o n , h o w e v e r s h a m e l e s s
it is, c a n s u g g e s t . D o u b t l e s s t h i s is w h y it is s o w e l l s u i t e d t o w o m e n , w h o a r e e n e -
m i e s o f all c o n s t r a i n t " ] . 4 2 Larnac's r e m a r k a b o u t t h e n o v e l s t r a n g e l y e c h o e s D r .
C h a r l e s L a s e g u e ' s m i d - n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y d e f i n i t i o n o f hysteria as t h e " c o r b e i l l e
papier d e la m e d e c i n e " ["wastepaper basket of m e d i c i n e " ] . 4 5 T h e s e t w o intersect-
i n g c o m m e n t s s u g g e s t t h a t t h e n o v e l a n d h y s t e r i a are readily a v a i l a b l e c o n t a i n e r s ,

r e c e p t a c l e s for c r e a t i v e e x p a n s i o n .
It s h o u l d b e c l e a r f r o m t h e p r e c e d i n g q u o t a t i o n s t h a t t h e r e is a s l i p p a g e , m c o n -
ceptions of b o t h f e m a l e space and reading space, b e t w e e n representations of this
d o m a i n as p h y s i c a l or c o n c r e t e , o n t h e o n e h a n d , a n d abstract or m e t a p h y s i c a l , o n
the other. M o n i q u e Schneider's work o n p h a n t a s m s of f e m i n i n i t y helps to explain
t h i s s h i f t i n g b y d i s c o v e r i n g c o n c r e t e w o m a n ' s s p a c e as t h e f a n t a s i z e d l o c u s o f t h e
imagination. S c h n e i d e r shows that witches, possessed w o m e n , and hysterics were
all s e e n as h a b i t a t i o n s or r e c e p t a c l e s t h a t c o u l d h o u s e a n y b e i n g , p r e s e n c e , or
f o r c e . W o m a n ' s i n n e r s p a c e , by rights t h e child's a b o d e , c o u l d as easily l o d g e spir-
its, d e m o n s , o r t h e i m a g i n a t i o n :

La d i m e n s i o n imaginaire . . . se trouve p r e c i s e m e n t localisee, assignee

r e s i d e n c e l'interieur d e la m a t r i c e f e m i n i n e : la est l e foyer d e t o u s les

to Serge Tisseron cited by Odile Cuaz, "La Lectrice et le cow-boy," Le Monde, 22 November 1991, 3-
41
Catherine Muller cited by Cuaz, "La Lectrice."
42
May, Dilemme du roman, 223.
43
Q u o t e d by H e n r i Cesbron in Histoire critique de l'hysterie (Paris: Asselin & H o u z e a u , 1909), 19-
See Chapter 2 for more on hysteria as a catchall diagnosis.
 READING WOMEN
reves et d e toutes les divagations delirantes; le regne o n i r i q u e est regarde 71
t o u t e n t i e r c o m m e la c o n c r e t i o n d e c e s n o i r e s v a p e u r s e x h a l e e s par la
matrice.44

The imaginary dimension . . . is precisely localized, made to reside inside the

female womb: that is the home of dreams and of all delirious wanderings; the onei-
ric realm is looked upon as the concretion of these dark vapors exhaled by the womb.

Christopher Bollas, using terms perhaps not coincidentally reminiscent of

S c h n e i d e r s t h e m a t i c s o f p o s s e s s i o n , d e s c r i b e s a e s t h e t i c e x p e r i e n c e as "a s p e l l "
d u r i n g w h i c h "time crystallizes into space." H e goes o n to derive the space of aes-
t h e t i c e x p e r i e n c e ("the u n c a n n y p l e a s u r e o f b e i n g h e l d " by a text, p a i n t i n g , so-
n a t a , e t c . ) f r o m t h e i n f a n t s e x p e r i e n c e o f m a t e r n a l h a n d l i n g . T h i s "first h u m a n
a e s t h e t i c , " l i k e a l l t h a t w i l l f o l l o w , is t r a n s f o r m a t i o n a l , o f f e r i n g a f o r m t h r o u g h
w h i c h t h e u n i n t e g r a t e d s e l f finds i n t e g r a t i o n . 4 5

In a c o n c e p t u a l l y related a c c o u n t o f her o w n struggle with the creative process,

Ort Not Being Able to Paint, Joanna Field [Marion Milner] describes the psychic
barriers that render difficult a d u l t reentry i n t o that early "half-way h o u s e " 4 6 that
s h e l t e r s c h i l d h o o d c r e a t i v i t y : "a f e a r o f l o s i n g a l l s e n s e o f s e p a r a t i n g b o u n d a r i e s ;
particularly the b o u n d a r i e s b e t w e e n the t a n g i b l e realities o f t h e external w o r l d a n d
t h e i m a g i n a t i v e realities of t h e i n n e r world o f f e e l i n g a n d idea; in fact a fear o f
being mad."47

B o t h B o l l a s a n d F i e l d are b u i l d i n g u p o n D . W. W i n n i c o t t ' s work o n transitional

s p a c e , t h e i n t e r m e d i a t e p s y c h i c area in w h i c h i n n e r a n d o u t e r reality c a n freely
m e r g e f o r t h e i n f a n t o r i g i n a l l y f u s e d w i t h its m o t h e r a n d l a t e r o n f o r t h e a r t i s t ,
aesthete, or religious believer. T h i s transitional area m o l d e d by t h e m o t h e r pro-
v i d e s t h e i n f a n t w i t h a s h e l t e r e d or safe z o n e that fosters a state o f floundering and
u n i n t e g r a t i o n a state that facilitates a child's i m a g i n a t i o n sparked, a n artists i n -
s p i r a t i o n , a r e a d e r ' s flash o f i n s i g h t 4 8

In their s t u d y o f f e m i n i n e i d e n t i t y i n r e l a t i o n to c o n s t r u c t s o f p r e g n a n c y as
fusion and separation, saturation and emptiness, Fausta Ferraro a n d Adele

" M o n i q u e Schneider, De l'exorcisme la.psychanalyse: Le feminin expurge (Paris: Retz, 197g), 125.
45
Christopher Bollas, " T h e Aesthetic M o m e n t and the Search for Transformation," The Annual of
Psychoanalysis 6 (1978): 3 8 5 - 8 6 .
46
Joanna Field [Marion Milner], On Not Being Able to Paint, foreword by A n n a Freud (Los Angeles:
Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1957), 139.
47
Ibid., 17.
48
See D . W. Winnicott, " T h e Capacity to Be Alone," in The Maturational Processes and the Facilitat-
ing Environment (New York: International Universities Press, 1965), and "Transitional Objects," in
Playing and Reality (New York: Basic Books, 1971).
 I

MEDICAL STORIES
72 N u n z i a n t e - C e s a r o suggest that w o m a n ' s a n a t o m i c a l l y hollow space, insofar as it is
s p a c e p o t e n t i a l l y o p e n t o c r e a t i o n , is m e t a p h o r i c a l l y a p t t o e v o k e "la c r e a t i v i t e
p s y c h i q u e e n t e r m e s generiques" ["psychic creativity in g e n d e r e d terms"].49 Jessica
B e n j a m i n articulates w o m a n ' s i n n e r space w i t h intersubjective space, a n avatar o f
transitional s p a c e , p r o p o s i n g a c o n t i n u u m "that i n c l u d e s t h e s p a c e b e t w e e n t h e I
a n d t h e y o u , as w e l l as t h e s p a c e w i t h i n m e . " T h r o u g h this a r t i c u l a t i o n B e n j a m i n
p o i n t s t o w a r d a d e - e s s e n t i a l i z a t i o n o f i n n e r s p a c e w h i l e d e m o n s t r a t i n g its p r e s e n t
c u l t u r a l c o n s t r u c t i o n as f e m a l e . 5 0 F e m i n i s t s a n d o t h e r c o n t e m p o r a r y theorists t h u s
reinhabit a n d revalorize a female-configured representation of aesthetic-creative
space that was well rehearsed by n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y representations of hysteria.

I n a l l s u c h t h e o r i z i n g s o f a e s t h e t i c s p a c e , w e find a r e c u r r e n t n e t w o r k o f t h e m e s :
m e r g i n g , loss of b o u n d a r i e s , disorientation, c h a o s , m a d n e s s , creativity, a n d m a -
t e r n i t y . F r o m h e r e t o h y s t e r i a is b u t a s t u m b l e , i f w e r e c a l l D i d e r o t ' s o f t - q u o t e d
w o r d s t h a t , p r e y t o h y s t e r i c a l d e l i r i u m , "[la f e m m e ] r e v i e n t s u r l e p a s s e , quelle
s'elance d a n s l'avenir, q u e t o u s les t e m p s lui s o n t presents" [ " { w o m a n } relives t h e
p a s t , l e a p s i n t o t h e f u t u r e , a n d a l l t i m e is p r e s e n t t o h e r " ] , a n d t h e derivative
n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y a s s o c i a t i o n s of hysterical d e l i r i u m w i t h "des e x a l t a t i o n s sin-
gulieres, bizarres, e l o q u e n t e s , e t m e m e p o e t i q u e s d e l ' i m a g i n a t i o n " ["singular, bi-
zarre, e l o q u e n t , a n d e v e n p o e t i c exaltations of the imagination"].51
I T h i s shifting g r o u n d b e t w e e n aesthetic and hysterical space o p e n s the w a y to
: s o m e c o n c l u d i n g s p e c u l a t i o n s . S p e c i f i c a l l y , I w a n t to s u g g e s t t h a t hysteria as c o n -
; s t r u c t e d b y t h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y p a t r i a r c h y is a n a m b i v a l e n t r e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f a
lost nurturing space associated first w i t h intrauterine f u s i o n a n d later w i t h a
m o t h e r - c h i l d c o n t i n u i t y t h a t fosters c r e a t i v e play. I a m n o t p l e a d i n g a c a s e for
w o m b envy. Rather, I a m a r g u i n g that this site o f c h i l d h o o d m e r g i n g , o n c e r e p u -
d i a t e d , n o l o n g e r s e e m s q u i t e s a f e . R e g r e t t e d b u t r e j e c t e d , f a m i l i a r y e t f o r e i g n , it is

49
Fausta Ferraro and Adele Nunziante-Cesaro, LEspace creux et le corps sature: La grossesse comme
agirentre fusion et separation, trans. S i m o n e Matarasso-Gervais (Paris: des f e m m e s , 1990), 10. T h i s is
not a facile ode to maternal space. O n the contrary, Ferraro and Nunziante-Cesaro signal the risk to
w o m e n of corporeally retrieving originary (if phantasmatic) plenitude, for an anatomical filling of the
inner hollow might exclude other creative modes of integration (such as knowledge, artistic creation,
etc.) ( 9 6 - 9 7 ) .
50
See Jessica B e n j a m i n , "A Desire of One's O w n : Psychoanalytic Feminism and Intersubjective
Space," in Feminist Studies/Critical Studies, ed. Teresa de Lauretis (Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1986), 95. See, too, Benjamin's The Bonds of Love: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and the Problem
of Domination (New York: Pantheon, 1988), where she further explains the "inside" as the internal ver-
sion of safe transitional space (128), and elaborates on the little boy's loss of that in-between space (due
to repudiation of the mother) as cutting h i m off f r o m the space within (163). Although B e n j a m i n dis-
cusses inner space with a focus on proposing an alternative model for desire, her work is by implication
helpful to thinking about aesthetics, creativity, and inner space.
51
Denis Diderot, "Sur les femmes," in Oeuvres completes de Diderot, ed. J. Assezat (Paris: G a m i e r
Freres, 1875), 2:255. Brchet, Traitedel'hysterie, 285-86.
 READING WOMEN
v a r i o u s l y r e f a s h i o n e d as f e m a l e m a l a d y , d e v o u r i n g m o t h e r , m u s e . T h e a l t e r i n g is 73
the token of repression.
T h e " d e s i r e o f all r e a d i n g w o m e n " w i t h w h i c h I i n t r o d u c e d t h e s e p a g e s t h a t
is, t h e y e a r n i n g t o b e b o t h p o e t a n d p o e m , a u t h o r a n d n o v e l , a n d to j o i n w i t h t h e
a e s t h e t i c o b j e c t s h o u l d t h e n b e u n d e r s t o o d as a d e s i r e w h o s e g e n d e r s p e c i f i c i t y is
c o n s t r u c t e d r a t h e r t h a n e s s e n t i a l , w o m e n ' s d e s i r e m a r k i n g a l s o t h e p l a c e o f its
r e p r e s s i o n b y m e n . " R e a d i n g w o m e n " are p l a c e h o l d e r s , b o o k m a r k s , as it w e r e , i n
t h e text o f hysteria, bracketing a space that t h e m e d i c a l m e n c a n n o l o n g e r clearly
read b u t d o n o t q u i t e dare erase.
f

PART T W O
EPISTOLARY NARRATIVES
 I

Prologue

In the s u m m e r o f 1 8 4 6 L o u i s e C o l e t a n d G u s t a v e Flaubert m e t in the studio of

t h e sculptor J a m e s Pradier, b e c a m e lovers, a n d b e g a n a c o r r e s p o n d e n c e that
treated o f literary a n d o t h e r passions. A t t h e t i m e s h e w a s a p r i z e - w i n n i n g p o e t ,
novelist, a n d playwright e l e v e n years his senior, a m o t h e r , a n d u n h a p p i l y
married; h e was twenty-five and u n k n o w n . T h e i r c o r r e s p o n d e n c e and very
o c c a s i o n a l trysts c o n t i n u e d f o r r o u g h l y a y e a r a n d a h a l f ; i n M a r c h 1 8 4 8
Flaubert, distressed by his l o v e r s requests to m e e t , sent her a letter of rupture.
T h e c o r r e s p o n d e n c e a n d liaison b e g a n again in July of 1851 w h e n s h e s o u g h t
h i m o u t u p o n his return f r o m the Orient, and e n d e d finally in the spring of 1854.

D u r i n g the s e c o n d phase of their c o r r e s p o n d e n c e and liaison Flaubert was

w r i t i n g Madame Bovary ( w h i c h h e b e g a n t w o m o n t h s after their retrouvailles),
a n d L o u i s e C o l e t w r o t e ( a m o n g o t h e r w o r k s ) h e r v e r s e n a r r a t i v e , La Servante
( 1 8 5 3 - 5 4 ) , o n e u n i t o f a narrative p o e m c y c l e w h o s e o v e r a r c h i n g title w a s Poeme
de la femme. ( S e v e n n a r r a t i v e s w e r e o r i g i n a l l y p l a n n e d , b u t o n l y La Paysanne
[ 1 8 5 3 ] , La Servante, a n d La Religieuse [ 1 8 5 6 ] w e r e e x e c u t e d . ) Madame Bovary
a n d La Servante are c o n g r u e n t texts n o t o n l y by virtue o f t h e o v e r l a p p i n g
c h r o n o l o g y o f t h e i r c o m p o s i t i o n , b u t b e c a u s e e a c h is a b o u t a w o m a n w h o r e a d s
n o v e l s , r e a c h e s for t h e f o r b i d d e n h o r i z o n s t h e y h o l d out, a n d falls into illness.

O f t h e a l m o s t d a i l y e x c h a n g e o f l e t t e r s d u r i n g t h e a l m o s t five c u m u l a t i v e y e a r s
o f t h e i r t w o l i a i s o n s , five l e t t e r s f r o m L o u i s e C o l e t a r e e x t a n t . T h e f a t e o f t h e
v a n i s h e d l e t t e r s is u n k n o w n . *

* Over the years, scholars have speculated on the disappearance of Colet's letters to Flaubert, some sug-
gesting that they were destroyedeither by Colet's daughter, Henriette Bissieu, or by Flaubert's niece,
Caroline Franklin-Grout. But in her forthcoming biography Rage and Fire: A Life of Louise Colet, Pi-
oneer Feminist, Literary Star, Flaubert's Muse (New York: S i m o n and Schuster, 1994), Francine du
Plessix Gray compellingly argues that Flaubert himself burned Colet's letters. Her evidence comes
from an eyewitness account of an auto-da-fe by G u y de Maupassant, published in 1891 and reprinted
in Georges-Emile Bertrand, Les fours de Flaubert (Paris: Editions du Myrte, 1947), 198-200, and from
H e r m i a Oliver's retelling of Maupassant's report in her book Flaubert and an English Governess (Ox-
ford: C l a r e n d o n Press, 1980), 141-44. Maupassant tells of having been s u m m o n e d to Croisset by Flau-
bert, in the year before his death, and of Flaubert's request for his c o m p a n y during a night of letter-
burning. Toward m o r n i n g , Maupassant observes, amid the letters perused and then tossed into the
flames, a ribbon-wrapped packet containing a silk slipper, a lace handkerchief, and a faded rose. Flau-
bert speaks often and lovingly of such "relics," as he calls t h e m m e m e n t o s given to h i m by Louise
C o l e t i n his early letters to her.
I

4 X THE PHYSIOLOGY OF STYLE

Sex, Text, and the Gender of Writing
Flaubert's Letters to Louise Colet

lis pouvaient peut-etre connaitre I'anatomie

d'une phrase, mais certes ils n'entendaient
goutte la Physiologie du style.
GUSTAVE F L A U B E R T TO LOUISE C O L E T ,

3 0 SEPTEMBER 1853

W h a t r e a d e r o f F l a u b e r t ' s flood o f letters t o h i s n e w l o v e r w o u l d n o t b e

t e m p t e d t o n a m e p a s s i o n as t h e i r s o u r c e ? If, h o w e v e r , o n e at first a p p r o a c h e s t h e s e
e p i s t l e s t o L o u i s e C o l e t as love letters, it s o o n b e c o m e s e v i d e n t t h a t t h e s e n s e , b a l -
a n c e , a n d e v e n s y n t a x o f t h e c o m p o u n d t e r m b e g i n s to s h i f t as t h e p a g e s t u r n . A r e
t h e s e letters w r i t t e n o u t o f l o v e , o r are t h e y m e d i t a t i o n s a b o u t a l o v e o f letters? Is
t h e a c c e n t t o b e p l a c e d o n l o v e ( d e s i r e , e r o t i c p a s s i o n , m a l e a n d f e m a l e s e x u a l re-
s p o n s e ) o r o n letters ( e p i s t l e s b u t a l s o m o r e g e n e r a l l y b e l l e s lettres: w r i t i n g ,
reading)?

A l t h o u g h t h e overt c o n t e x t o f Flaubert's c o r r e s p o n d e n c e w i t h C o l e t suggests

t h a t l o v e is t h e m e s s a g e a n d letters t h e m e d i u m , t h e t h e m a t i c a n d r h e t o r i c a l t h r u s t
o f his prose i n c r e a s i n g l y upsets t h e stability o f s u c h a f o r m u l a t i o n . A s t h e corre-
s p o n d e n c e p r o g r e s s e s , e v e n i n its e a r l y p e r i o d , b u t e s p e c i a l l y w h e n it is r e n e w e d i n
1 8 5 1 , a f t e r t h e first r u p t u r e , F l a u b e r t ' s m i s s i v e s c o m e t o b e d o m i n a t e d b y m a t t e r s
literary: t h e writer's s t r u g g l e w i t h h i s o w n literary efforts, h i s c o r r e c t i o n s o f C o l e t s
m a n u s c r i p t s , h i s r e a c t i o n s t o t h e b o o k h e is c u r r e n t l y r e a d i n g , h i s m u s i n g s o n l a n -
g u a g e , style, a n d t h e tyranny o f t h e blank page.

77
 I

E P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
78 T h e a s c e n d a n c y of letters does n o t , h o w e v e r , dictate t h e eclipse of love a n d sex.
O n the contrary, a discourse of sexual a n a t o m y a n d physiology b e c o m e s t h e prin-
c i p a l c o n d u i t t h r o u g h w h i c h F l a u b e r t e x p o u n d s o n literary t h e o r y a n d practice.
T h i s d i s c o u r s e , w h o s e c o n t r o l o f c l i n i c a l d e t a i l is i n i t s e l f i m p r e s s i v e , is f u r t h e r r e -
f i n e d b y its p r e c i s e r e p r o d u c t i o n o f c o n v e n t i o n s o f s e x u a l d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n , w h i c h f a -
cilitate Flaubert's effort to chart a c o u r s e toward literary p e r f e c t i o n t h r o u g h t h e p o -
tential abysses o f style. H i s r e c o n s t r u c t i o n o f a familiar dualistic c o d e o f s e x u a l
d i f f e r e n c e a l l o w s h i m to c o n s t r u c t a similarly binary stylistic m o d e l . G o o d style,
v a l o r i z e d a s m a l e , is d e s c r i b e d a s h a r d , h a i r y , a n d m u s c u l a r ; it is a l t e r n a t e l y l i k e n e d
t o t e s t i c l e s , b o d i l y h a i r , a n d a t h l e t e s ' b i c e p s . S o w e l e a r n t h a t "la v e r i t e d e m a n d e d e s
m a l e s p l u s v e l u s q u e M . d e L a m a r t i n e " ["truth d e m a n d s hairier m a l e s t h a n M o n -
s i e u r d e L a m a r t i n e " ] , a n d t h a t it is b e s t t o a v o i d " c e t t e e s p e c e d ' e c h a u f f e m e n t , q u ' o n
a p p e l l e l ' i n s p i r a t i o n , e t o il e n t r e s o u v e n t p l u s d ' e m o t i o n n e r v e u s e q u e d e f o r c e
m u s c u l a i r e " ["the h e a t o f e x c i t e m e n t c a l l e d i n s p i r a t i o n , o f t e n d u e m o r e t o n e r v o u s
: e m o t i o n t h a n m u s c u l a r f o r c e " ] , w h i l e t h e l a n g u a g e o f M o n t e s q u i e u w h i c h is n o t
w i t h o u t m e r i t , for F l a u b e r t c o n t a i n s "par-ci par-l des phrases q u i s o n t t e n d u e s
c o m m e d e s b i c e p s d'athlete" ["here a n d t h e r e s e n t e n c e s t h a t are as taut as athletes'
b i c e p s " ] . 1 P o o r s t y l e , o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , is d e n i g r a t e d a s f e m a l e ; it is s o f t a n d fatty.
W h e n c e this c o u n s e l to L o u i s e C o l e t : " T u as u n c o t e d e l'esprit. . . p a s s i o n n e et d e -
b o r d a n t q u e l q u e f o i s , a u q u e l il f a u t m e t t r e u n c o r s e t e t q u ' i l f a u t durcir du dedans"
( 2 : 7 9 , 2 4 A p r i l 1 8 5 2 ) [ " T h e r e is a p a r t o f y o u r m i n d . . . t h a t is s o m e t i m e s p a s s i o n -
a t e a n d o v e r f l o w i n g , w h i c h s h o u l d b e p u t i n a c o r s e t a n d hardened from within"}.
B a d s t y l e is o v e r w h e l m i n g l y g l a n d u l a r ; it o f t e n is b r e a s t l i k e . U n l i k e g o o d s t y l e ,
w h i c h , l i k e i r o n , is p u m p e d t h r o u g h its m a s t e r ' s c o r p u s , it s e e p s t h r o u g h w r i t i n g u n -
c o n t r o l l e d , like m o t h e r s m i l k or vaginal discharges: " D a n s G [ e o r g e ] S a n d , o n sent
les fleurs b l a n c h e s ; cela suinte, et l'idee c o u l e entre les mots, c o m m e entre des
1
cuisses sans muscles" (2:177, 6 N o v e m b e r 1 8 5 2 ) ["Gjeorge} Sand's w r i t i n g reeks o f
v a g i n a l d i s c h a r g e s ; it o o z e s a n d t h e i d e a d r i p s b e t w e e n w o r d s , a s i f b e t w e e n t h i g h s
w i t h o u t m u s c l e s " ] . B u t t h e r e is a r e m e d y : "II n o u s f a u t t o u s prendre du fer" (2:509,
15 J a n u a r y 1 8 5 4 ) [ " W e a l l n e e d t o take iron"]. W h e r e a s bad style speaks shrilly a n d
m i m i c s o t h e r v o i c e s , g o o d s t y l e is i m p e r i o u s a n d c o m m a n d s a n a u d i e n c e , f o r it
roars: "Je s e n s p o u r t a n t q u e je n e d o i s p a s m o u r i r s a n s a v o i r f a i t r u g i r q u e l q u e p a r t u n
style c o m m e je l ' e n t e n d s d a n s m a t e t e e t q u i p o u r r a b i e n d o m i n e r la v o i x d e s p e r r o -
q u e t s e t d e s c i g a l e s " ( 2 : 1 1 0 , 1 9 J u n e 1 8 5 2 ) ["Yet I f e e l t h a t I m u s t n o t d i e w i t h o u t h a v -
i n g f o r c e d s t y l e t o r o a r a s it d o e s i n m y h e a d , w i t h e n o u g h s t r e n g t h t o d o m i n a t e t h e
v o i c e s of parrots a n d cicadas"].

1
T h e s e e x a m p l e s , as well as those that follow, are indicative of t h e pattern of t h e w h o l e . G u s t a v e Flau-

bert, Correspondence, ed. Jean B r u n e a u (Paris: G a l l i m a r d , 1973-91), 2:77, 24 April 1852; 2:252, 27

February 1853; 2:350, 6 June 1853. Unless otherwise noted, all r e f e r e n c e s to Flaubert's Correspon-
dence will b e to this edition a n d will b e provided in t h e text.
I

THE P H Y S I O L O G Y OF STYL I
P u r s u i n g t h e p a t t e r n s a p p a r e n t i n t h i s p r e l i m i n a r y s k e t c h , I read F l a u b e r t ' s letters 79
to C o l e t as a m a n u a l o f s t y l e w h o s e e m b l e m s a r e t h e c l a s h i n g v o i c e s o f t h e l i o n the
p a r r o t , a n d t h e c i c a d a , a n d w h o s e r h e t o r i c is m o d e l e d u p o n t h e c o u r s e o f h i s r e l a -
t i o n s h i p w i t h her a n d the c o n v e n t i o n s o f sex, gender, a n d p a t h o l o g y prevalent in his
era. T o r e a d s t y l e i n t e r m s o f l i v e d l o v e a n d d i s c u r s i v e c o n v e n t i o n a d m i t t e d l y i m -
p l i e s a s c h e m a t i c s e p a r a t i o n o f t h r e e e l e m e n t s t h a t are i n f a c t i n e x t r i c a b l y e n -
m e s h e d ; h o w e v e r , t o e m b a r k o n s u c h a r e a d i n g is t o f o l l o w F l a u b e r t ' s l e a d , a n d s o
provides m y departure point.

A s b o t h w r i t e r a n d l o v e r , L o u i s e C o l e t is c a s t i n t h e c o r r e s p o n d e n c e i n t h e r o l e
o f s c a p e g o a t f o r F l a u b e r t , e m b o d i m e n t o f a literary a n d a n a m o r o u s s t y l e h e d i s -
o w n s a n d w h i c h h e expresses through m y t h s of gender current in his m i l i e u This
i n i t i a l p e r s p e c t i v e y i e l d s , o n t h e o n e h a n d , a m i m i n g o f t h e tired s c r i p t o f w o m -
an's p h y s i o l o g y i n s c r i b e d as h e r s o c i a l d e s t i n y a n d f e m i n i n i t y p a t h o l o g i z e d as h y s -
teria. O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , it b e g i n s to r e v e a l h o w F l a u b e r t , i n t h e v e r y p r o c e s s o f
a f f i r m i n g t h e c u l t u r a l text, u n s e t t l e s its a x i o m s b y c r o s s i n g b a c k a n d f o r t h o v e r t h e
very lines o f sex, gender, a n d p a t h o l o g y that h e reinscribes. T h i s d i s l o c a t i o n o f
cultural c o m m o n p l a c e s relating to writing a n d the b o d y will be m y s e c o n d c o n -
c e r n ; it w i l l l e a d finally t o a d i s c u s s i o n o f h y s t e r i a i n F l a u b e r t as t h a t t u r n i n g p o i n t
at w h i c h t h e d i c h o t o m o u s c o n s t r u c t i o n s c o n s t i t u t i v e o f t h e d i a g n o s i s in the mid-
nineteenth century (female/male, body/mind, fragmentation/cohes'ion) can no
l o n g e r h o l d . Hysteria, erstwhile sexual marker, p o i n t o f g e n d e r d e m a r c a t i o n be-
c o m e s i n t h e s e letters a p o i n t o f i n d i s t i n c t i o n , t h e p l a c e w h e r e g e n d e r ( a n d o t h e r )
distinctions fade into e a c h other.

A l t h o u g h I a t t r i b u t e to F l a u b e r t ' s literary i n t u i t i o n s p o r a d i c i n s i g h t s t h a t t r a n -
s c e n d t h e i d e o l o g i c a l f r a m e o f h i s s o c i e t y , I d o n o t w a n t to c l a i m t h a t h e w a s a l e s s e r
m i s o g y n i s t t h a n his c o n t e m p o r a r i e s , or that h e h a d a n y s e m b l a n c e o f a p r o t o f e m -
mist c o n s c i o u s n e s s . T h e f o l l o w i n g discussion will m a k e clear that despite F l a u -
bert's w i l l e d a l i e n a t i o n f r o m h i s s o c i e t y a n d h i s i m a g i n a t i v e f l i g h t s b e y o n d it, h e
w
- a- sa c r e a t u r e a n d a c a p t i v e o f t h e c u l t u r a l u n c o n s c i o u s o f h i s t i m e .

LES FLEURS BLANCHES DE L'ESPRIT

In t h e c o u r s e o f t h e s e l f - l a c e r a t i n g stylistic p i l g r i m a g e t h a t t h e w r i t i n g o f Madame
Bovary c o n s t i t u t e s f o r F l a u b e r t , a n d w h i c h h i s letters r e c o r d , h e e v o l v e s a b i p o l a r
c o n c e p t u a l s y s t e m t h a t r o u g h l y c o r r e s p o n d s t o t h e stylistic m e t h o d s a n d e f f e c t s
s i n c e c a n o n i z e d as realist a n d r o m a n t i c . T h e p o s i t i v e a x i s o f t h i s Manichean
m o d e l is d e f i n e d b y o b s e r v a t i o n , m i m e s i s , d i s c i p l i n e , c o n t a i n m e n t , a n d i m p e r -
s o n a l i t y ; t h e o t h e r is n e g a t i v e l y d e f i n e d b y s e n t i m e n t , l y r i c i s m , s e l f - i n d u l g e n c e
e f f u s i o n , a n d s e l f - r e f e r e n c e . T h e t w o p a r a d i g m s o f h i s a n a l o g i c a l m o d e l are f u r -
t h e r i d e n t i f i e d as m a s c u l i n e a n d f e m i n i n e . " C e q u i fait la f o r c e d u n e o e u v r e " e x -
EPISTOLARY NARRATIVES
80 p l a i n s F l a u b e r t , V e s t l a vesee [la v i r i l i t e ] , c o m m e o n d i t v u l g a i r e m e n t , e ' e s t d i r e
u n e l o n g u e e n e r g i e q u i c o u r t d u n b o u t l a u t r e e t n e f a i b l i t pas" ( 2 : 3 0 3 , 1 3 A p r i l
1 8 5 3 ) 2 [ " W h a t g i v e s a w o r k its f o r c e is v i r i l i t y ; t h a t is, a l o n g - l a s t i n g e n e r g y t h a t
runs t h r o u g h o u t a n d doesn't weaken"]. B u t t h e interests of t h e true a n d the m i -
m e t i c are o f t e n f o i l e d by t h e likes o f L a m a r t i n e , Flaubert's stylistic n e m e s i s a n d t h e
quintessential m o d e l , in his correspondence, of an effeminate romanticism. In
l a n g u a g e t h a t is a l w a y s c l i n i c a l l y g r a p h i c , b u t g r a p h i c a l l y i n c o n s i s t e n t , Flaubert
rejects A l p h o n s e d e L a m a r t i n e a n d his a e s t h e t i c f o l l o w e r s as i n a d e q u a t e m a l e s or
as c a s t r a t i : " C ' e s t u n e s p r i t e u n u q u e , l a c o u i l l e l u i m a n q u e , il n'a j a m a i s p i s s e q u e
d e l ' e a u c l a i r e " ( 2 : 2 9 9 , 6 A p r i l 1 8 5 3 ) [ " H e is a s p i r i t u a l e u n u c h , h e h a s n o b a l l s , h e
n e v e r p i s s e d a n y t h i n g b u t c l e a r w a t e r " ] ; a l t e r n a t i v e l y , h e d a m n s t h e m as f e m a l e ,
c o m p a r i n g t h e i r s t y l i s t i c a f f e c t a t i o n t o " d e s fleurs b l a n c h e s d e l ' e s p r i t " ( 2 : 3 1 0 , 20
April 1 8 5 3 ) ["vaginal discharges of the mind"].

T h o u g h t h i s s y s t e m o f i m a g e s is m a n i f e s t l y i n p l a c e w i t h o u t t h e r e f e r e n t i a l s u p -
port o f a c t u a l w o m e n a n d m e n ( L a m a r t i n e f u n c t i o n s as a s u f f i c i e n t b u t by n o
m e a n s n e c e s s a r y trigger), t h e i m a g e s i n t e n s i f y i n c h a r g e a n d i n f r e q u e n c y w h e n
F l a u b e r t t a p s L o u i s e C o l e t s i n k f l o w a n d b o d y fluids a s n e g a t i v e s o u r c e f o r h i s s y s -
t e m . W h e n t h i s h a p p e n s , a l o g i c t h a t m i g h t b e n a m e d ad feminam as w e l l a s ad
hominem takes over his imagery: Flaubert, p r o p o n e n t o f t h e "ligne droite g e o m e -
t r i q u e " ( 2 : 4 0 , 31 J a n u a r y 1 8 5 2 ) ["straight g e o m e t r i c line"], p l a y s straight m a n to
L o u i s e Colet's w o m a n l y m e a n d e r s , striving repeatedly to c o n t a i n lyricism's u n i -
versal s t r e a m i n g by c o r r e c t i n g Colet's b o d i l y text a n d rewriting h e r verses. A s p o o r
style c o m e s i n c r e a s i n g l y to b e e m b o d i e d , for Flaubert, by L o u i s e Colet's f e m a l e -
ness, a n d p u r e style p o t e n t i a l l y by h i s o w n m a n h o o d , t h e literary q u e s t b e c o m e s a
m o r e intimate kind of operation.

F l a u b e r t , spiritual h e i r to t h e l e g e n d a r y D u t c h boy, tries s i n g l e h a n d e d l y to stop

t h e o v e r f l o w o f Colet's f e m i n i n e literary sensibilities by r e c o m m e n d i n g a l t e r a t i o n s
o f h e r f e m a l e p h y s i o l o g y . H e f i n d s h e r t a l e n t d i l u t e d b y w h a t h e t e r m s "le v a g u e , la
t e n d r o - m a n i e f e m i n i n e " ["vagueness, woman's m a n i a c a l tenderness"], a n d advises
a c c o r d i n g l y : "II n e f a u t p a s , q u a n d o n e s t a r r i v e t o n d e g r e , q u e l e l i n g e s e n t e l e
lait. . . . R e n t r e , resserre, c o m p r i m e les s e i n s d e t o n c o e u r , q u ' o n y v o i e d e s m u s -
c l e s et n o n u n e g l a n d e " ( 2 : 3 0 4 , 13 April 1 8 5 3 ) [ " S o m e o n e w h o h a s risen t o y o u r
level m u s t n o t allow her underwear to s m e l l of milk. . . . Pull in, tighten, c o m p r e s s
y o u r heart's breasts, s o that w e s e e m u s c l e s t h e r e a n d n o t a gland"]. T h e extraordi-
nary m e t a p h o r i c v i o l e n c e o f this request calls for c o m m e n t s I will temporarily d e -
fer. F o r t h e m o m e n t I w a n t t o f o l l o w F l a u b e r t ' s m o r e g e n e r a l m e t a p h o r i c d r i f t t o
point o u t that the milk m e t a p h o r quite ordinarily expresses woman's writing (and
w r i t i n g l i k e a w o m a n ) i n t h e Correspondance, a n d t h a t m i l k i n t u r n is e a s i l y a n d f r e -
q u e n t l y r e p l a c e d t h e r e b y a n y o n e o f a n u m b e r o f o t h e r b o d y fluids t h a t a r e u s u a l l y

2
A s J e a n B r u n e a u n o t e s i n h i s e d i t i o n o f F l a u b e r t ' s Correspondance, vesee is a N o r m a n t e r m f o r virilite

(2:1157).
 THE PHYSIOLOGY OF STYLE
b u t n o t n e c e s s a r i l y e n d e m i c t o w o m e n . 3 S o at a n o t h e r p o i n t F l a u b e r t c o u n s e l s 81
C o l e t : " T u arriveras la p l e n i t u d e d e t o n t a l e n t e n d e p o u i l l a n t t o n s e x e " ( 2 : 1 7 7 , 16
N o v e m b e r 1 8 5 2 ) ["You w i l l f u l f i l l y o u r t a l e n t b y s h e d d i n g y o u r sex"]. B u t i t i s w h e n
F l a u b e r t r e a d s La Servante, C o l e t s verse narrative a b o u t a y o u n g peasant w o m a n
w h o (like C o l e t ) loves books, loves a writer w h o a b u s e s her, n o u r i s h e s a secret desire
t o w r i t e ( a n d , u n l i k e C o l e t , f a i l s ) , t h a t t h e c u r r e n t o f i n v e c t i v e s r e a c h e s flood l e v e l .
It s p i l l s o u t i n a l e t t e r w r i t t e n t o j u s t i f y f o r t y p a g e s o f c r i t i c i s m o f La Servante: "Ne
s e n s - t u p a s q u e t o u t s e d i s s o u t , m a i n t e n a n t , p a r l e relachement, par 1 e l e m e n t h u -
m i d e , par les l a r m e s , par le bavardage, par le laitage. La litterature c o n t e m p o r a i n e
e s t n o y e e d a n s l e s r e g i e s d e f e m m e " ( 2 : 5 0 8 , 15 J a n u a r y 1 8 5 4 ) ["Aren't y o u a w a r e o f
h o w e v e r y t h i n g is b e i n g d i s s o l v e d n o w , b y letting go, b y a l l t h a t is d a m p , b y t e a r s , b y
c h a t t e r i n g , b y m i l k . C o n t e m p o r a r y l i t e r a t u r e is d r o w n i n g i n m e n s t r u a l flow"]. The
d e c l a r a t i o n o f l i t e r a t u r e ' s f e m i n i z a t i o n r h e t o r i c a l l y e n a c t s its h y s t e r i c i z a t i o n a s
well, according to n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y tenets. T h r o u g h a kind of m e t o n y m i c col-
lapse o f writer a n d text, w o m a n a n d writing, t h e writing itself b e c o m e s that ill-
w r o u g h t urn, that leaking vessel to w h i c h w o m e n , particularly hysterics, are m o r e
ordinarily c o m p a r e d . W o m a n ' s writing ( a n d by e x t e n s i o n , w o m a n l i k e writing), by
i m p l i c a t i o n t h e h y s t e r i c ' s t e x t , b e c o m e s t h e h y s t e r i c a l t e x t . It is w o r t h n o t i n g t h a t
Flaubert's c o n s t r u c t i o n of this overflowing body e p i t o m i z e d by the mortal threat of
menstrual blood foreshadows a certain body of our contemporary theory relating
f e m i n i n e w r i t i n g t o s u r g i n g b o d y fluids. T o r e c o g n i z e F l a u b e r t a s a p r e c u r s o r y t h e o -
r e t i c i a n o f ecriture feminine, a n d t h e l o v e d a n d l o a t h e d b o d y o f h i s C o l e t as o n e o f
its f e a r s o m e s o u r c e s , is p o t e n t i a l l y t o d i s p l a c e a n d r e v a l o r i z e t h e t e x t of ecriture fem-
inine.* C o r r e l a t i v e l y , it is t o u n s e t t l e a l l c e r t a i n t y a b o u t h i s o w n t e x t u a l o r i e n t a t i o n .

3
See, for instance, this c o m m e n t a r y a b o u t La Servante: " T u as fait d e l'art u n d e v e r s o i r p a s s i o n s une

e s p e c e d e p o t d e c h a m b r e o le t r o p - p l e i n d e je n e sais q u o i a c o u l e . Cela ne sent pas bon" (2^502

9 - 1 0 January 1852) ["You m a d e of art a n outlet for t h e passions, a sort of c h a m b e r pot w h e r e t h e over-

flow o f w h o k n o w s w h a t h a s d r i p p e d . It d o e s n o t s m e l l g o o d " ] . Flaubert follows his eras belief that all

of w o m a n ' s secretions, n o t only those obviously based in sexuality, are m o r e considerable t h a n those of

t h e i r m a l e c o u n t e r p a r t s . A s D r . B r c h e t p u t it:

T o u t le m o n d e sait a v e c q u e l l e facilite les l a r m e s c o u l e n t c h e z la f e m m e , c o m b i e n la

t r a n s p i r a t i o n et la p e r s p i r a t i o n c u t a n e e s o n t faciles et a b o n d a n t e s , c o m b i e n la d i g e s t i o n est

r a p i d e , c a u s e d e la f o r m a t i o n p l u s p r o m p t e d u s u e g a s t r i q u e et d e la s e c r e t i o n p l u s prompte

a u s s i d e la bile; c o m b i e n e n f i n les u r i n e s s e c r e t e e s s e m b l e n t se p r e s s e r d e s ' a m a s s e r d a n s la vessie

p o u r etre plus tot evacuees.

Everyone knows how easily woman's tears flow, how ready and abundant are woman's trans-
piration and perspiration, how quick is her digestion because of her more rapid formation of
gastric juice and her more rapid secretion of bile; finally, how urine, once secreted, seems in a
hurry to collect in the bladder in order to be more quickly eliminated.

J. L . B r c h e t , Traite de l'hysterie (Paris: Bailliere, 1847), 67.

4
M y i m p l i c a t i o n t h a t ecriture feminine is b o r n o f a m a l e p e r s p e c t i v e o n w o m e n ' s w r i t i n g a n d women's

b o d i e s is d e l i b e r a t e a n d , t h o u g h o u t s i d e t h e p u r v i e w o f t h i s d i s c u s s i o n , m e r i t s f u r t h e r e x a m i n a t i o n . As
EPISTOLARY NARRATIVES
82 For in passing o n e m u s t r e c o g n i z e in the f o r m o f Flaubert's critique his o w n re-
lchement, h i s s t r e a m o f r e p r o a c h that k n o w s n o b o u n d s . W e m i g h t ask w h y La
Servante a m o n g all o f L o u i s e Colet's works m o s t p o w e r f u l l y u n c h a n n e l s Flaubert's
ire. T h i s t e x t is a r g u a b l y n o m o r e w o r t h y o f s t y l i s t i c r e p r o a c h t h a n o t h e r s o f h e r s
t h a t h e p r a i s e s . 5 H i s s t y l i s t i c c e n s u r e is a c t i v a t e d b y o t h e r i r r i t a t i o n s , foremost
a m o n g w h i c h is C o l e t ' s i n t i m a t e r e l a t i o n s h i p t o h e r s u b j e c t a w o m a n ' s a s p i r a -
tions, a w o m a n ' s w r i t i n g a subject and a relationship that c a n n o t be indifferent to
h i m as h e is w r i t i n g h i s r e m a r k a b l y p a r a l l e l Madame Bovary.

O n e m i g h t a r g u e t h a t M a r i e t t e o f La Servante is a n E m m a B o v a r y b e t t e r l o v e d
or at least m o r e o p e n l y e m b r a c e d by h e r creator. In fact F l a u b e r t v e h e m e n t l y c o n -
d e m n s C o l e t ' s l a c k o f d i s t a n c e f r o m h e r s u b j e c t : " T u as e c r i t t o u t c e l a a v e c u n e p a s -
s i o n personnelle q u i t'a t r o u b l e l a v u e " ( 2 : 5 0 2 , 9 - 1 0 J a n u a r y 1 8 5 4 ) [ " Y o u w r o t e a l l
t h a t w i t h a personal p a s s i o n t h a t c l o u d e d y o u r vision"]; h e d i s a p p r o v e s as w e l l o f
h e r e l e v a t i o n o f M a r i e t t e , w h o is f o r F l a u b e r t " u n e f e m m e s u p e r i e u r e " ( 2 : 4 8 2 , 18
D e c e m b e r 1 8 5 3 ) ["a s u p e r i o r w o m a n " ] w h i c h is t o say, u n l i k e E m m a B o v a r y a s
F l a u b e r t w o u l d h a v e it m o s t o f t h e t i m e , b u t v e r y m u c h l i k e L o u i s e C o l e t . 6 Is n o t
t h e n his reproach of Colet's insufficient distinction f r o m her character a cover for
t h e doubling o f a n o t h e r difference: t h e d o u b l e i m a g e of alterity that s h e a n d M a -

for the menstrual metaphor, it s h o u l d a l s o p e r h a p s b e c o n s i d e r e d f r o m a m o r e l i t e r a l s t a n d p o i n t . Flau-

b e r t ' s o b s e s s i o n w i t h L o u i s e C o l e t ' s m e n s t r u a l p e r i o d s is a p p a r e n t f r o m a r e a d i n g o f h i s l e t t e r s , i n which

h e refers to t h e m by t h e c o d e t e r m "les Anglais." T h e obsession, explicitly related to his d r e a d of patern-

ity, is a r g u a b l y n o t e n t i r e l y a b s o r b e d , s o t o s p e a k , b y t h i s f e a r . C o n s i d e r , f o r e x a m p l e , his references to

k e e p i n g a s a " r e l i c " a h a n d k e r c h i e f s o a k e d i n L o u i s e C o l e t ' s b l o o d ( 1 : 2 7 3 , 4~S August 1846; 1:308, 23

August 1846). W h a t e v e r the e x p l a n a t i o n , the letters suggest that his r h y t h m of writing was interrupted

o r r e i n f o r c e d by t h e delays a n d arrivals of his lover's p e r i o d s , h e n c e t h e d o u b l e r e a d i n g of his statement

that "la litterature contemporaine se noye dans les regies de f e m m e " ["contemporary literature is

d r o w n i n g in menstrual flow"].
5
M o s t n o t e w o r t h y p e r h a p s are s o m e lines C o l e t w r o t e in c o m m e m o r a t i o n of a n early tryst in M a n t e s

lines F l a u b e r t praised for c o n t a i n i n g "de vraies belles choses" ["some really fine things"]although he

protested that h e r description of h i m was too flattering (1:370-71, 30 September 1846):

C o m m e u n buffle i n d o m p t e des deserts d'Amerique,

V i g o u r e u x et s p e r b e e n ta f o r c e athletique,

B o n d i s s a n t Sur m o n sein tes noirs c h e v e u x epars

S a n s j a m a i s t ' e p u i s e r t u m ' i n f u s a i s la vie. ( 1 : 3 7 0 , n . 3)

Like an untamed buffalo from the American deserts,

With the superb strength of your athletic prowess,
Panting on my breast, and with your black hair flying
Without ever tiring you filled me with life.
6
I n f a c t F l a u b e r t o f t e n w r i t e s t o C o l e t t o t h e e f f e c t t h a t s h e is a s u p e r i o r w o m a n , a w o m a n better than

the others, a w o m a n like a m a n . O n Flaubert's alternate e m b r a c i n g a n d repudiating of E m m a , see Vic-

t o r B r o m b e r t ' s c l a s s i c b u t s t i l l t i m e l y c o m m e n t a r y i n The Novels of Flaubert (Princeton: Princeton Uni-

versity Press, 1966). For a view of E m m a B o v a r y a s a s u p e r i o r w o m a n , s e e M a r i o V a r g a s L l o s a ' s The Per-

petual Orgy: Flaubert and "Madame Bovary," trans. H e l e n L a n e ( N e w York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux,

1986).
I

THE P H Y S I O L O G Y OF STYL I
riette jointly represent for h i m , w h i c h in t u r n reflects, in duplicate, his own differ- 83
e n c e f r o m h i m s e l f ? For all t h e t i m e F l a u b e r t is m a r k i n g off a n d distancing a cer-
tain writing style a n d a certain sensibility as distinctly f e m i n i n e , even as h e is
d e t e r m i n e d l y g r o u n d i n g this gender-specific aesthetic sensibility in sexual differ-
e n c e , h e is u n d e r m i n i n g t h e gender-sex c o n n e c t i o n by his o w n (intermittent)
identification with a " f e m i n i n e " style a n d sensibility.

DIKES, DAMS, AND AQUEDUCTS

Early in his c o r r e s p o n d e n c e with Louise C o l e t , F l a u b e r t writes to h e r that w h e n

h e is in love, this s e n t i m e n t b e c o m e s for h i m " u n e i n o n d a t i o n q u i s ' e p a n c h e t o u t
l ' e n t o u r " (1:297, 12 A u g u s t 1846) ["a flood that spreads everywhere a r o u n d " ] . In
t h e s a m e letter, t h e s e n t i m e n t a l deluge spills over into aesthetics; F l a u b e r t , r e m i n -
iscing a b o u t his past, a n n o u n c e s a writing project: "A q u e l q u e jour j ecrirai t o u t
cela . . . cette poesie ruisselante et triste d u c o e u r de l'adolescent, voil u n e c o r d e
n e u v e q u e p e r s o n n e n'a t o u c h e e " ( 1 : 2 9 5 - 9 6 , 12 August 1846) [ " S o m e day I will
write all t h a t . . . t h e sad poetry streaming f r o m an adolescent heart; there is a n e w
a n d u n t o u c h e d subject"]. A l t h o u g h o n e m i g h t well a r g u e t h a t F l a u b e r t h a d al-
ready p o u r e d forth torrents of s u c h poetry in t h e juvenilia, h e was to "write all t h a t "
again, n o w c h a n n e l e d p e r s o n i f i e d a n d t r a n s s e x u a l i z e d i n t h e d a y d r e a m s a n d
fantasies of t h e adolescent E m m a .
In t h e i n t e r i m d e c a d e F l a u b e r t w o u l d , if n o t h i n g else, learn d i s p l a c e m e n t a n d
p r o j e c t i o n ; h e slowly b e c a m e a veritable e n g i n e e r of t h e psychic fluids, b u t ironi-
cally a victim as well of his o w n hydraulic c o n s t r u c t i o n . W h i l e working o n Ma-
dame Bovary, h e describes his creative self (in a p p a r e n t negative contrast to Colet's
verbal facility) as a clogged a q u e d u c t : " M o i , je suis c o m m e les vieux a q u e d u c s . II y
a t a n t de detritus a u x bords de m a p e n s e e q u e l l e circule l e n t e m e n t , et n e t o m b e
q u e goutte goutte d u b o u t d e m a p l u m e " (2:469, 29 N o v e m b e r 1853) ["I a m like
old a q u e d u c t s . T h e r e is so m u c h debris o n t h e edges of m y t h o u g h t t h a t it c i r c u -
lates slowly, a n d c a n only fall by droplets f r o m t h e tip of m y pen"]. T h e work of
c h a n n e l i n g , plugging, d a m m i n g , a n d diking t h a t h e brutally a n d u n a m b i v a l e n t l y
imposes u p o n Colet's b r i m m i n g style is a m o r e equivocal process w h e r e his own
sensibilities are c o n c e r n e d : "II est etrange," h e remarks to C o l e t , " c o m b i e n toutes
m e s rigoles se b o u c h e n t , c o m m e toutes m e s plaies se f e r m e n t et f o n t d i g u e vis--
vis les flots interieurs. L e pus r e t o m b e en dedans. Q u e p e r s o n n e n'en sente l'odeur
c'est t o u t ce q u e je d e m a n d e " (1:437, early F e b r u a r y 1847) ["It is strange h o w all
m y c h a n n e l s are b e c o m i n g clogged, h o w all m y w o u n d s are closing a n d act as
dikes for t h e i n n e r floods. T h e pus flows back in. All I ask is t h a t n o o n e smell t h e
odor"]. Flaubert's closing wish that n o o n e smell t h e pus surely implies volition
even p e r h a p s r e t e n t i o n , yet t h e initial b e w i l d e r m e n t before his o w n e m o t i o n a l
EPISTOLARY NARRATIVES
84 d a m m i n g suggests t h a t this is an u n w i l l e d , externally i m p o s e d constraint. His a m -
bivalence speaks in similar figures w h e n h e s a y s o f h i s h e a r t "il a l ' e m b o u c h u r e
e t r o i t e e t e m b a r r a s s e e , l e l i q u i d e n ' e n s o r t p a s a i s e m e n t , il r e m o n t e l e c o u r a n t e t
t o u r b i l l o n n e " ( 1 : 4 2 1 , 2 0 D e c e m b e r 1 8 4 6 ) ["its m o u t h is n a r r o w a n d o b s t r u c t e d ;
t h e fluid c a n n o t e a s i l y g e t o u t ; it fights t h e c u r r e n t a n d w h i r l s a r o u n d " ] . T h e h e a r t
blood's e d d y i n g resistance to c o n t a i n m e n t a resistance that F r e u d w o u l d later
t h e o r i z e as t h e "return o f t h e r e p r e s s e d " i n v i t e s a r e c o n s i d e r a t i o n o f a n y d e c l a r e d
condemnation of overflowing sentiment.

I n k is t h e i d e a l c i p h e r f o r a n e q u i v o c a t i o n w h o s e p a i r i n g s o f h o r r o r a n d d e s i r e ,
f e a r a n d p l e a s u r e a r e i n o t h e r c o n t e x t s o n l y i m p l i e d : its m a t e r i a l f o r e i g n n e s s t o t h e
body simultaneously displaces and permits symbolic continuity with the body
fluids. G i v e n F l a u b e r t ' s i m a g e o f h i s t h o u g h t as a fluid t h a t d r i p s f r o m h i s p e n , w e
hardly n e e d w a i t for t h e d y i n g E m m a Bovary to suffer f r o m t h e bitter taste o f ink or
for a b l a c k l i q u i d to s t r e a m f r o m h e r corpse's m o u t h in order to u n d e r s t a n d ink as
y e t a n o t h e r figure i n t h e v e r y fluid s y m b o l i c e c o n o m y o f t h e b o d y . N o w h e r e i n f a c t
is F l a u b e r t ' s g e n e r a l a m b i v a l e n c e a b o u t flowing substances so explicitly articulated
as i n h i s m i x e d o d e t o t h e t r a n s u b s t a n t i a t e d b o d y fluid t h a t i n k r e p r e s e n t s f o r h i m :
"L'encre est m o n e l e m e n t n a t u r e l . B e a u l i q u i d e , d u reste, q u e c e l i q u i d e s o m b r e !
e t d a n g e r e u x ! C o m m e o n s'y n o i e ! c o m m e il a t t i r e ! " ( 2 : 3 9 5 , 1 4 A u g u s t 1 8 5 3 ) ["Ink
is m y n a t i v e e l e m e n t . It is a b e a u t i f u l l i q u i d b e s i d e s , t h i s d a r k a n d d a n g e r o u s
l i q u i d ! H o w o n e d r o w n s i n it! H o w it e n t i c e s ! " ] .

F l a u b e r t ' s c e n s u r e d flow o f C o l e t ' s w o m a n l y v e r s e , b u t a l s o t h e dammed-up

s t r e a m s o f h i s o w n l y r i c y o u t h , s h o u l d t h e n b e c a r e f u l l y filtered f o r t r a c e s o f t h e f a -
tal a t t r a c t i o n h e m u c h m o r e f r e e l y a t t r i b u t e s t o i n k . F l a u b e r t ' s l e t t e r s r e i n f o r c e P e -
ter S t a l l y b r a s s a n d A l l o n W h i t e ' s b e l i e f t h a t " d i s g u s t a l w a y s b e a r s t h e i m p r i n t o f d e -
s i r e , " 7 b u t h i s e x p r e s s e d r e p u g n a n c e u s u a l l y w a s h e s o v e r d e s i r e ' s i n s c r i p t i o n . It is
t h e n h e l p f u l t o find, a s w e p l u m b t h e t o r r e n t s o f d i s g u s t , o c c a s i o n a l e x p r e s s i o n s o f
desire. T h e y o f t e n cluster a r o u n d h e r tears, w h i c h p l a g u e a n d f a s c i n a t e a n d attract
h i m : " O h , si j ' e t a i s si s e n s u e l q u e t u l e c r o i s , c o m m e je l e s a i m e r a i s t e s p l e u r s ! E l l e s
t e r e n d e n t si b e l l e q u a n d e l l e s c o u l e n t l e l o n g d e t e s j o u e s p l e s e t v o n t m o u r i r s u r
ta g o r g e c h a u d e e t b l a n c h e ! " ( 1 : 3 3 1 , 6 S e p t e m b e r 1 8 4 6 ) [ " O h , if I w e r e a s s e n s u a l
as y o u t h i n k m e , h o w I w o u l d l o v e y o u r tears! T h e y m a k e y o u l o o k s o b e a u t i f u l
w h e n they flow d o w n your pale cheeks a n d go o n to die o n your w a r m white
breast!"]. W e c a n u n d e r s t a n d w e e p i n g as a sort o f t r a n s i t i o n a l fluidity, midway be-
t w e e n t h e p h y s i o l o g i c a l a n d t h e m o r a l : a n o b l e r l e a k i n g , a s it w e r e , a n i n c o n t i -
n e n c e of t h e soul. B u t Flaubert also voices to L o u i s e C o l e t a v i g o r o u s nostalgia for
w h a t w e m i g h t call his o w n contained "poetic phlegm":

7
Peter Stallybrass and Allon W h i t e , The Politics and Poetics ofTransgression (Ithaca: Cornell University

Press, 1986), 191.

I

THE P H Y S I O L O G Y OF STYL I
Vous etes h e u r e u x , vous autres, les poetes, vous avez u n deversoir d a n s 85
vos vers. Q u a n d q u e l q u e e h o s e vous g e n e , vous c r a c h e z u n s o n n e t et cela
soulage le coeur. M a i s n o u s autres, pauvres diables d e prosateurs, q u i
t o u t e p e r s o n n a l i t e est interdite (et m o i surtout), songe d o n e toutes les
a m e r t u m e s q u i n o u s r e t o m b e n t sur l a m e , toutes les glaires m o r a l e s q u i
n o u s p r e n n e n t la gorge!
II y a q u e l q u e c h o s e d e faux d a n s m a p e r s o n n e et d a n s m a vocation. Je
suis n e lyrique, et je n'ecris pas de vers. (2:457, 25 October 1853)

You are fortunate, you poets, you have an outlet in your verses. When something
troubles you, you spit out a sonnet and that eases the heart. But we poor devils who
write prose, to whom any personality is forbidden (especially to me), think of all the
bitterness that falls on our soul, of all the moral p h l e g m that catches in our throat'
There is something false in my person and in my vocation. I was born lyrical,
and I do not write verse.

Flaubert's poets a n d prose writers, respectively spitters a n d swallowers of e m o -

t i o n , alternative versions of leaking w o m e n a n d dike-building m e n , are avatars of
his m o r e celebrated pair of bonshommes: "II y a en m o i , litterairement p a r l a n t ,
d e u x b o n s h o m m e s distincts: u n q u i est epris de gueulades, de lyrisme, de grands
vols d'aigle, de toutes les sonorites de la phrase et des s o m m e t s d e l'idee; u n a u t r e
q u i fouille et creuse le vrai tant qu'il p e u t " (2:30, 16 January 1852) [ " T h e r e are in
m e , literarily speaking, two distinct fellows: o n e taken with h e a r i n g his o w n voice,
with lyricism, with great eagle flights, with sonorities of l a n g u a g e a n d exalted
ideas; a n o t h e r w h o b u r r o w s into a n d digs u p t r u t h as m u c h as h e can"]. As t h e two
bonshommes, conceived as g e n d e r n e u t r a l , evolve, they u n d e r g o sexual differen-
tiation. T h e lyrical bonhomme, repudiated, b e c o m e s a bonne femme, Flaubert's
repressed O t h e r , a n d is externalized as t h e f e m a l e principle, t h e eternal f e m i n i n e :
t h e life flow h e infuses into his creature E m m a Bovary, w h o s e r o u g h draft is L o u i s e
Colet.
C o n s i d e r t h e m e t a m o r p h o s e s of milk as representative of Flaubert's fluid crea-
tivity. H e r e first is w h a t h e writes to L o u i s e C o l e t in his own n a m e a b o u t their re-
c e n t tryst: "J'avais d a n s l a m e des oceans de c r e m e " (2:102, 9 J u n e 1852) ["I h a d
o c e a n s of c r e a m in m y soul"]. H e r e n o w are his a d m o n i t i o n s to C o l e t a b o u t h e r
style: "II n e f a u t pas, q u a n d o n est arrive ton degre, q u e le linge sente le lait"
(2:304, 13 April 1853) [ " S o m e o n e w h o has risen to your level m u s t n o t allow h e r
u n d e r w e a r to smell of milk"] a n d " N e sens-tu pas q u e tout se dissout, m a i n t e n a n t ,
p a r . . . l e l a i t a g e " (2:508, 15 J a n u a r y 1854) ["Aren't you aware of h o w everything
is b e i n g dissolved n o w by . . . milk"]. A n d h e r e finally, this report of w h a t E m m a
E P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
86 B o v a r y f e e l s a f t e r m a k i n g l o v e w i t h R o d o l p h e f o r t h e first t i m e : " E l l e s e n t a i t s o n

c o e u r , d o n t les b a t t e m e n t s r e c o m m e n g a i e n t , e t l e s a n g c i r c u l e r d a n s sa c h a i r
c o m m e un fleuve d e lait" [ " S h e felt h e r h e a r t b e a t r e t u r n , a n d t h e b l o o d c o u r s i n g
t h r o u g h h e r flesh l i k e a r i v e r o f m i l k " ] . 8
T h e i n n e r o c e a n s o f c r e a m are n o t o n l y e x t e r n a l i z e d a n d projected, in the
c o u r s e o f t h e i r t r a n s f o r m a t i o n i n t o E m m a ' s rivers o f m i l k , b u t c o n s t r i c t e d a n d di-
luted. T h e pleasures o f s u f f u s i o n a n d f u s i o n apparent in the initial lyric p h r a s i n g
are d o u b l e d by a terror o f d r o w n i n g a n d d i s s o l u t i o n o f t e n e x p r e s s e d e l s e w h e r e , in
t h e letters to C o l e t , in t e r m s o f a n o m i n o u s a n d irresistible d r o w n i n g . H e writes of
s t y l e : "Je r e t r o u v a i s t o u j o u r s c h e z t o i je n e s a i s q u e l t o n n o y e d e s e n t i m e n t q u i a t -
t e n u a i t t o u t , e t a l t e r a i t j u s q u ' t o n e s p r i t " ( 1 : 4 4 6 , 7 M a r c h 1 8 4 7 ) ["I a l w a y s f o u n d
i n y o u a c e r t a i n t o n e d r o w n e d i n s e n t i m e n t t h a t d i m m e d a l l t h e rest, a n d a f f e c t e d
e v e n y o u r m i n d " ] . H e writes o f love: " T o n c o e u r est u n e s o u r c e intarissable, tu m ' y
fais b o i r e flots. II m ' i n o n d e . II m e p e n e t r e . Je m ' y n o i e " ( 1 : 2 8 4 , 8 - 9 August
1 8 4 6 ) [ " Y o u r h e a r t is a n i r r e p r e s s i b l e s o u r c e , y o u m a k e m e d r i n k o f it i n t o r r e n t s . It
floods m e . It p e n e t r a t e s m e . I d r o w n i n it"].

W r i t i n g t h e c r e s t o f h i s a m b i v a l e n t p a s s i o n f o r L o u i s e C o l e t , h e is c a r r i e d b a c k
to the ink-dark surge o f the tides within. Flaubert transcribes the terrible lure o f
t h e siren's s o n g f r o m t h e e c h o i n g r u s h o f h i s o w n i n n e r s e a s .

FROM DISSOLUTION TO FRAGMENTATION:

U N E A R A B E S Q U E EN MARQUETERIE

I n u n d a t i o n is t h e m o s t f r e q u e n t b u t b y n o m e a n s s o l e p h a n t a s m o f a n n i h i l a t i o n
t h a t h a u n t s F l a u b e r t ' s l e t t e r s t o C o l e t . D i s s o l u t i o n is c l o s e l y r e l a t e d t o f r a g m e n t a -
tion a n d disintegration, w h o s e effects o n the physical body a n d the writing corpus
are registered w i t h great regularity by Flaubert's devastated cries. A t thirty-two, h e
l a m e n t s : "Je v i e i l l i s , v o i l l e s d e n t s q u i s e n v o n t , e t l e s c h e v e u x q u i b i e n t o t s e r o n t
e n a l l e s . . . . C o m m e l e n e a n t n o u s e n v a h i t ! A p e i n e n e s , la p o u r r i t u r e com-
m e n c e " ( 2 : 2 8 9 , 3 1 M a r c h 1 8 5 3 ) ["I a m g r o w i n g o l d , m y t e e t h a r e g o i n g , a n d m y
h a i r w i l l s o o n b e g o n e . . . . H o w n o t h i n g n e s s i n v a d e s us! W e are b a r e l y b o r n
w h e n w e b e g i n t o rot"]. " C o m m e m e s c h e v e u x t o m b e n t ! " ( 2 : 4 4 8 , 7 O c t o b e r 1 8 5 3 )
[ " H o w m y h a i r is f a l l i n g o u t ! " ] r a g e s F l a u b e r t l a t e r t h a t y e a r . H i s b a l d i n g p a t e a n d
r o t t i n g t e e t h a n e n s e m b l e h e refers to as "ces d e c a d e n c e s p h y s i q u e s " ( 2 : 4 2 6 , 7

8
Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, ed. Jacques Suffel (Paris: G a m i e r Flammarion, 1979), 190;
trans. Paul de M a n ( N e w York: N o r t o n , 1965), 116. N o t e , too, a n a p p e a r a n c e of t h e s a m e i m a g e used

m o c k i n g l y to describe his preparatory r e a d i n g for t h e novel: "Voil d e u x jours q u e je t c h e d'entrer dans

des reves de jeunes filles et q u e je n a v i g u e p o u r c e l a d a n s les o c e a n s l a i t e u x d e la litterature castels,

t r o u b a d o u r s toques de velours p l u m e s blanches" (2:56, 3 M a r c h 1852) ["For t w o days I have been

t r y i n g t o e n t e r t h e dreams of young girls a n d for that reason I have b e e n sailing o n the milky oceans of

t h e literature of m a n o r houses, a n d of t r o u b a d o u r s w e a r i n g velvet caps with w h i t e plumes"].

c

THE P H Y S I O L O G Y OF STYLI
S e p t e m b e r 1853) ["this physical d e c a y i n g " ] - p u n c t u a t e h.s c o r r e s p o n d e n c e Sty- 8;
listic.fragmentation, t h e literary a n a l o g u e of a n a t o m i c a l d e c o m p o s i t i o n b e c o m e s
a n obsessive motif. O f his work o n Madame Bovary h e writes: " C est u n e serie d e
p a r a g r a p h e s t o u r n e s , arretes, et qui n e d e v a l e n t pas les u n s sur les autres II va fal-
loir les devisser, l c h e r les joints" (2:243, J a n u a r y 2853) ["It is a series of set
crafted paragraphs t h a t d o n o t flow into e a c h other. I will have to u n s c r e w t h e m
loosen t h e ,oints"]. H e counsels C o l e t a b o u t h e r writing in similar terms- " T u sais
q u e les b e a u x f r a g m e n t s n e f o n t rien. L'unite, l ' u n i t e , t o u t est l. L ' e n s e m b l e voil
ce q u i m a n q u e tons c e u x d ' a u j o u r d ' h u i . . . . M i l l e b e a u x endroits, pas u n e
o e u v r e (1:389, 14 O c t o b e r 1846)- ["You k n o w t h a t fine f r a g m e n t s are worth n o t h -
ing. Unity, unity is all. T h e w h o l e - t h a t is w h a t is missing in everyone's work to-
day. . . - A t h o u s a n d fine points, b u t n o t a work of art"].
It is i m p o r t a n t to establish that Flaubert's h o r r o r of d e c o m p o s i t i o n is a steady
b a c k g r o u n d refrain in his letters; w h e n h e t h e n accuses love in t h e n a m e of L o u i s e
o f shat
t e r i n g his syntax, tearing his body a n d soul, we are h e a r i n g just o n e of
m a n y variations o n a r e c u r r e n t t h e m e . ' " C est u n e c h o s e etrange avec toi c o m b i e n
] ecris m a l , ,e n'y mets pas de vanite litteraire" ["It is a c u r i o u s t h i n g t h a t I write so
badly to you; I d o n ' t b o t h e r with literary vanity"], h e tells h e r in a n u n u s u a l testi-
m o n i a l to love, c o n t i n u i n g : " M a i s c'est ainsi, t o u t se h e u r t e d a n s m e s lettres C'est
c o m m e si ,e voulais dire trois m o t s la fois" (1:367, 28 S e p t e m b e r 1846) ["But t h a t
is h o w it is; everything collides in m y letters. It is as if I tried to say t h r e e words at
o n c e ]. H e offers t h e following in a n a l o g o u s tribute to love's explosive power- " O n
n e se r e n c o n t r e q u ' e n se h e u r t a n t et c h a c u n , portant d a n s ses m a i n s ses entrailles
dechirees, a c c u s e l'autre q u i ramasse les siennes" (2:13, 23 O c t o b e r 1851) ["We
only m e e t by colliding, a n d e a c h o n e of us, carrying in his h a n d s his torn guts ac-
cuses t h e o t h e r w h o is picking u p h e r own"]. In this world of d u e l i n g words and'lov-
ers, u n i o n brings d i s j u n c t i o n , a n d life is a collision course with d e a t h A n d as
L m m a Bovary was to find after t h e ball was over, wholes leave holes in their wake
S o n voyage la Vaubyessard avait fait u n trou d a n s sa vie" ["Her j o u r n e y to V a u -
11
byessard h a d m a d e a gap in h e r life"], says t h e narrator of Madame Bovary echo-
ing F l a u b e r t , w h o in 1846 wrote to L o u i s e Colet: " T u as fait de m o n existence u n e
large b r e c h e . Je m'etais e n t o u r e d ' u n m u r sto.que; u n de tes regards l'a e m p r t e
c o m m e u n b o u l e t " (1:286, 9 A u g u s t 1846) ["You have t u r n e d m y existence into a

9
his c o m m e n t s o n the first Education sentimentale-, "C'est ardent, mais S a ponrrait etre plus

of Musset: P e r s o n n e n a fa.t d e plus b e a n x f r a g m e n t s q u e M[usset], m a . s e n q u e des f r a g m e n t s , pas

une oeuvre (2:163, 25 S e p t e m b e r ,852) ["No one has produced finer fragments than Mfusset} but
n o t h i n g but f r a g m e n t s ! n o t a w o r k of art!"].

>I w a n t t o r e s i s t t h e t e m p t a t i o n t o r e d u c e F l a u b e r t ' s f e a r s o f a n n i h i l a t i o n - e v e n w h e n at t h e h a n d s of

P l a t l t U d e S S U C h a s t h e d e u n
r r : J I T * " " or the "vagina dentata "
Haubert, Madame Bovary, 89; trans, de M a n , 40.
 I

E P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
88 large breach. I h a d s u r r o u n d e d m y s e l f w i t h a stoic wall; o n e o f your g l a n c e s d e m o l -
i s h e d it l i k e a c a n n o n b a l l " ] .
H e r e w e h a v e t o i m a g i n e t h e "stoic w a l l " falling like hair, like teeth; t h e e m o -
tional " m u s c u l a t u r e , " to use a preferred Flaubertian term, torn away so that n o
barrier r e m a i n s to separate inside a n d o u t s i d e , to protect t h e self f r o m t h e s u r g i n g
w a t e r s w i t h i n . 1 2 " L o u i s e C o l e t " is a u s e f u l n a m e i n h e r l o v e r ' s p s y c h i c v o c a b u l a r y ,
n o t o n l y for love, but for w h a t e v e r threatens to b r e a c h the dike o f his e x i s t e n c e
w h i c h is p e r h a p s t o say, o f h i s s t y l e .

For F l a u b e r t p e r c e i v e s h i s o w n b o d y , spirit, a n d text in a state o f o n g o i n g d e c o m -

p o s i t i o n a n d d i s s o l u t i o n a s t a t e w h o s e e x t r e m e f o r m is vaporizationwhile
i m a g i n i n g L o u i s e C o l e t a s w h o l e . L i k e a p a t c h w o r k , h e is " c o u s u d e p i e c e s e t d e
m o r c e a u x , p l e i n d e c o n t r a d i c t i o n s et d'absurdites" (1:426, January 1 8 4 7 ) [ " m a d e
o f s t i t c h e d - t o g e t h e r tatters a n d scraps, full o f c o n t r a d i c t i o n a n d absurdity"]. Oc-
c a s i o n a l l y L o u i s e C o l e t c a n , like a g o o d m o t h e r , reflect for h i m a n (illusory) i m a g e
of his o w n wholeness:

O n m ' a r e v e i l l e p o u r m ' a p p o r t e r ta l e t t r e . . . . C ' e s t v e n u c o m m e u n d e

ces b o n s baisers avec lesquels les m e r e s reveillent leurs enfants, caresse
m a t i n a l e q u i b e n i t t o u t e l a j o u r n e e . . . . E n t r e l e s l i g n e s , il m e s e m b l e
q u e je t ' a p e r g o i s m e s o u r i r e . Q u a n d m e s y e u x s ' a r r e t e n t a u b a s d e s p a g e s ,
je v o i s t o n l o n g regard t e n d r e q u i v i e n t m o i . (1:353, 2 0 S e p t e m b e r 1846)

I was awakened to receive your letter. . . . It came to me like one of those delicious
kisses with which mothers awaken their children, a morning caress that blesses the

12
F l a u b e r t consistently uses t h e m e t a p h o r of m u s c l e s or m u s c u l a t u r e to m e a n disciplined style or writ-

ing, or contained sentiment. Thus, for e x a m p l e , h e congratulates himself: "Style et muscles, tout est

souple encore" (2:206, 11 D e c e m b e r 1 8 5 2 ) [ " S t y l e a n d m u s c l e s , it is a l l s t i l l s u p p l e " ] , a n d h e s p e a k s ap-

provingly of sentences that are " t e n d u e s c o m m e des biceps d'athlete" (2:350, 6 June 1853) ["taut like

athletes' biceps"]; o n the other hand, he contrasts "force musculaire" to " e m o t i o n nerveuse" (2:252,

27 February 1853). Flaubert wears his m u s c u l a t u r e like a n exoskeleton, the male equivalent of the

"corset" h e advises L o u i s e C o l e t to d o n to control t h e passionate overflow of h e r m i n d (see p a g e 78,

supra).
S p e a k i n g of t h e fascist w r i t i n g / i m a g i n a t i o n of soldiers in t h e F r e i k o r p s b u t also m o r e generally, of

m a l e f a n t a s i e s K l a u s T h e w e l e i t w r i t e s : " T h e p e r s o n is s p l i t i n t o a n i n n e r r e a l m , c o n c e a l i n g a 'numbly

glowing, fluid ocean' a n d other dangers; a n d a restraining external shell, the m u s c l e a r m o r , w h i c h con-

tains the inner realm the way a cauldron contains boiling soup. T h e b u b b l i n g contents w a n t to get out;

e v e r y o n e o f t h e c i t e d c o n j u r a t i o n s o f w a r a n d c i v i l w a r is t o y i n g w i t h t h e p o s s i b i l i t y o f t h a t h o t , locked-

u p flood's e r u p t i n g . " T h e w e l e i t , Male Fantasies, trans. Stephen C o n w a y (Minneapolis: University of

M i n n e s o t a Press, 1987), 1:242. T h e resonances between the m e t a p h o r i c structures 1 find in Flaubert's

letters a n d those Theweleit finds in (soldier) m a l e s are o v e r w h e l m i n g . His chapter "Floods, Bodies,

Histories" has b e e n a great supportive presence for the writing of the present chapter, a n d has n o doubt

influenced m e in m o r e ways than I a m aware.

I

T H E P H Y S I O L O G Y OF STYLE
entire day. Between the lines, I think I see you smiling at me. When my eyes rest at 89
the end of the pages, I see your lingering tender gaze that comes to me. .

M o s t o f t h e t i m e , h o w e v e r , h i s s e n s e t h a t s h e is "all o f a p i e c e " s e r v e s o n l y t o e m -
p h a s i z e , b y c o n t r a s t , h i s o w n f r a g m e n t a t i o n a f r a g m e n t a t i o n h e s e e s d a i l y re-
flected in t h e mirror. In t h e grips o f a pre-Sartrean n a u s e a , struck w i t h the absur-
d i t y o f g r o o m i n g t h a t l o s i n g s t r u g g l e a g a i n s t d i s a r r a y , dirt, d e c a y , a n d death-
F l a u b e r t finds o n l y d i s i n t e g r a t i o n w i t h t h e s t u b b l e i n t h e m i r r o r :

Jamais. . . je n e m e f a i s l a b a r b e s a n s rire, t a n t g a m e p a r a i t b e t e . . . . T u
n e le sentiras pas toi q u i est d u n seul m o r c e a u , c o m m e u n bei h y m n e
d ' a m o u r e t d e p o e s i e . M o i je s u i s u n e a r a b e s q u e e n m a r q u e t e r i e , il y a d e s
m o r c e a u x d ' i v o i r e , d ' o r e t d e fer. II y e n a d e c a r t o n p e i n t . II y e n a d e
d i a m a n t . II y e n a d e f e r - b l a n c . ( 1 : ? 0 8 , 2 1 - 2 2 August 1846)

Never. . . do I shave without laughing, so stupid does it seem tome. . . . You

could not understand this, you who are all of a piece, like a beautiful song of love,
like poetry. But I am an arabesque of marquetry; there are pieces of ivory, of gold,
and of iron. Some are of painted cardboard. Some are of diamond, someoftin.

A n d y e t t h e r e is a n u n m i s t a k a b l e n u a n c e o f p r i d e , i f n o t o f g l o a t i n g , i n t h i s
c o m p a r i s o n that o n l y superficially privileges L o u i s e C o l e t . T o t h e integral har-
m o n y t h a t h i s l o v e r represents, F l a u b e r t a p p o s e s h i m s e l f as r e p r e s e n t i n g n o t total
d i s c o r d a n c e o r c h a o s , b u t r a t h e r a u n i t y m a d e o f d i s p a r a t e parts: " u n e a r a b e s q u e
e n marqueterie." U n i t y and fragmentation exist in tension in this intricate m a r -
quetry design, prefiguration of a cubist collage. T h e tension of a heterogeneous
e n s e m b l e , a h e t e r o c l i t i c w h o l e , m a d e o f bits a n d p i e c e s o f t i n as w e l l as o f d i a -
m o n d i m p l i e s a u n i t y o f art a n d n o t o f n a t u r e . O n e b e g i n s t o s u s p e c t t h a t F l a u -
bert's l i t e r a r y c o m p o s i t i o n d e p e n d s o n t h e n a t u r a l d e c o m p o s i t i o n t h a t o b s e s s e s
h i m , a n d t h a t h e seeks e v e n as h e flees; for Flaubert before W a l l a c e Stevens,
d e a t h is c l e a r l y t h e m o t h e r o f b e a u t y . 1 5 I n t h i s c o n t e x t w e c a n u n d e r s t a n d t h a t c u -
rious insistence o n separation and distance that V i n c e n t K a u f m a n n has so aptly
u n c o v e r e d in Flaubert's letters to his lover, e v e n d u r i n g t h e p e r i o d o f their greatest
i n t i m a c y . If it is t r u e , as K a u f m a n n h a s a r g u e d , t h a t t h e r e a s o n F l a u b e r t w r o t e s o

See Wallace Stevens, "Sunday Morning," in The Palm at the End of the Mind, ed. Holly Stevens
( N e w York: V i n t a g e , 1972), 7:

D e a t h is t h e m o t h e r o f b e a u t y ; h e n c e f r o m her,

Alone, shall c o m e fulfilment to o u r dreams,

A n d our desires
E P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
90 m u c h to L o u i s e C o l e t was " p o u r trouer et traverser tout h o r i z o n d'attente" ["to
pierce a n d to pass b e y o n d t h e h o r i z o n of anticipation"], wasn't this so t h a t h e
c o u l d t h e n i m p o s e , at t h e site of t h e constantly r e n e w e d r u p t u r e , t h e artificial
unity of writing? 1 4
It is as if t h e very (en)closure of Colet's body presents a unity t h a t m u s t b e dis-
r u p t e d in r e c o g n i t i o n of Flaubert's o w n f r a g m e n t a t i o n a n d to f u r n i s h t h e art-
ist's raw materials. So h e m u s t take apart h e r style, m u t i l a t e h e r b o d y a l o n g with
h e r w o m a n ' s m i n d . H e r e we m u s t recall t h e b o u n d breasts; a n d w e c a n take n o t e ,
as well, of his persistent fetishization of Louise C o l e t h i s sniffing of t h e p u r -
loined slippers h e loves " a u t a n t q u e toi" (1:284, 89 A u g u s t 1846) ["as m u c h as
you"], his h a n d l i n g of t h e locks of hair, t h e blood-soaked h a n d k e r c h i e f f o r fe-
tishization is a f o r m of d i s u n i f i c a t i o n , a d i s m e m b e r i n g gesture. F r a g m e n t wor-
ship ("mes reliques" is t h e t e r m F l a u b e r t uses [1:308, 23 A u g u s t 1846]) is a kind
of c o m p e n s a t i o n for a lost integrity, a loss t h a t h e repeatedly invokes: "Je n'ai e u
q u e d e u x o u trois a n n e e s o j'ai ete entier (de dix-sept d i x - n e u f ans e n v i r o n ) "
(2:289, 3 1 M a r c h 1853) ["I was w h o l e only for two or t h r e e years ( w h e n I was
a b o u t seventeen to nineteen)"]. In o t h e r words, F l a u b e r t as fetishist acts o u t t h e
suffered loss by inflicting it in t u r n , w h i l e at t h e s a m e t i m e a t t e m p t i n g to fill it sy-
n e c d o c h i c a l l y : by replacing t h e p l e n i t u d e that his lover represented, with bits a n d
pieces.
It is in t h e s a m e light t h a t we n e e d to u n d e r s t a n d Flaubert's persistent i m p u l s e
to t u r n L o u i s e C o l e t into a h e r m a p h r o d i t e . In words t h a t e c h o t h e stroke in
w h i c h h e suppressed t h e poetic flow with h e r breasts, h e refashions h e r a n a t o m y :
"J'ai t o u j o u r s essaye (mais il m e s e m b l e q u e j ' e c h o u e ) de faire d e toi u n h e r -
m a p h r o d i t e s u b l i m e . Je te veux h o m m e jusqu' la h a u t e u r d u v e n t r e (en d e s c e n -
dant). T u m ' e n c o m b r e s et m e troubles et t'abimes avec l ' e l e m e n t f e m e l l e " (2:548,
12 April 1854) ["I h a v e always tried (but I believe I have failed) to m a k e of you a
s u b l i m e h e r m a p h r o d i t e . I w a n t you to be a m a n d o w n to your belly. You b u r d e n
m e a n d exasperate m e a n d ruin yourself with t h e f e m a l e e l e m e n t " ] . T h i s is a c u -
rious passage a b o u t w h i c h m u c h c o u l d be said; w h a t c o n c e r n s m e in p a r t i c u l a r is
t h e b r a n d of h e r m a p h r o d i t i s m F l a u b e r t proposes, a n d t h e sex/gender relation-
s h i p h e implies. Initially, h e r e as elsewhere, h e appears to b e a n c h o r i n g g e n d e r
in sex (understood for t h e m o m e n t as a biological given). 1 5 In o t h e r words, if h e

14
Vincent K a u f m a n n , L Equivoque epistolaire (Paris: M i n u i t , 1991), 186. See, too, M a r t i n e Reid's ex-

cellent analysis of the distancing of the epistolary addressee, " F l a u b e r t et S a n d en correspondance,"

Poetique 85 (February 1991): 53-68.

1 5
Of course, to posit sex as a biological (i.e., natural) given involves a major presumption, for,

as scholars in various fields h a v e shown in recent years, w h e n we speak about sex we are always

engaged with an ideological interpretation of sex; n a t u r e , as R o l a n d Barthes put it s o m e three de-

cades ago, is a l w a y s " p a r f a i t e m e n t h i s t o r i q u e " (Mythologies [Paris, Seuil, 1957], 9). For m o r e recent

elaborations of the cultural construction of sex, see especially Suzanne J. Kessler a n d W e n d y M c -

 THE P H Y S I O L O G Y OF STYLE
removes h e r second(ary) sex characteristics, she will write in t h e m a s c u l i n e 91
m o d e ; biology, personality, a n d style therefore are tightly b o u n d . 1 6 W h e n we take
a s e c o n d look, however, his m e a n i n g shifts. If we read " u p p e r " a n d "lower"
halves of t h e body as they are c o n v e n t i o n a l l y coded, we get a (gendered) split be-
t w e e n h e a d a n d flesh, spirit a n d matter, w h i c h can be extended to t h e split pair-
ing of g e n d e r a n d sex. ( G e n d e r is cultural; sex, natural.) W h a t F l a u b e r t t h e n
seems to b e i m p l y i n g w h e n h e proposes this h o r i z o n t a l h e r m a p h r o d i t i s m is a
gender/sex hybrid: w h a t we call sex a n d g e n d e r d o n o t have to c o r r e s p o n d . In a
similar vein h e writes: "Je voudrais e n f i n q u ' h e r m a p h r o d i t e n o u v e a u tu m e d o n -
nasses avec t o n corps toutes les joies de la c h a i r et avec ton esprit toutes Celles de
l a m e " (1:367, 28 S e p t e m b e r 1846) ["I w o u l d like, in a word, for you to give m e ,
like a latter-day h e r m a p h r o d i t e , all t h e pleasures of t h e flesh with your b o d y a n d
all t h e pleasures of t h e soul with your m i n d " ] . Later, still m o r e bluntly: "Je vou-
drais q u e n o u s gardassions nos d e u x corps et n etre q u ' u n m e m e esprit. Je n e
veux d e toi, c o m m e f e m m e , q u e la chair. Q u e t o u t le reste d o n e soit m o i , o u
m i e u x , soit m o i , d e m e m e pte et la m e m e pate" (2:285, 27 M a r c h 1853) ["I
w o u l d like us to keep o u r two bodies a n d be a single m i n d . I only w a n t of you as
a w o m a n , your flesh. Let all t h e rest be m i n e , or better, be m e , m a d e of similar
stuff a n d even t h e s a m e stuff"]. Juxtaposed, these passages toy, h o w e v e r briefly,
with t h e possibility of peeling gender off f r o m sex, stripping sexual a n a t o m y a n d
physiology ( w h i c h are again seen as given) of t h e very sex-role c o n v e n t i o n s to
w h i c h h e rhetorically adheres m o s t of t h e t i m e .

B u t t h e r e is m a d n e s s in his m e t h o d . W e m i g h t m o r e accurately speak of flaying

t h a n of peeling or stripping, for t h e separation F l a u b e r t operates takes t h e s h a p e of
m u t i l a t i o n , d i s m e m b e r m e n t , vivisection. It b e c o m e s clear that F l a u b e r t d r e a m s
of two sexes, o n e gender; two bodies, o n e m i n d : a n d t h e gender a n d m i n d , n e e d -
less to say, are his. "J'avais c r u des le d e b u t q u e je trouverais en toi m o i n s d e per-
s o n n a l i t e f e m i n i n e , u n e c o n c e p t i o n plus universelle de la vie" (1:366, 28 S e p t e m -
ber 1846; m y emphasis) ["From t h e b e g i n n i n g I believed I w o u l d find in you less of
a f e m i n i n e personality, a m o r e universal c o n c e p t i o n of life"], h e c o m p l a i n s . U n i -
versality coincides contextually with masculinity; t h e m a s c u l i n e m i n d is g e n d e r
n e u t r a l , a n d f e m i n i n i t y is s u p p l e m e n t a r y , an excrescence t h a t s h o u l d be r e m o v e d .

K e n n a , Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach (Chicago: University of C h i c a g o Press 1978)-

T h o m a s L a q n e u r , Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud (Cambridge- Harvard
University Press, 1990); E m i l y M a r t i n , The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction
(Boston: Beacon Press, 1987). For a n excellent literary reflection on these problems, see Jessica Feld-
m a n s Gender on the Dmde: The Dandy in Modernist Literature (Ithaca: C o r n e l l University Press
1993).
16
A n interesting slippage occurs here: neutered, she will be gender neutral, which is to say that she will
write like a man.
E P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
92 T h a t a r h e t o r i c of aggression a n d s e p a r a t i o n , f r a g m e n t a t i o n a n d loss is u s e d t o
d e s c r i b e t h e c o n c e p t of h e r m a p h r o d i t i s m is q u i t e r e m a r k a b l e . M o s t t r a d i t i o n a l l y
t h e r e e n a c t m e n t of a p r i m o r d i a l unity, 1 7 t h e coincidentia oppositorum or u n i o n of
c o n t r a r i e s , t h e h e r m a p h r o d i t e is h e r e a figure of d i s j u n c t i o n , M i r c e a E l i a d e ' s
n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y " d e g r a d a t i o n of t h e [ a n d r o g y n e ] s y m b o l " p e r h a p s t h e o n l y
a n d r o g y n e t h a t t h e n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y deserved. 1 8
Very m u c h a p r o d u c t of his t i m e , F l a u b e r t replicates, t h r o u g h t h e v i o l e n c e of
his b o d i l y revisions, t h e m i s o g y n i s t i c d i s c o u r s e of t h e age. H e d i s t i n g u i s h e s h i m -
self f r o m this d i s c o u r s e , h o w e v e r , in t h a t his v e r s i o n of it i m p l i c i t l y p r e f i g u r e s t h e
c o m p l e x a n d c o n t r a d i c t o r y issues of t h e g e n d e r / s e x d e b a t e t h a t c o n t i n u e s to d i v i d e
a n d i m p a s s i o n u s today. H a v i n g m o r e or less e s s e n t i a l i z e d w o m e n a n d w o m e n ' s
w r i t i n g in t h e b o d y - b o u n d ways I discuss, h e n o n e t h e l e s s radically c o n t r a d i c t s
h i m s e l f e l s e w h e r e , suggesting to C o l e t t h e a r b i t r a r i n e s s of g e n d e r a n d of c u l t u r a l l y
i m p o s e d roles:

La N a t u r e , va, s'est t r o m p e e e n f a i s a n t d e toi u n e f e m m e . T u es du cote

des males. II f a u t te s o u v e n i r d e cela t o u j o u r s , q u a n d q u e l q u e c h o s e
te h e u r t e , et voir e n toi si l ' e l e m e n t f e m i n i n n e l ' e m p o r t e pas. . . .
T ' i n d i g n e r a i s - t u si Ton disait d u m a l des Frangais, des C h r e t i e n s , des
P r o v e n g a u x ? Laisse d o n e l t o n sexe c o m m e ta p a t r i e , ta r e l i g i o n , et ta
province. (2:421, 27 August 1853)

Nature made a mistake in making you a woman. You are on the male side of
the divide. You must always remember that, when something offends you, and
take care that the feminine element in you doesn't take over. . . .Would you be
indignant if someone spoke ill of the French, of Christians, of people from
Provence? So put aside your sex like your country, your religion, and your province.

A n d i n a r e f l e c t i o n as n o t e w o r t h y for its i n s i g h t as for its b l i n d spots, h e r e c o g n i z e s

( f e m i n i n e ) g e n d e r as a c o n s t r u c t :

La f e m m e est u n p r o d u i t d e l ' h o m m e . Dieu a cree la femelle, et l'homme

a fait la femme; eile est le resultat d e la civilisation, u n e o e u v r e f a c t i c e .

17
See, however, W e n d y Doniger O'Flahertys perceptive c o m m e n t s in h e r fascinating study, Women,
Androgynes, and Other Mythical Beasts ( C h i c a g o : University of C h i c a g o Press, 1980), w h e r e she takes

note of the a m b i g u o u s symbolic nature of androgyny: "Dangling before us the sweet promise of equal-

ity a n d b a l a n c e , symbiosis and mutuality, the androgyne, u n d e r closer analyis, often furnishes better

testimony to conflict and aggression, tension and disequilibrium" (334).

1 8
Mircea Eliade, Mephistopheles and the Androgyne, trans. J. M . C o h e n ( N e w York: S h e e d a n d Ward,

1965). 99-
I

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF STYLE

Dans les pays ou toute culture intellectuelle est nulle, eile n'existe pas (car 93
c'est une oeuvre d'art, au sens humanitaire; est-ce pour cela que toutes les
grandes idees generales se sont symbolisees au feminin?).
(2:284-85, 27 March 1853)

Woman a product of man. God created the female, and man made woman- she
is the result of civilization, a work of imitation. In countries where intellectual
culture is absent, she does not exist (for she is a work of art, in the humanitarian
sense; is this why all the great general ideas are symbolized in the feminine?).

The femme/femelle distinction anticipates contemporary notions of a gender/sex

split, femininity then being presented as a constructed entity rather than a natural
essence, an artifice designed by men for m e n . " One can certainly accuse Flaubert
of farsightedness, of overlooking the equally contrived nature of masculinity (he
after all, is composed of "ces arabesques de marqueterie") and the necessarily im-
bricated processes of dual gender construction. Flaubert does not perceive that
man creates himself indirectly, invents his own masculinity, when he constructs a
feminine Other, when he fabricates the feminine as Other. 20
However, it is precisely at the line of demarcation that Flaubert's vision begins to
blur and simultaneously becomes visionary. Where distance separates from close-
ness, where woman is estranged from man and femininity is unmeshed from mas-
culinity, all opposites also meet and coalesce. The specificity of femininity albeit
set up as differencemasculinity's constructed Otherturns out to be that it in-
cludes its Other. Having hyperbolically defined femininity in the essentializing
pathologizing terms that would come to be codified as hysteria, Flaubert then
identifies with these terms, and, in the process of so doing, puts into question the
reliability of the distinctions he draws.

T H E VOYAGE IN

Much ink has been spilled, from Flaubert's day continuing through to our own in
an effort to diagnose (or dispute) his hysteria, and correlatively, to establish (or're-
fute) his femininity. Let me emphatically state that this is exactly not my point, but
that the reason such an effort seems to me wrongheaded is.

' ' O f course, t h e construct/essence d i c h o t o m y does not hold u p w h e n e x a m i n e d ; constructs often per-
f o r m the work of essentializing. See D i a n a Fuss, Essentially Speaking ( N e w York: Routledge 1080)
O n e m u s t i l l u m i n a t e t h e chiaroscuro truths of Flaubert s unilateral gender creation m y t h with D e b -
d fferentlatl0n
a v l b l T f o T ' St be ^ Pheld by whatever m e a n s are
available, fo m e n can be m e n only if w o m e n are u n a m b i g u o u s l y w o m e n . " C a m e r o n , Feminism and
Linguistic Thought (London. Macmilhn, 1985), 1 5 5 - 5 6 . mam ana
EPISTOLARY NARRATIVES
94 For well over a century, literary critics a n d their m e d i c a l fellow travelers h a v e
c o m b e d t h e letters, diaries, a n d novels of F l a u b e r t a n d his c o n t e m p o r a r i e s in
search of allusions to his physical s y m p t o m s , clinical t r e a t m e n t s , m e d i c a t i o n , ex-
posure to m e d i c a l reports, sexual repression, sexual a m b i v a l e n c e . In t h e a b s e n c e
of m e d i c a l e v i d e n c e , they sought diagnostic clues or coverups. Was F l a u b e r t a
hysteric before t h e fact (that is, before m e d i c a l science allowed m e n t h a t diagnosis)
or a m e r e epileptic? D i d F l a u b e r t have h o m o s e x u a l , bisexual, transsexual leanings
t h a t predisposed h i m to neurosis? D i d h e have f e m i n i n e t e n d e n c i e s that m i g h t
have m a d e h i m a likely victim of hysteria, a n inverted s h a d o w of E m m a Bovary?
Was F l a u b e r t M a d a m e Bovary?
Roger Williams, taking his place in a long line of purveyors of such specula-
tions, muses upon whether or not Flaubert could have been familiar with "the lat-
est theories of neuroses or psychopathologies."21 Anxious to trace Emma Bovary s
nervous condition to a medical reality, he never pauses to consider that novelists
and physicians are formed in a common cultural pool, and in turn mold similar
cultural products; or, more radically yet, that novelists might have intuitions about
cultural phenomena (including pathology) that precede or contradict medical
"knowledge."22
The latter-day positivism that marks Williams's determined inquiry into patho-
logical cause and effect, as it engages particularly with sexual identity, is ill-suited
to Flaubertian writing and beside the point of his insights. The malady that Flau-
bert consistently refers to in his letters by such terms as "les nerfs," "la maladie de
nerfs," "les affections nerveuses"and that we can call hysteria (but the name
matters very little)could in fact be defined as the opposite of positivism. The
property of Flaubertian nerves is transmigration and transition: they transgress
boundaries, transpose categories and contexts, and, as we shall see, metamor-
phose the very metaphorical elements that give them form.
Despite Flaubert's vehement reprobation of all things wet and flowing, his ner-
vous condition is frequently and unabashedly expressed by his own weeping:

Mercredi dernier, j'ai ete oblige de me lever pour aller chercher mon
mouchoir de poche. Les larmes me coulaient sur la figure. Je m'etais
attendri moi-meme en ecrivant, je jouissais delicieusement, et de
21
Roger W i i l i a m s , The Horror of Life (Chicago: University of C h i c a g o Press, 1980), 167.
22
W i l l i a m s ponders, " W h i l e it is t r u e that some of t h e revolutionary work w h i c h began to redefine t h e
n a t u r e of hysteria . . . was published shortly after t h e publication of Madame Bovary, that does n o t
necessarily prove that F l a u b e r t was u n a w a r e of t h e theories" (167). H e goes o n to suggest that Flaubert
m i g h t have h a d access to recent medical i n f o r m a t i o n t h r o u g h lectures given in R o u e n or t h r o u g h his
family because father a n d brother were physicians. It is t h e blithe assumption that literary malaise m u s t
necessarily derive s o m e h o w f r o m m e d i c i n e that I want to challenge. See Williams's bibliography for
earlier sources of speculation a b o u t Flaubert's medical history.
I

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF STYL I

1 emotion de mon idee, et de la phrase qui la rendait, et de la satisfaction n
de l'avoir trouvee. Du moins je crois qu'il y avait de tout cela dans cette
emotion, o les nerfs apres tout avaient plus de place que le reste.
(2:76, 24 April 1852)

Last Wednesday, I had to get up to go find my pocket handkerchief. Tears were

streaming down my face. I had moved myself to tears by writing; I took delicious
pleasure from the emotion of my idea, from the sentence that rendered it, and from
the satisfaction of having found it. At least I believe all of that was included in my
emotion, where my nerves after all took up more room than the rest.

The dual allegiance of tears to body and soul makes them an ideal conduit for their
nervous tenor, which is always for Flaubert a form of transport between two poles-
"Je vivrai comme je vis, toujours souffrant des nerfs, cette porte de transmission
entre l'ame et le corps par laquelle j'ai voulu peut-etre faire passer trop de choses"
( 1 : 4 8 9 , 11-12 December 1 8 4 7 ; my emphasis) ["I will live as I live, always suffering
f r o m m y nerves, this transmission portal between the soul and the body t h r o u g h
which I have perhaps tried to transfer too many things"].
The ailment Flaubert abbreviates as his "nerves," figured here as a portal be-
tween the soul and the body, elsewhere plays a more transformational role. Still
charged with a mediating function within a traditional dualistic economy the
nerves now more actively serve as a mechanism of conversion from the spirit to the
flesh: "Le chagrin, au lieu de me rester sur le crane, a coule dans mes membres et
les crispait en convulsions. C'etait une deviation. . . . La vocation a ete deplacee
L'idee a passe dans la chair o eile reste sterile, et la chair perit" (2:127,6 July 1852)
["My chagrin, rather than remaining on my skull, flowed into my limbs and
clenched them in convulsions. It was a deviation The vocation had been dis-
placed. The idea passed into the flesh where it remains sterile, and the flesh per-
ishes"]. Such an account of his nervous attacks, also described as "des declivites in-
volontairesd'idees, d'images" (2:218, 27 December 1852) ["involuntary declivities
of ideas, of images"], bears an uncanny resemblance to the mechanism Freud
would elaborate half a century later, and within the initial context of hysteria as
conversion: simply put, the somatic expression of a repressed idea. Nonetheless
such a coincidence of concept and expression should not necessarily be read as an
invitation to recuperate the Flaubertian "transmission portal" under the Freudian
banner of conversion hysteria. I would suggest instead that we subsume Flaubert's
antecedent version of conversion hysteria under the broader Flaubertian canopy
of transmission, which, as we shall see, includes myriad varieties of fusion, trans-
fusion, transition, suspension of opposition within paired contraries.
This latter larger category would embrace a writing phenomenon we might call
literary transmigration:
EPISTOLARY NARRATIVES
96 Voil u n e des rares j o u r n e e s de m a vie q u e j'ai passee d a n s l'lllusion,
c o m p l e t e m e n t , e t d e p u i s u n b o u t jusqu' l a u t r e . T a n t t , s i x h e u r e s ,
a u m o m e n t o u j'ecrivais le m o t attaque de nerfs, j'etais si e m p r t e , je
gueulais si fort, et sentais si p r o f o n d e m e n t ce q u e m a petite f e m m e
eprouvait, q u e j'ai e u p e u r m o i - m e m e d'en avoir u n e . . . . C ' e s t u n e
delicieuse c h o s e q u e d'ecrire! q u e de n e plus etre soi, m a i s d e circuler
d a n s t o u t e la creation d o n t o n parle. A u j o u r d ' h u i par e x e m p l e , h p m m e et
f e m m e t o u t e n s e m b l e , a m a n t et maitresse la fois, je m e suis p r o m e n e
cheval d a n s u n e foret, par u n apres-midi d ' a u t o m n e , sous des feuilles
jaunes, et j'etais les c h e v a u x , les feuilles, le vent, les paroles qu'ils se
disaient et le soleil rouge q u i faisait s'entre-fermer leurs p a u p i e r e s noyees
d'amour. (2:483-84, 23 December 1853)

This was one of the rare days of my life that I have spent in Illusion, completely,
from start to finish. A little while ago, at six o'clock, as I wrote the word nervous
attack, I was so carried away, I shouted so loudly, and felt so profoundly what my
dear woman was experiencing, that I feared that I might have one as well. . . .It is
a delicious thing to write! to no longer be oneself, but to flow in all the creation
about which one speaks. Today for example, man and woman together, lover and
mistress at once, I rode a horse through a forest on a fall afternoon, under yellow
leaves, and I was the horses, the leaves, the wind, the words they were speaking and
the red sun that forced them to lower their eyelids flooded with love.

That identification or indeed fusion of writer and text that Flaubert elsewhere cen-
sures in the name of Colet, he allows himself in the name of his nerfs. Once again
nervous illness is a port of transit, a doorway between erstwhile separate domains,
a well-traversed threshold. It fuses man and woman, lover and mistress, writer and
character, writer-as-reader and text, anticipating Gerard Gasarian's contention
that "l'hysterie est une maladie de lecture: eile survient au moment ou le lecteur se
meprend . . . [sur] son identite" 23 ["hysteria is a reading disorder: it comes about
when the reader mistakes his or her identity"].
As the verb "circuler" suggests, Flaubert experiences the "literary disease" of
mistaken identity as a fluid identity. This is a new but oddly familiar turn: it is in
fact a return within the writer of his externalized Other. Now "homme et femme
tout ensemble," self and Other, locus of a fused inside and outside, Flaubert can
reappropriate female flow and feminine fluidity under the extraordinary rubric of
his nerves. To qualify these processes still as "female" and "feminine" is, however,
23
G e r a r d G a s a r i a n , "La Figure d u poete hysterique ou l'allegorie ehez Baudelaire," Poetique 86 (April
1991): 1 7 7 - 7 8 .
I
THE P H Y S I O L O G Y OF STYL I
to c o n t i n u e to use a traditionally cleaved l a n g u a g e a n d c o n c e p t u a l f r a m e t h a t his 97
n e r v o u s disorder invalidates. T h e c u l m i n a t i n g p o i n t of Flaubert's nervous malady,
t h e " a t t a q u e de nerfs" or nervous seizure, explodes t h e very n o t i o n of i m p e r m e a b l e
c o n t r a s t i n g categories: " C h a q u e a t t a q u e etait c o m m e u n e sort d ' h e m o r r a g i e de
l ' i n n e r v a t i o n . C ' e t a i t des pertes seminales d e la faculte pittoresque d u cerveau,
c e n t m i l l e images s a u t a n t la fois, en feux d'artifices. II y avait u n a r r a c h e m e n t de
1'me d'avec le corps" (2:377, 7 July 1853) ["Each attack was like a kind of h e m o r -
r h a g e of t h e n e r v e center. T h e r e were s e m i n a l discharges of t h e b r a i n s i m a g i n g
faculties, a h u n d r e d t h o u s a n d images exploding at o n c e , in fireworks. T h e soul
a n d t h e b o d y were torn apart"]. T h e generally female-related r u s h of blood (recall
t h e i m a g e of literature d r o w n i n g in m e n s t r u a l flow) m o r e neutrally h e m o r r h a g e s
h e r e a n d is otherwise translated by s e m e n (pertes seminales) instead of by t h e m o r e
c o m m o n F l a u b e r t i a n m e t a p h o r of f e m a l e discharges (pertes blanches). Female
a n d m a l e lose their identity; t h e lyric lies d o w n with t h e real. Body a n d soul, sex
a n d b r a i n , inside a n d outside f u s e in a shattering, e r u p t i n g , s t r e a m i n g explosion of
solid-liquid i n d i s t i n c t i o n .
It is at t h e m o m e n t of greatest f r a g m e n t a t i o n w h e n , c o n v u l s e d , t h e body is in
pieces, o u t of c o n t r o l t h a t a reintegration of disparate realities is achieved. W i t h
t h e ravages of illness c o m e s t h e vision of h e a l i n g , t h e image of wholeness. F l a u -
bert holds u p to his ailing nerves a n d flailing limbs t h e m i r r o r of his writing, w h i c h
reflects psychic r e u n i f i c a t i o n a n d aesthetic h a r m o n y in place of corporeal
incoherence.
T o constitute nerves a n d art as m i r r o r images is of course a citation of that well-
w o r n n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y topos t h a t c o m p a r e s , a n d often equates, m a d n e s s a n d
genius. F l a u b e r t , w h o s e ear was ever sensitive to t h e banal ring of a n idee regue,
was only too aware of t h e risk of falling into that particular c o m m o n p l a c e . H e goes
to great (if sporadic) pains in his m u s i n g s o n nervosity to distinguish t h e n e r v o u s
f r o m t h e artistic sensibility, despite f r e q u e n t lapses that betray at least a vestigial b e -
lief in their identity. H e r e first is a n a t t e m p t to differentiate art a n d nerves: "La Poe-
sie n e s t p o i n t u n e debilite de l'esprit, et ces susceptibilites nerveuses e n sont u n e "
(2:127, 6 July 1852) ["Poetry is n o t a m e n t a l debility, a n d these n e r v o u s suscepti-
bilities are"]. Yet consider this ode to a sensibility t h a t is indistinguishably n e r v o u s
and artistic:

C e r t a i n e s n a t u r e s n e souffrent pas, les gens sans nerfs. H e u r e u x sont-ils!

M a i s d e c o m b i e n de choses aussi n e sont-ils pas prives! C h o s e etrange,
m e s u r e q u ' o n s'eleve dans l e c h e l l e des etres, la faculte n e r v e u s e
a u g m e n t e , c'est-a-dire la faculte de souffrir. Souffrir et penser seraient-ils
d o n e m e m e chose? L e genie, apres tout, n'est p e u t - e t r e q u ' u n r a f f i n e m e n t
d e la d o u l e u r . ( 2 : 4 4 3 - 4 4 , 3 September 1853)
E P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
98 There are natures that do not sufferthose of nerveless people. Lucky are they! But
also, how many things are they deprived of! It is a curious thing how, as one rises on
the scale of beings, the nervous faculty increasesthat is, the faculty of suffering.
Are suffering and thinking then the same thing? Genius, after all, is perhaps but a
refinement of suffering.

H e r e F l a u b e r t all b u t assimilates victims of n e r v o u s afflictions to t h e " h a p p y few":

genius a n d illness overlap.
S o m e years later, in a pair of letters r e s p o n d i n g to s o m e queries f r o m H i p p o l y t e
T a i n e as to t h e relative n a t u r e of nervous h a l l u c i n a t i o n a n d artistic vision, F l a u -
bert weighs r e s e m b l a n c e s a n d differences ( 3 : 5 6 2 - 6 3 , 20? N o v e m b e r 1866; 3 : 5 7 2 -
73, 1 D e c e m b e r 1866). I will n o t h e r e e n t e r into a detailed analysis of his c o m p a r -
ative e v a l u a t i o n ; I w a n t only to single o u t a n o t e of difference that will serve as a
c o n c l u s i o n . T h i s particular c o m p a r i s o n is significant within t h e c o n t e x t of m y dis-
cussion b e c a u s e it links n e r v o u s h a l l u c i n a t i o n a n d artistic vision in a c o n f i g u r a t i o n
of i n v e r s i o n t h e very c o n f i g u r a t i o n responsible for t h e illusion of s a m e n e s s cre-
ated by a m i r r o r image. 2 4 F l a u b e r t c a u t i o n s against c o n f u s i n g t h e two h a l l u c i n a -
tory states: " D a n s l ' h a l l u c i n a t i o n p r o p r e m e n t dite, il y a t o u j o u r s terreur, on sent
que votre personnalite vous echappe, o n croit q u ' o n va m o u r i r . D a n s la vision p o e -
t i q u e , a u c o n t r a i r e , il y a joie. C'est quelque chose qui entre en vous" (3:562-63,
20? N o v e m b e r 1866; m y emphasis) [ " W i t h h a l l u c i n a t i o n in t h e strict sense, t h e r e
is always terror, you feel your personality escaping you, you believe you are a b o u t to
die. W i t h poetic vision, o n t h e contrary, t h e r e is joy. It is something that is entering
you"]. T h e voyage out: a stream of nerves; t h e voyage in: a retrojected flow. Illness
t u r n s o u t to b e a facilitating c o n d i t i o n for F l a u b e r t , a m e a n s of resolving conflict
by forcibly reintegrating t h e ambivalently experienced e l e m e n t s t h a t h e has pro-
jected as t h e rejected f e m i n i n e . 2 5 F l a u b e r t sails into illness a n d drifts back to t h e
wave-washed shore of t h e very darkest c o n t i n e n t of all.

24
H e r e and t h r o u g h o u t this chapter, m y thinking has b e e n inspired by Lacan's "mirror stage," a l t h o u g h
I d o n o t intend an application in any strict sense of Lacan's theory. (See Jacques L a c a n , "Le Stade d u
miroir c o m m e f o r m a t e u r de la f o n c t i o n d u Je," in Ecrits, vol. 1 [Paris: Seuil, 1966].)
25
O n e is r e m i n d e d h e r e of Freud's expression of the "flight into illness": t h e escape f r o m conflict
achieved by s y m p t o m f o r m a t i o n . See J. L a p l a n c h e a n d J.-B. Pontalis, The Language of Psychoanaly-
sis, trans. D o n a l d N i c h o l s o n - S m i t h ( N e w York: N o r t o n , 1973), 165.
I

t J REWRITING A WOMAN'S LIFE

Fluidity, Madness, and Voice
in Louise Colet's La Servante

[Le coeurdes femmesJ est un piano ou I'homme artiste

egoiste se complait jouer des airs qui
lefont briller, et toutes les touches parlent.
GUSTAVE FLAUBERT TO LOUISE C O L E T , 2 4 APRIL 1852

Et Gustave lui-meme! oh! mon Dieu! mon Dieu! que je

plains et que j'aime les femmes! Quel drame je pourrais
ecrire et j'ecrirai sur leur destinee!
L O U I S E C O L E T , M E M E N T O O F 2 2 MAY 1852

W h e n we seek to r e c o n s t r u c t an epistolary dialogue, t h e enterprise is c o m -

plicated infinitely if we find that o n e of t h e voices has b e e n absorbed by t h e other: as
t h e case of C o l e t a n d F l a u b e r t suggests, we can recover only f r a g m e n t s . R e a d i n g
Flaubert's letters to C o l e t , we occasionally distinguish p h a n t o m traces of h e r voice
in his responses to h e r missing letters. T h e i r s p e c t r u m of recoverability can be di-
vided into t h r e e zones. In those cases w h e r e h e cites h e r textually, we can r e c o n -
struct bits of h e r discourse. C o n s i d e r , for e x a m p l e , specific passages of Colet's writ-
ings cited in Flaubert's letters: " M e r c i de tes vers sur M a n t e s , ils m ' o n t b e a u c o u p
p l u , sois-en sure. II y en a d e b e a u x , ceux-ci par exemple: ' T o u t semblait r a y o n n e r
d u b o n h e u r d e n o s m e s , . . . " ' [ " T h a n k you for your verses a b o u t M a n t e s ; I can as-
sure you that I liked t h e m very m u c h . T h e r e are s o m e fine ones, these for example:
' E v e r y t h i n g s e e m e d to shine with t h e joy of o u r s o u l s , . . . ' " ] ; ' o r similarly, " J e c o m -

> G u s t a v e Flaubert, Correspondence, ed. Jean B r u n e a u (Paris: G a l l i m a r d , 1 9 7 3 - 9 1 ) , 1:347, 18 Sep-

t e m b e r 1846. S u b s e q u e n t references to Flaubert's Correspondence will be to this edition a n d will be
provided in t h e text.

99
E P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
100 m e n c e m ' i n d i g n e r de tes titres: Poeme de la femme; Ce qui est dans le coeur des
femmes;Deux femmescelebres;Deuxmoisd'emotion"(2:310, 2 0 A p r i l 1853) [ " I b e -
gin to be angered by your titles: Poem of Woman; What Is in the Heart of Women; Two
Famous Women; Two Months of Emotion"].
In a s e c o n d , h a z i e r z o n e , F l a u b e r t cites C o l e t indirectly a n d incompletely. W e
are t e m p t e d to e n g a g e in a n imaginary r e c o n s t r u c t i o n of Colet's discourse w h e n
w e read: " T u m e dis q u e je t'ai envoye des reflexions curieuses sur les f e m m e s "
(2:80, 24 April 1852) ["You tell m e I sent you s o m e c u r i o u s reflections o n
w o m e n " ] , or " T u dis, c h e r e Louise, q u e m e s l e t t r e s s o n t p o u r t o i u n e toile d e P e n e -
l o p e " (2:462, 3 N o v e m b e r 1853) ["You say, dear Louise, t h a t m y letters are like Pe-
nelope's cloth for you"]. H o w e v e r c o m p e l l i n g it w o u l d be to d e c o d e s u c h passages,
any r e c o n s t r u c t i o n of Colet's words involves considerable s p e c u l a t i o n o n t h e read-
er's part. W h a t aspects of Flaubert's t h o u g h t s o n w o m e n struck C o l e t as so c u r i o u s ?
W h e n she c o m p a r e d his letters to Penelope's tapestry, was it b e c a u s e of t h e m a n y
r e n d e z v o u s designated a n d canceled? O r b e c a u s e of his a l t e r n a t i n g exaltation a n d
d e n i g r a t i o n of h e r love a n d of h e r texts? O r was she referring to a n o t h e r c o n t e x t
t h a t is lost to us?
Finally, in even less specific passages, F l a u b e r t merely alludes to Colet's dis-
course, a n d any r e c o n s t r u c t i v e a t t e m p t o n t h e reader's part is p u r e guesswork: " T u
m e d e m a n d e s des explications des choses q u i s'expliquent d ' e l l e s - m e m e s . Q u e
veux-tu q u e je te dise de plus q u e je n e t'ai dej dit et q u e tu n e sais deja?" ( 1 4 2 0 , 20
D e c e m b e r 1846) ["You ask m e to explain things t h a t are self-explanatory. W h a t
m o r e d o you w a n t m e to say b e y o n d w h a t I have already told you a n d t h a t you d o n o t
already know?"]. U n a b l e to read Colet's p r o m p t i n g words, we c a n n o t even appraise
t h e validity of Flaubert's f r e q u e n t s u m m a r i e s of h e r part of t h e dialogue: " E n t r e
n o u s , je n e suis n i si h a u t ni si bas; tu m e vulgarises o u m e poetises trop" (1:348, 18
S e p t e m b e r 1846) ["Between us, I a m n e i t h e r so h i g h n o r so low; you vulgarize or po-
eticize m e excessively"].
T h e very m e a g e r direct access we have to C o l e t s private words, in t h e f o r m of
various " M e m e n t o s " (her j o u r n a l entries) a n d five letters to F l a u b e r t p u b l i s h e d in
t h e B r u n e a u edition of t h e Correspondance, pleads a c o m p e l l i n g case for c a u t i o n
a n d skepticism in o u r reading of Flaubert's reading of C o l e t . Flaubert's c o n f i d e n t
basking in Colet's p r e s u m e d t o l e r a n c e for his frankness is often s h o w n to be grossly
m i s p l a c e d , for Colet's o w n remarks suggest t h a t she views h e r lover's c a n d o r as ego-
tism in disguise. W i t n e s s , for instance, Flaubert's afterglow following a s t r e a m of
a b u s e h e h a s directed against Colet: " O u i , c o m m e c'est b o n d'avoir toi, car tu es la
seule f e m m e q u i u n h o m m e puisse ecrire de telles choses" (2:304, 13 April 1853)
["Yes, h o w good it is to have you, for you are t h e only w o m a n to w h o m a m a n c a n
write s u c h things"]. C o n s i d e r t h e n Colet's plaint in response, registered in a M e -
m e n t o s o m e m o n t h s later: " Q u e d'asperites! c o m m e il m e blesse o u m ' o u t r a g e
 REWRITING A WOMAN'S
n a i v e m e n t ! " 2 [ " W h a t harshness! H o w artlessly h e w o u n d s or insults me-"] In h e r
o w n voice C o l e t does n o t w e l c o m e c e n s u r e with t h e alacrity ascribed to h e r in
H u m b e r t s letter.

B u t s u c h instances of d o u b l e - s t r a n d e d discourse are rare. W i t h i n Flaubert's let

ters to C o l e t , we h e a r only faint e c h o e s of h e r epistolary voice; we read f r a g m e n t s
of h e r texts revised by Flaubert's m a s t e r i n g text; we occasionally t o u c h t h e rewoven
tissue o f h e r f e a r s , h e r p l e a s , h e r love, h e r d r e a m s . T h e very futility of t h e recovery
mission c o n f r o n t s us with a n intertextual s t r u c t u r e of c o n t a i n m e n t t h a t prefigures
t h e t h e m a t i c core of L o u i s e Colet's verse narrative La Servante, w h i c h I read as a
surrogate for all h e r missing letters to Flaubert. 3 Colet's narrative introjects as sub-
ject a g e n d e r e d s t r u c t u r e of e n c l o s u r e a n d s u b o r d i n a t i o n within w h i c h a w o m a n ' s
body a n d c o r p u s are always preinscribed as m a l e text. 4

MARIETTE: THE BOOK

T h e protagonist of La Servante, a y o u n g Alsatian girl of h u m b l e birth Mariette

o n e day finds a book in t h e garden of t h e c h a t e a u b e l o n g i n g to t h e m a r q u i s e far
w h o m she works. M a r i e t t e , w h o s e bovarysme is u n i m p e d e d by t h e fact t h a t t h e
e p o n y m o u s E m m a was n o t yet fully f o r m e d w h e n she herself was in t h e process of
being created, is presented f r o m t h e start as a victim of u n f u l f i l l e d b i b l i o p h i h c f a n -
tasies. W h e n she t h e n c o m e s u p o n t h e little red b o o k - r e d like an apple of knowl-
edge set t e m p t i n g l y ,n h e r p a t h - s h e is t r o u b l e d , excited, o v e r c o m e by a desire to
w h i c h t h e n a r r a t o r attributes h e r fall:

O h ! p o u r q u o i toucha-t-elle, agitee et ravie,

A ce livre entr'ouvert sous l'ombrage oublie!

2
L o u . s e Colet, M e m e n t o , 4 D e c e m b e r 1853, ,n Flaubert, Correspondence, 2:9oz T h e largest and
aV ai S C t f L0U,Se C0let S M e m e n t S S bl shed
H t r ' ' P" ' ^ b s e q u C T t reference
will be to th.s edition and w.ll appear parenthetically in the text. Louise Colet b ^ a n her M e l
. 8 4 5 and continued writing t h e m for the next ten years. She wrote these often i n t , m a t e T o u m a T f r a e
m e n * on scraps of paper, envelopes, or whatever else was at hand. T h e original m a n u c 'pt a t "
m
Al l" S M g n n 3 t t h F n d S C 0 l t ' m t H e M 6 d l a t h ^ u e Meccano (the m u m c i p a H b r y )
Although the Maupassant a c c o u n t I presented (see 76, supra) convinces m e that Flaubert 2 I n
, b l e for the destruction of Colet's letters to h i m , I would speak of the loss of her letters n Z s of
d o m i n a t i o n of her vo.ee by his even if I were m o r e skeptical about the identity of the culprit Whateve

by 3 teXt C O n s s
Colet'^witine^Th T ^ ^ ^ ' - a p p e a r s ,n
Colet wnting. T h e female narrator's story in Lui is interrupted by the male protagonist's embedded

InL^
 I

EPISTOLARY NARRATIVES
102 D'o viennent ces hasards qui perdent une vie?
Comment Dieu qui prevoit reste-t-il sans pitie?5

Oh! Why was she compelled to touch

This half-open book left in the shade of the trees!
What causes the misfortunes that doom a life?
How can God in his vision not take pity?

But the book that unbinds Mariette's desire is not just any book; it is the story of her
life written before the fact:

Elle crut que ses yeux se couvraient d'un nuage,

Lorsqu'elle vit son nom sur la premiere page:
Mariette! (c'etait le titre du recit),
Par Lionel de V. Elle s'arrete et lit. (203)

She thought that her vision was clouded,

When she saw her name on the first page:
Mariette! (it was the title of the book),
By Lionel de V She stops and reads.

Captivated by this literary mirror, Mariette stops and reads through to the end of
her story, which entails loving a poet and dying in the prime of youth. When her
more practical friend Thereson urges her to cast down the book, Mariette refuses:

"Je ne puis, je ne puis, je veux voir jusqu'au bout;

Cela me prend au coeur," repondait Mariette;
"Cette fille a mon nom et me ressemble en tout;
Elle aime ce que j'aime. . . ." Et ravie, inquiete,
Elle lisait toujours; la fin du recit,
Sa figure etait pale et de pleurs inondee. (203)

"I cannot, I cannot, I want to find out the end;

This touches my heart," answered Mariette;
"This girl has my name and resembles me in every way;
She loves what I love. . . ." And rapt, anxious,
She kept reading; at the end of the story
Her face was pale and flooded with tears.

5
Louise Colet, La Servante (first edition, 1854), reprinted in Femmes de lettres au XIXe siecle: Autour
de Louise Colet, ed. Roger Bellet (Lyon: Presses U n i v e r s i t r e s de Lyon, 1982), 203. S u b s e q u e n t refer-
ences to La Servante will be to this edition and will be given parenthetically in t h e text.
1

R E W R I T I N G A W O M A N ' S LIFE
I w a n t to e m p h a s i z e first t h e e l e m e n t of a l i e n a t i o n that structures this s c e n e of 103
identification with t h e novel; Narcissus-like, M a r i e t t e is enthralled by t h e self seen
as o t h e r in t h e novel ("cette a u t r e Mariette") (203), w h i c h is to say, by t h e self seen
by t h e o t h e r (Lionel d e V., t h e author). T h e e l e m e n t of s e d u c t i o n i n h e r e n t in this
identification c a n n o t be overlooked either: it courses t h r o u g h t h e passage in t h e
repetition of t h e past participle ravie, calls a t t e n t i o n to itself by invoking t h e
E d e n i c m o d e l , a n d is displaced o n t o t h e e m b e d d e d novel's h e r o , Leon-

M a r i e t t e lui dit: " C e q u ' o n lit s e m b l e vivre;

O n le sent, o n y croit: ce L e o n , son a m a n t ,
II existe, c'estsr." Elle f e r m a le livre. (203-4)

Mariette told him: "What one reads seems to live;

One feels it, one believes in it: this Leon, her lover
Exists, that is certain." She closed the book.

T h e s c e n e of r e a d i n g weaves into a single s h i m m e r i n g design t h e t h r e e threads of

s e d u c t i o n , i d e n t i f i c a t i o n , a n d a l i e n a t i o n . Mariette's captivation by t h e novel sug-
gests n o t only t h e s e d u c t i o n of fiction, b u t t h e fiction of s e d u c t i o n : t h e fabrication
of identity, t h e identification of self as o t h e r t h a t it brings into play. 6
R e a d i n g is t h e veritable s c e n e of s e d u c t i o n . A l t h o u g h M a r i e t t e will later be-
c o m e t h e mistress of L i o n e l de V. (who t u r n s o u t rather fortuitously to be t h e m a r -
quise's brother), she is s e d u c e d initially (and primarily) by t h e novel. L i o n e l will
s e d u c e h e r only by virtue of a m e t o n y m i c c o n n e c t i o n to his fictive n a m e s a k e
L e o n , a n d m o r e generally, to his fiction, Mariette:

Exaltee, affaiblie, ce declin d u jour,

Aspirant Fair en feu, s'oubliant e l l e - m e m e ,
N e se ressouvenant q u e d u livre d ' a m o u r :
" O h ! vous etes L e o n , " dit-elle, "je vous a i m e !

Exalted, weakened at this close of day,

Breathing in the blazing air, forgetting herself,
Remembering only the book of love:
"Oh! you are Leon," she said, "I love you!"

'These questions have been provocatively studied by Ross C h a m b e r s , w h o muses: " W h e n we are se-
d u c e d , are we n o t always seduced ,nto c o n f o r m i n g ourselves with a n image: t h e s i m u l a c r u m of o n e
w h o m we b e h e v e can be loved?" Story and Situation: Narrative Seduetion and the Power of Fiction
(Minneapolis: University of M i n n e s o t a Press, 1984), 15.
EPISTOLARY NARRATIVES
104 So a plot template is established in the first five pages of La Servante, in the form
of the embedded novel Mariette. The remaining forty-odd pages of the text are
then devoted to testing the hegemony of this template: to what extent can Ma-
riette's narrative (which for us as readers frames the template fiction, but which for
Mariette is contained within it) be written otherwise? Is Mariette condemned to re-
peat Mariette, to read and reread her story en abyme? To what extent can a woman
whose life appears before her as a man's completed novel go on to change the plot,
rewrite the story?7 To what extent can she escape her cultural emplottedness?
Where are the alternative plot models, the myths, the languages that would allow
a different novel to be written? If they do not exist, can they be invented?
These questions anticipate with uncanny accuracy those being posed by femi-
nists today; most notably, they literalize, in the person of Mariette, would-be
writer of books, the issues of feminine subjectivity, autonomy, and voice that Car-
olyn Heilbrun addresses metaphorically in Writing a Woman's Life.8 What is lit-
eral, however, for Mariette is metaphorical for Louise Colet, who makes a great
narrative effort, as we shall see, to distinguish her narrator's voice and its fate from
Mariette's. So when we think about the revisability of specific containing plots in
La Servante, we must consider how issues of plot containedness and autonomy are
imbricated with broader cultural structures and restructurings at work in the nar-
rative as well.
My reading of La Servante follows Colet's exploration of a woman's given posi-
tion of enclosure within gendered conventions of plot, voice, language, and
myth, her maneuvering within this space, and her efforts to chart a passage to an
open space outsidea blank page, as it were. I do not claim that the text tells a
clearly triumphant story of textual challenge and revision, but rather that it ex-
poses with remarkable lucidity the powers of containment, and reveals with great
pathos the difficulty of ever writing from an unmapped position outside gender
constraints as long as we are situated by the language in which we write within tra-
ditional cultural plots.

7
T h e description of t h e book is worth noting:

U n petit livre rouge riche reliure,

D o n t q u a t r e grilles d o r m a r q u a i e n t les coins m i g n o n s . (203)

A small red book, richly bound,

With four gold stamps marking the delicate corners.

T h i s book is clearly a n artifact, a cultural object, a n d t h e fact that M a r i e t t e appears always to be e n -

closed within it f u r t h e r suggests that she is contained within culture.
8
C a r o l y n H e i l b r u n , Writing a Woman's Life ( N e w York: N o r t o n , 1984).
f

REWRITING A WOMAN'S LIFE

105
R E C O N S T R U C T I N G PLOT

Let us begin by flipping back to the opening pages of La Servante until we have ar-
rived in the garden and have, with Mariette, spotted the forbidden fruit. Given the
length of the episode, the fetishistic detailing of the book as physical object lying
half-open entr'ouvert, as if flashing its contentsand the narrative insistence on
its seductive power, it is surprising to realize how very little we are in fact told about
the plot of Mariette, despite its structural centrality within the plot of La Servante.
Although we hear a few background details about the Mariette of the embedded
story (that she is a poor "daughter of the people," has a joyful if brief youth, and
loves a man who is a poet), we know of only three actions that form the plot of
Mariette: the heroine loves, is loved, and dies when she is twenty. Now, it is cer-
tainly not merely coincidental that these three actions correspond to the two essen-
tial narrative functions that define a woman's (resting) place in traditional fiction-
devotion to a man, and death. Nancy K. Miller, among others, has long since
noted that marriage and death are traditionally the only available ends for women
in narrative;9 Susan McClary has more recently shown, in her work on a wide
range of Western musical genres, that narrative closure demands "the contain-
ment of whatever is semiotically or structurally marked as feminine" 10 and has fur-
ther elaborated, in a reflection on Catherine Clement's work on opera that
"women are the inevitable victims of an art form that demands the submission or
death of the woman for the sake of narrative closure.'" 1 And Clement, speaking of
opera as "this spectacle thought up to adore, and also to kill, the feminine charac-
ter,"12 remarks on the diffusion in time and space of opera s recurrent plot of fe-
male loving and dying: "This perfect spectacle . . . repeats in this century the love
stories of the last. It has overflowed the theater and the stage and produces operatic
effects all over the place: in the movies, in musical comedy, in theater and in the
texts of novels."13
I have paused to invoke these convergent observations from different disciplines
in order to insist on the tradition within which Louise Colet is working, and which
she before me is evoking in her framed narrative. Mariette is framed as a citation
' " W U h o u t marriage as telos there can be only death . . . or so it seems." N a n c y K. Miller, The Hero-
ine s Text N e w York: C o l u m b i a University Press, r 9 8 o ) , 82. See, too, C a r o l y n H e . l b r u n s " W h a t Was
P e n e ope Unweaving?" in Hamlets Mother and Other Women ( N e w York: C o l u m b i a University Press

their l i v e ? - 1 ' ' SOmC SpeCUkti

nS n the dearth of narratives
w o m e n can guide

Susan M c C l a r y , Femm.ne Ending,: Mus.c, Gender, and Sexuality (Minneapolis: University of M i n -

nesota Press, 1991), 15.
" S u s a n McClary, preface to C a t h e r i n e C l e m e n t , Opera or the Undoing of Woman, trans. Betsy W i n g
(Minneapolis: University of M i n n e s o t a Press, 1988), xi.
12
C l e m e n t , Opera, 6.
" I b i d . , 12.
 I

EPISTOLARY NARRATIVES
106 of the limited plot functions available to women within the dominant narrative
traditionlimits which are emphasized by the minimalist plot summaryand as
such, it is an urtext from which the framing text will depart and against which it
will be played out. Through Mariette s reading and living of the novel she discov-
ers, Colet anticipates Heilbruns perception that "lives do not serve as models; only
stories do that. . . . We can only retell and live by the stories we have read or
heard." 14 In the gap she introduces between Mariette and Marietta's admittedly
dismal but critically divergent life story in La Servante, and in a second breach she
opens between Mariette's voice and the narrator's voice, Colet strategically dem-
onstrates the difficulty of revising time-honored stories but, correlatively, the ur-
gency for doing so.
Let us return to the point at which La Servante picks up the threads of Mariette
in order to examine in greater detail the narrative strategies deployed to play them
off against each other. What is La Servante's answer to the feminine narrative
functions put into circulation by the male author's novel? What become^of love
and marriage? And what of death? The heroine of La Servante ostensibly complies
with the first expectation and foils the second; however, we shall see that in so
doing, she complicates both.
After the fall comes still greater temptation. Novel reading leads to loftier hori-
zons: Mariette's upwardly mobile dreams take her to Paris as the marquise's maid,
once her mother's death has liberated her from provincial life. There she meets the
marquise's ailing brother Lionel, author of Mariette and object of her infatuation,
and nurses him back to health. In gratitude and temporary lust he bears her off
with him, but his love rapidly gives way to domination and philandering, and
Mariette's status as lover is redefined as servant.15
Lionel cruelly refuses Mariette's requests for education and mocks her desire to
write, although he does not hesitate to take her on as amanuensis when he is too
sick or drunk to transcribe his own thoughts. Mariette faithfully, doggedly, loves
him nonetheless; she follows him, is abused by him, stoically suffers his beating,
cheating, and drunken stupors. When finally he abandons her to run off with her
childhood friend, Mariette attempts suicide but is rescued from a watery death in
the Seine by her erstwhile disdained suitor, the honest but oafish miller, Julien.
After a brief (but for Mariette, interminably boring) rest cure in the country in the
midst of his thriving family, she returns to Paris and eventually purchases her in-
14
H e i l b r u n , Writing a Woman's Life, 37.
15
In fact all t h r o u g h this text C o l e t uses t h e category of servant as a n o t h e r n a m e for w o m a n , e q u a t i n g
f e m a l e heterosexual love with bondage. T h i s does n o t m e a n that she tackles class issues in any real
sense. H e r recourse to a discourse of t h e lower classes and servitude r e m a i n s essentially m e t a p h o r i c a l ,
a n e x a m p l e of w h a t E l i z a b e t h S p e l m a n has deftly called "colonizing t h e l a n g u a g e of suffering" in a lec-
ture of t h e s a m e n a m e (University of Virginia, 5 N o v e m b e r 1990).
 REWRITING A WOMAN'S LIFE
dependence by dint of two years of hard domestic labor: she owns a chambre de 107
bonne which is notably furnished with a bookshelf. A fatal encounter with Lionel
leads however, to a renewed liaison and continued misery until, victim of his own
dissolute tendencies and of consumption, he expires-but not before quite liter-
ally seeing the l i g h t - L i o n e l se redresse ebloui de clarte" (242) ["Lionel sat up
dazzled by luc.dity"]-and marrying Mariette on his deathbed. Then there is a la-
cuna in the text. After a corresponding blank on the page the next section begins
It is situated at the Salpetriere Hospital in the midst of a city of madwomen one of
whom is Mariette. We are not told what precipitated her madness. The narrative
ends with Mariette s clinging to a tree that she would climb, we are told, were it not
for her strait,acket. She is muttering a chant that replays the provincial scene of the
book s discovery.
There are several differences in the fate of the two Mariettes, the most obvious
one being the iconoclastic survival of the frame story's Mariette at the end of the
narrative. Despite the apparent similarity of her love plot to the model plot repre-
sented by the embedded story's Mariette, I would argue that the tone and the struc-
turing of this plot call for a radically different reading.
The marriage scene that takes place on Lionel's deathbed in La Servante makes
a mockery of marriage as institution and as plot; we see a union in form only per-
formed as an empty repetition of narrative conventions. Here is Lionel's dying
1 &
Hach nt n/-.;^;*,,.

"Oh! c'est done toi l'amour que j'avais tant cherche?

Oui, 1'epouse, c'est toi! viens! je t'ai reconnue!"
Et de ses doigts raidis au sien il met l'anneau
Que mourante sa main avait passe sa mere;
Puis il l'enchaine lui d'une etreinte derniere,
Comme pour l'emporter sur son coeur au tombeau! (242)

"Oh! you are the love I sought so long?

Yes, you are the bride! come! I have recognized you!"
And with his stiffened fingers he puts on hers the ring
That his dying mother had placed in his hand;
Then he draws her to him in a last embrace,
As if to bear her off, clasped to him, to the grave!

The incipient rigor mortis suggested by the bridegroom's "stiffened fingers" em-
phasizes the equation of marriage and death that is evoked by Mariette's macabre
nuptial embrace. In a sense, the marriage bed has always been a deathbed for Ma-
E P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
108 riette, for h e r u n i o n with L i o n e l has b e e n represented in t e r m s of suffering, a b j e c -
t i o n , a n d h u m i l i a t i o n : in s u m , as a d e a t h in life. B u t this is t r u e only f r o m t h e n a r -
rator's p o i n t of view; even after years of d e g r a d a t i o n , M a r i e t t e consistently a n d to
t h e e n d presents a face of love to Lionel: " T a n t d ' a m o u r eclatait sur sa pale figure"
(242) ["So m u c h love s h o n e o n h e r pale face"]. W h e n t h e narrator kills L i o n e l ,
Mariette mourns him.
M a r r i a g e is n o t t h e only p o i n t at w h i c h M a r i e t t e a n d t h e narrator part ways.
T h e r e is a c o m p l e x interplay b e t w e e n their two perspectives c o n c e r n i n g t h e d e a t h
plot, a n d t h e e m b e d d e d Mariette novel complicates matters further. A l t h o u g h t h e
n a r r a t o r f r o m t h e b e g i n n i n g has distinguished h e r perspective f r o m Mariette's by
occasionally a d o p t i n g t h e vocative in order to step back f r o m h e r h e r o i n e a n d ad-
dress n a t u r e conspiratorially a b o u t her, t h e first i m p o r t a n t conflict of perspectives
is p r o m p t e d by Mariette's r a p t u r o u s c o n t e m p l a t i o n of t h e scene of h e r o w n d e a t h
in t h e novel. A n ecstatic M a r i e t t e naively e c h o e s a n aesthetic tradition e p i t o m i z e d
by E d g a r Allan Poe's assertion t h a t " t h e d e a t h . . . of a b e a u t i f u l w o m a n is, u n -
questionably, t h e m o s t poetical topic in t h e world." 1 6 B u t a m o r e cynical appraisal
of this tradition l o o m s in t h e transition f r o m Mariette's exaltation to t h e n a r r a t o r s
irony:

Elle s'arrete et lit:

O h ! les belles a m o u r s ! oh! l'histoire t o u c h a n t e !
Q u e cette M a r i e t t e e u t u n h e u r e u x p r i n t e m p s !
Pauvre, eile est adoree, eile rit, eile c h a n t e ,
Elle a i m e , eile est a i m e e , eile m e u r t vingt ans!
Elle m e u r t , et c'est l ce q u ' o n envie;
La jeunesse s'eprend de ces rigueurs d u sort. (203)

She stops and reads:

Oh! what sweet love! oh! what a touching story!
What a happy spring this Mariette had!
Poor, she is loved, she laughs, she sings,
She loves, she is loved, she dies at twenty!
She dies, and that is what is envied;
Youth is infatuated with such hardships of fate.

T h e narrative perspective c h a n g e s in t h e last two lines cited; t h e switch is signaled

principally by t h e irony that abruptly makes its way into t h e text as t h e seductive-

16
Edgar Allan Poe, " T h e Philosophy of C o m p o s i t i o n , " in Selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe ( H a r -
m o n d s w o r t h : P e n g u i n , 1967), 486. A clear example of the n a r r a t o r s "asides" to n a t u r e in La Servante
begins: " Q u e lui disiez-vous d o n e , 6 voix de la n a t u r e . . . ?" (201) [ " W h a t did you say to her, voices of
n a t u r e . . . ?"].
 REWRITING A WOMAN'S LIFE
ness of dying young and in love gives way, through the repetition of "she dies " to
an intimation of the finality of death. The narrative distancing conveyed by the
impersonal pronoun on and by the aphoristic statement of the last line indicates
that our focus is no longer with Mariette reading Mariette, but with the narrator
watching Mariette as reader, appraising her responses, and judging them as indi-
cators of larger social patterns.
Colet frequently uses such a strategy whereby sympathy is elicited for Mariette
through a narrative identification with her point of view, which is withdrawn
whenever her character is too submissive, too complicitous with her ill-treatment
This is one way of juggling irreconcilable subject positions: Colet wants to re-
count, from a feminine subject position, what it is like for a woman to live out the
plots written for her by men, but if she carries through to the traditional end point
without a twist, in order to show how well women have learned these plots she
ends up replicating them.' 7 This is why her narrator vacillates between identifica-
tion with Marietta's suffering and repudiation of her weakness. To take up resi-
dence in either one of these positions would necessitate a choice between female-
associated submissiveness and male-associated critical distance- to write as a
woman or to write for a woman. Either stance reproduces patriarchal bound-
aries. It is important that we recognize the systematic and strategic recurrence of
this kind of narrative maneuver, for the alternative is a naive and misogynistic mis-
reading that bypasses narratorial mediation in order to identify Colet thoroughly
and completely with her heroine. 19
The death plot continues throughout the narrative to divide Mariette and the
narrator; it creates an internal struggle for control that no doubt reflects unresolved
narrative ambivalence. La Servante successfully resists Mariette's death, but not

i z has' d ubb b e cd ,musculation,

Ih a t hJ u d i t ^h Fetterley an ext ie vers,on fthe rcadi,,g txpenci,ce
r w h i e hconsists of w o m a n ' s b e i n g " c^o - o p t e d i n t o p a r -
e XPerienCer0 1 W
| f " !''th ^ -P'-t'y s h c is asked to identify w " h a s e l f h o o d
t h a t d e f i n e s itself in o p p o s i t i o n to her; s h e is r e q u i r e d to identify against herself." Fetterley The Resist-
ing Reader ( B l o o m m g t o n : I n d i a n a University Press, 1978) xx xii

1T,;C dl
! " m I ' a i s C U r r e " ' i n t e m p o r a r y f e m i n i s t t h e o ^ a n d has b e e n f o r m u l a t e d by C a r o l T h o m a s
"W d ^ g of b e i n g boxed in or locked o u t . " Neely, " F e m i n i s t M o d e s of S h a k e s p e a r e a n C r i t -
o m e n s
S t u d i e s 9 (1981): 5. S e e T o r i l Moi's suggestive discussion of L u c e I r i g a r a y ^ a t t e m p t s to
e s c a p e s p e c u l a r c o n s t r u c t i o n s of f e m i n i n i t y in M o i , Sexual/Textual Politics ( L o n d o n ^ M e t h u e n , 1985
ori!t_ e c h o e d ' h v M K 3113 "lan'sJr'^erroa''on Irigarays p o s i t i o n i n g of herself as w o m a n / t h e -
orist, e c h o e d by M o i as by myself, in F e l m a n , La Folie et la chose l.ttera.re (Paris: Seuil 1978) 1 4 0 -
4 1 . F o r a f a s c i n a t i n g a c c o u n t of a similar a t t e m p t to c o m b i n e c o n f l i c t i n g s u b j e c t positions see S u s a n
M c C l a r y ' s a n a l y s . s of M a d o n n a ' s video, "Living to Tell," in Feminine Endings ! -61
T h e u n f o r t u n a t e t e n d e n c y to c o n f l a t e f e m a l e a u t h o r s with t h e i r h e r o i n e s , p e r h a p s m o r e p r o n o u n c e d
w h e n a text ,s as p o l e m . c a l as La Servante, has n o less m . s o g y m s t . e i m p l i c a t i o n s w h e n p r a c t i c e d by a
w o m a n t h a n by a m a n . S e e M a r i e - C l a u d e Schapira's " P e u t - o n e n c o r e lire La Servante," ,n Bel et
Femmesde lettre For s o m e provocative c o m m e n t s o n t h e a s s u m p t i o n t h a t w o m e n ' s fiction is ncccssar-
ly a u t o b . o g r a p h . c a l , see C h r i s t i n e P l a n t e s article " M a r c e l i n e D e s b o r d e s - V a l m o r e : L a u t o b . o g a p h . e
indefinie, Romantisme 56(1987): 4 7 - 5 8 . uiuuiograpme
EPISTOLARY NARRATIVES
110 for lack of a death wish on her part. We see her on three separate occasions in the
narrative leaning over parapets, lingering longingly at the edge of the river, as if
teasing, defying the narrator; on the second of these occasions, she leaps, only to
be saved from drowning by a narrator determined not to give in to this plot, even if
she is tempted to play with it.
By the time Mariette has been plucked out of the Seine and married to a corpse,
she has been essentially disengaged from the conventions of female plot. Denied
death, widowed without having known marriage, she has bypassed narrative con-
vention; she has outlived her plot. She is left in a literal no-man's land outside plot,
outside language: it is the women's hospital called the Salpetriere. There is a third
alternative to female death and female submission: it is madness. But whereas
death and marriage are closural states, bringing about narrative resolution, mad-
ness is a gaping space, a yawning question. The textual blank separating the dou-
ble scene of Mariette's marriage to Lionel and his death from the Salpetriere
scenes corresponds to the lacuna that is madness. The text does not speak the cause
of Mariette's folly; it simply moves into it.
Though female madness has been seen by some as woman's revolt against pa-
triarchy, I do not want to champion Mariette's case, when I call it an alternative to
death and marriage, as an overcoming of constraints or a celebration of the in-
stinctual. 20 It seems particularly clear, in the present context, that madness is what
is in excess of plot, or more specifically, that it is the price exacted for living outside
plot. It is less a sign of successful revolt than a symptom of the ills incurred for ven-
turing into a region beyond or between cultural codes. Such a region is reached in
La Servante by means of a mythic journey into language.

R E I N V E N T I N G LANGUAGE
What I have been calling the madness plot in La Servante is named for its end
point; however, its evolution can be traced throughout the narrative inasmuch as
it corresponds to a mythological voyage into language and then out again on the far
side. The saga of Mariette is recounted in terms of a gendered passage from coun-
try to city, nature to culture, mother to father, concrete to abstract, unity to sepa-
ration, imaginary to symbolic, voice to book. We see dramatized herebut also
reviseda gendered myth of language acquisition that has changed little from the
fiction of Colet's era to the theory of our own.21 Given that Colet writes from the
20
See Helene Cixous and Catherine Clement, La ]eune Nee (Paris: 10/18, 1 9 7 5 ) , for a debate on the
hysteric as heroine/victim.
21
In spite of the essential continuity, I will avoid the inevitably teleological approach that consists of fit-
ting Colet's rendition of the myth within a contemporary theoretical framework. Although I cannot
avoid looking back through my contemporary lens and will make comparisons to contemporary theory
along the way, I want to give priority, inasmuch as is possible, to Colet's early version of the myth.
 R E W R I T I N G A W O M A N ' S LIFE
paradoxical position of a w o m a n writing a b o u t a w o m a n striving to write in a n or-
der in w h i c h w o m a n a n d writing are i n c o m p a t i b l e categories, revision is inevita-
ble; however, it s h o u l d n o t be c o n s t r u e d as d e c o n s t r u c t i o n . As C o l e t shuttles h e r
c h a r a c t e r b e t w e e n a p r e s y m b o l i c l a n g u a g e represented as n a t u r a l , material fluid
e m b o d i e d , a n d wordless, a n d a symbolic l a n g u a g e represented as cultural ab-
stract, preinscribed, cerebral, a n d articulate, she reproduces c o n v e n t i o n a l dualis-
tic g e n d e r codes even as she valorizes t h e m differently. 2 2
Before t u r n i n g to Mariette's wanderings in language, I w a n t to m a k e two q u a l i -
fying points a b o u t C o l e t s occasional complicity with t h e patriarchal codes a n d
c o n v e n t i o n s against w h i c h she is struggling. First, I w a n t to argue t h a t she is writ-
ing in large part as a witness, with t h e p u r p o s e of exposing rather t h a n c o n d o n i n g
s u c h codes a n d c o n v e n t i o n s . T h i s stance is m o s t clear w h e n she has h e r n a r r a t o r
explicitly distinguish h e r voice a n d perspective f r o m Mariette's. If we take t h e dis-
covery of t h e Mariette text as a m o d e l for this process, we m i g h t say, using J u d i t h
Fetterleys t e r m s , t h a t whereas M a r i e t t e is a n assenting reader of this e m b e d d e d
text, t h e n a r r a t o r positions herself as a resisting reader. 2 3 W h i l e this is t h e position
she generally m a i n t a i n s t h r o u g h o u t t h e n a r r a t i o n , t h e r e are m o m e n t s t h a t a p p e a r
to m e (from m y vantage p o i n t as a late t w e n t i e t h - c e n t u r y reader) as lapses in h e r
f e m i n i s t reading, as a slackening of h e r resistance. T h i s brings m e to m y s e c o n d
p o i n t , w h i c h is simply a r e m i n d e r of t h e extent to w h i c h t h e voice of resistance
a d o p t e d by a w o m a n writing w i t h i n m a l e c u l t u r a l , social, a n d literary c o n v e n t i o n s
m u s t systematically a n d painstakingly u n b i n d itself f r o m a tradition of assent
T h e r e is a good possibility t h a t C o l e t was simply n o t a strong e n o u g h writer to
e m e r g e t r i u m p h a n t f r o m a verbal battle with c u l t u r e , for victory w o u l d have n e -
cessitated t h a t she u n l e a r n or u n w r i t e t h e inflections of c o m p l i a n c e c o n t a i n e d
w i t h i n every u t t e r a n c e .

As M a r g a r e t H o m a n s has p o i n t e d o u t , " a l t h o u g h w o m e n writers past a n d pres-

e n t h a v e m a d e i m p o r t a n t a n d bold attempts to give voice to w o m e n ' s silenced story
w e will p e r h a p s never k n o w t h e extent to w h i c h s u c h revisionary m y t h s (based o n
w o m e n ' s experience') have u n i n t e n t i o n a l l y reinscribed t h e pervasive a n d r o c e n -

It is interesting to n o t e t h a t t h e textual o b j e e t of g e n d e r d i c h o t o m i z a t i o n for F l a u b e r t is essentially

c o n c e i v e d in t e r m s of style, w h i l e for C o l e t it is m o r e f u n d a m e n t a l l y voice. A l t h o u g h t h e r e is a c e r t a i n
a m o u n t of m i x i n g (voice a n d style are at t i m e s presented as overlapping areas), t h e d i s t i n c t i o n strikes
m e as s i g n i f i c a n t b e c a u s e it reflects t h e u n q u e s t i o n e d a s s u m p t i o n of voice for a n d by t h e m a l e s u b j e c t
a n d , ^ u n c e r t a m t y f o r t h e f e m a l e s u b j e c t . O n t h e p r e v a l e n c e of voice as m e t a p h o r in women's d i s c o u r s e
a n d t h i n k i n g , see M a r y Field Be enky, Blythe M c V . c k e r C l i n c h y , N a n c y R u l e G o l d b e r g e r , a n d J,11
M a t t u c k T a r u l e , Women s Ways of Knowing ( N e w York: Basic Books 1986)
I n The Resisting Reader, Fetterley c o n t e n d s t h a t t h e f e m i n i s t critic m u s t begin by b e c o m i n g a resist-
ing r a t h e r t h a n a n a s s e n t i n g reader, t h e r e b y b e g i n n i n g to exorcise t h e i n t e r n a l i z e d m a l e m i n d S h e
elaborates: W h i l e w o m e n obviously c a n n o t rewrite literary works so t h a t t h e y b e c o m e o u r s by virtue of
r e f l e c t i n g o u r reality, we c a n a c c u r a t e l y n a m e t h e reality t h e y d o reflect a n d so c h a n g e literary c r i t i c i s m
t r o m a closed c o n v e r s a t i o n to a n active d i a l o g u e " (xxii-xxiii).
E P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
112 trism of o u r c u l t u r e . " 2 4 I n a s m u c h as m y o w n discourse is, like Colet's, c i r c u m -
scribed by a n d r o c e n t r i c c u l t u r e , b u t u n l i k e Colet's, dually c i r c u m s c r i b e d b e c a u s e
I speak also f r o m w i t h i n a n o w institutionalized f e m i n i s t s u b c u l t u r e , m y b l i n d
spots are potentially d o u b l e d . Like C o l e t , I a m in danger of unwittingly reinscrib-
ing a n d r o c e n t r i s m w i t h i n m y intentionally f e m i n i s t reading. B u t also, b e c a u s e of
m y o w n d o u b l e inscription, I m a y u n i n t e n t i o n a l l y misread as points of resis-
t a n c e a s p r o t o f e m i n i s t attestations to t h e constraints of patriarchypassages in
w h i c h C o l e t inadvertently relapses into a n d r o c e n t r i c c o n v e n t i o n s . T h e s e are risks
I c a n signal b u t n o t avoid. T h e y usefully e c h o Colet's sense of finding h e r every
discursive v e n t u r e r e c u p e r a t e d by a preconstituted c o n t a i n i n g discourse.

Mariette's trajectory in l a n g u a g e bears t h e shape of a revisionary f a m i l y r o m a n c e .

S h e m o v e s o u t f r o m a n initial m o t h e r - i d e n t i f i e d state of preverbal c o m m u n i o n
with n a t u r e to a l i m i n a l g r o u n d of literary aspirations that c a n begin to be realized
only u p o n t h e d e a t h of h e r m o t h e r . At t h a t point, reborn in a n aristocratic m i l i e u
(but ironically as servant), she enters t h e r e a l m of symbolic l a n g u a g e u n d e r t h e il-
lusory p a t r o n a g e of t h e lover w h o is a u t h o r of h e r identity if n o t of h e r days. H o w -
ever, she c a n n e i t h e r fully a c c e d e to t h e symbolic n o r reenter t h e r e p u d i a t e d pre-
symbolic d o m a i n , a n d c a u g h t b e t w e e n t h e two b u t b e l o n g i n g to neither, she falls
outside l a n g u a g e into m a d n e s s . I w a n t to follow this four-stage itinerary in closer
detail, paying particular a t t e n t i o n to its sharply d i c h o t o m o u s g e n d e r e d spheres of
language.
For t h e child M a r i e t t e growing u p in t h e provincial c o u n t r y s i d e , t h e world is
split into realities of m o t h e r a n d fantasies of otherness, t h e o t h e r world associated
with books, reading, e d u c a t i o n , a n d escape to Paris. T h e polarities are neatly rep-
resented in t h e first few lines, w h e r e we find M a r i e t t e a n d h e r c h i l d h o o d f r i e n d
T h e r e s o n posed in f r o n t of t h e village c h u r c h , w a t c h i n g t h e c o a c h setting off for
Paris. Mariette's aspirations are f u r t h e r d e f i n e d , first in positive t e r m s as b i b l i o p h i -
lia ( " M o n v o e u serait de vivre et d e m e r e n f e r m e r / D a n s cette salle a u n o r d p l e i n e
de livres rares" [201] ["My wish w o u l d b e to live a n d to close myself off / In t h a t
n o r t h r o o m full of rare books"]), t h e n in negative t e r m s as t h e dismissal of h e r
suitor J u l i e n o n g r o u n d s of illiteracy ("II n e sait pas lire" [207]).
W i t h r e m a r k a b l e consistency, M a r i e t t e represents h e r m o t h e r as t h e obstacle
k e e p i n g h e r f r o m t h e larger world of Paris a n d books. T o T h e r e s o n ' s evocations of
Paris, she wistfully if d u t i f u l l y responds: "A m a m e r e m a l a d e il f a u t songer a v a n t "
(199) ["I m u s t first t h i n k of m y ailing mother"]; a n d to h e r employer's invitation to
serve in Paris, " O h ! m o i , c'est m a plus c h e r e envie / M a i s m a m e r e est i n f i r m e , eile
m o u r r a i t sans m o i " (204) ["Oh! as for m e , that is m y dearest wish / B u t m y m o t h e r

24
Margaret H o m a n s , Bearing the Word (Chicago: University of C h i c a g o Press, 1986), 1 4 - 1 5 .
 R E W R I T I N G A W O M A N ' S LIFE
is ill, she w o u l d die w i t h o u t me"]. M o m e n t a r i l y deranged by t h e force of desire 113
a w a k e n e d in h e r by t h e discovery of Lionel's novel ("son c o e u r palpitait / D e s desirs
eveilles d a n s son m e de vierge; / C e livre, ce voyage Paris" [204] ["her h e a r t pal-
pitated / F r o m t h e desires a w a k e n e d in h e r virgin soul; / T h i s book, this trip to
Paris"]), M a r i e t t e reveals to h e r m o t h e r w h a t is t a n t a m o u n t to a n inverted d e a t h
wish for her: " ' A h ! si vous guerissiez, je partirais c o m m e e i l e ' " (204) [" 'Ah! if you
were to get well, I w o u l d leave as she did'"]. I m m e d i a t e l y r e p e n t a n t , torn b e t w e e n
c o n t r i t i o n a n d desire, pulled between m o t h e r a n d book, M a r i e t t e is for a t i m e al-
ternately n u r s e a n d reader:

Elle n e quitta plus la m a l a d e affaiblie-

Pres d'elle eile faisait sa c o u t u r e le jour
E t relisait le soir, a r d e m m e n t recueilli,
Sans jamais se lasser son b e a u livre d ' a m o u r .

She no longer left the weakened patient;

Beside her she did her sewing in the daytime
And at night in ardent silence reread
Her beautiful love story, never tiring of it.

S o o n afterward, however, h e r m o t h e r silently s u c c u m b s . 2 5 T h e mother's m u f f l e d

m o a n s a n d q u i e t d e a t h recede before t h e printed word w h e n a letter fortuitously ar-
rives s u m m o n i n g M a r i e t t e to serve t h e m a r q u i s e in Paris. In a final apposition of
m o t h e r w o r l d a n d o t h e r w o r l d , girlish chastity a n d literary s e d u c t i o n , M a r i e t t e pre-
pares for h e r d e p a r t u r e by packing side by side t h e dress in w h i c h h e r m o t h e r robed
h e r for h e r c o m m u n i o n , a n d L i o n e l s novel: " E l l e m i t dans la m a l l e , / Pres d u livre
d ' a m o u r , la robe virginale" (207) ["She packed in h e r t r u n k / N e x t to t h e love story,

25
C o m p a r e in t h e following eitat,ons the silence that s u r r o u n d s the m o t h e r s death with Lionel's noisy

La m o u r a n t e expira sans dire u n e parole.

U n e voisine entra. " S i l e n c e ! parlons bas!"
M u r m u r a i t Mariette. (206)

The dying woman expired without a word.

A neighbor entered. "Silence! let us speak softly!"
Murmured Mariette.

E t sa voix, o deja le rale vient courir,

Stridente, repetait: "Je ne veux pas m o u r i r ! " (241)

And his voice, already traversed by the death rale,

Repeated stridently. "I do not want to die!"
E P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
114 t h e virginal dress"]. T h e apposition reveals itself m o r e specifically as opposition
w h e n M a r i e t t e , book in h a n d a n d Paris b o u n d , t u r n s h e r back o n h e r m o t h e r s
house:

D e r r i e r e eile eclata c o m m e u n b r u i t de sanglots:

Elle c r u t q u e c'etait sa p a u v r e m e r e m o r t e
P l e u r a n t sur son depart et v e n a n t l ' e m p e c h e r . (207)

Behind her a sobbing sound burst forth,

She thought it was her poor dead mother
Crying over her departure and coming to stop her.

As I follow Mariette's passage to a Paris represented by books, writing, artful lan-

guage, a n d hypocrisy, I w a n t particularly to e m p h a s i z e t h e ways in w h i c h C o l e t
apposes t h a t s p h e r e to t h e m o r e d o m i n a n t m a t e r n a l voices of Mariette's early
years; I w a n t also to suggest that these two apposed spheres anticipate t h e d o m a i n s
t h a t h a v e m o r e recently b e e n t h e o r i z e d as imaginary a n d symbolic in Lacan's
t e r m s , a n d semiotic a n d symbolic in Kristeva's. I will be using t h e t e r m s presym-
bolic a n d symbolic to avoid specifically aligning Colet's m y t h with L a c a n or Kris-
teva so as n o t to inscribe it w i t h i n a critical discourse that evolved m o r e t h a n a c e n -
tury later. 2 5
Let us t h e n consider closely Mariette's " m o t h e r t o n g u e " : t h e generally wordless,
s o m e t i m e s silent, b u t always t r a n s p a r e n t voice of n a t u r e . Mariette's c h i l d h o o d
l a n g u a g e is described as song ("Parier, c'est c o m m e u n air q u ' o n c h a n t e et q u i c o n -
sole" [199]) ["Speaking is like singing a soothing melody"]. It is set against whisper-
ing breezes a n d singing birds a n d is itself c o m p a r e d to t h e b a b b l i n g of finches
(202). Mariette's wordless c o m m u n i o n with t h e voices of n a t u r e is i n t e r r u p t e d
q u i t e explicitly by h e r sighting of Mariette. T h e written word effectively silences
nature's voice for her, as it will quite literally suppress t h e m o t h e r t o n g u e , t h o u g h
T h e r e s o n stands by disapprovingly a n d insists: " J a i m e m i e u x m a c h a n s o n " (203)
["I prefer m y song"].
N o w t h e parallels b e t w e e n Colet's story of a passage f r o m a p h a s e of preverbal
c o m m u n i o n to o n e of c o m m u n i c a t i o n in l a n g u a g e a n d t h e L a c a n i a n a n d Kriste-
van narratives of a child's insertion into t h e symbolic order t h r o u g h a p a t e r n a l i n -
t e r r u p t i o n of t h e m o t h e r - c h i l d dyad a n d suppression of t h e m a t e r n a l sphere attest

26
Jane G a l l o p distinguishes Kristeva's semiotic f r o m Lacan's imaginary as being a m o r e positively val-
orized (more revolutionary, less closed) order. Jane Gallop, The Daughter's Seduction: Feminism and
Psychoanalysis (Ithaca: C o r n e l l University Press, 1982), 124.
 R E W R I T I N G A W O M A N ' S LIFE
to t h e consistency a n d longevity of cultural myth. 2 7 C o l e t s version, however, pre- \\i
sents a few critical variants that dislocate t h e c u s t o m a r y structural e l e m e n t s , serv-
ing to d e n a t u r a l i z e a too-familiar story.
First, t h e r e is n o f a t h e r in La Servante, n o figure of t h e Law to sever m o t h e r a n d
d a u g h t e r , n o nom du pere to inscribe t h e d a u g h t e r as a separate b e i n g within lan-
guage. M a r i e t t e , "little M a r y " (by i m p l i c a t i o n , "little m o t h e r " ) , bears n o patro-
n y m i c , a n d places herself u n d e r t h e sign of t h e m o t h e r in a rhetorical m o v e that
f e m i n i z e s m a t e r n a l i z e s t h e pater in t h e very act of n a m i n g h i m : " M a r i e est m a
patronne," she declares (201; m y emphasis). T o anticipate charges of reading too
literally, let m e pass quickly to a m o r e substantive m a t t e r for w h i c h t h e missing fa-
ther is only a superficial sign. If Mariette's linguistic course r u n s parallel to c o n -
t e m p o r a r y theories of a passage f r o m presymbolic p l e n i t u d e to symbolic loss, it di-
verges f r o m t h e t h e o r i z e d passage insofar as t h e m o v e f r o m p r e s y m b o l i c to
symbolic for M a r i e t t e is gradual, n o n v i o l e n t , a n d , m o s t notably, initiated by t h e
m o t h e r (that is, by n a t u r e as h e r surrogate). Prior to discovering t h e Book, b u t sub-
s e q u e n t to a c k n o w l e d g i n g h e r y e a r n i n g for books, M a r i e t t e , like so m a n y o t h e r
n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y h e r o i n e s , sits before t h e o p e n w i n d o w c o m m u n i n g with t h e
world outside h e r c o n f i n e d sphere:

E t les brises d u soir q u i v e n a i e n t d e la rive

Avaient avec son c o e u r d ' i n t i m e s entretiens.
Q u e lui disiez-vous d o n e , o voix de la n a t u r e ,
Longs e c h o s alternes de la terre et de D i e u ,
P o u r faire ainsi m o n t e r cette h u m b l e c r e a t u r e
D e sa c a l m e i g n o r a n c e des reves de feu?
Elle n e connaissait e n c o r q u e l'Evangile,
Q u e l q u e recit naif des c o n t e u r s a l l e m a n d s ,
E t la l i m p i d i t e de son m e t r a n q u i l l e
N e s'etait pas e m u e a u t r o u b l e des r o m a n s .
P o u r t a n t vous l'attiriez et vous l'aviez saisie,
I m p e t u e u x c o u r a n t des coeurs faits p o u r aimer!
Orages de l ' a m o u r et de la poesie,
Elle vous pressentait sans pouvoir vous n o m m e r !

27
Freud's version of this m y t h equates t h e progress of civilization with a m o v e f r o m the material to t h e
spiritual sphere, w h i c h h e respectively qualifies as m a t e r n a l a n d paternal. Moses and Monotheism, in
The Standard Edition of the Complete Works of Sigmund Freud, trans. James Strachey, A n n a Freud,
Alix Strachey, a n d Alan Tyson, ed. James Strachey, 2 4 vols. ( L o n d o n : Hogarth, 1 9 5 3 - 7 4 ) , 2 3 : 1 1 2 - 1 5 '
For a good s u m m a r y of the c o n n e c t i o n s between c u l t u r e a n d t h e mother's suppression, see H o m a n s !
Bearing the Word, 1 - 3 9 .
E P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
116 Elle resta l o n g t e m p s la tete r a y o n n a n t e ,
* C o m m e voyant flotter son reve a u firmament,
Puis d a n s son petit lit s'endormit s o u r i a n t e ,
E t les voix de son c o e u r lui parlaient en d o r m a n t . (201-2)

And the evening breezes that came from the shore

Conversed intimately with her heart.
What did you say to her, voices of nature,
Echoing alternately from earth and from God,
To make this humble creature rise up
From her calm ignorance to burning dreams?
She didn't yet know anything but the Gospel,
And some German folk tales,
And the limpidity of her tranquil soul
Had not yet been stirred to excitement by novels.
Yet you drew her and you seized her,
Impetuous current of hearts made to love!
Storms of love and of poetry,
She sensed you without being able to name you!
Her face radiant, she lingered,
As if she saw her dream floating in the heavens,
Then she fell asleep smiling in her small bed,
And her heart's voices spoke to her as she slept.

I h a v e q u o t e d this passage in its entirety n o t only b e c a u s e it describes a prelapsarian

( b e c a u s e prenovelistic) M a r i e t t e n o t yet fully inscribed in t h e symbolic order, still
h e l d in a s y m b i o t i c unity with a n a t u r e that converses wordlessly a n d i n t i m a t e l y
with her, b u t also b e c a u s e it implies t h a t h e r aspirations to pass into t h e s y m b o l i c
order e m a n a t e f r o m w i t h i n , a n d are g e n e r a t e d by t h e m a t e r n a l l y associated prever-
bal sphere. ( " Q u e lui disiez-vous d o n e , o voix d e la n a t u r e / . . . P o u r faire ainsi
m o n t e r cette h u m b l e c r e a t u r e / D e sa c a l m e i g n o r a n c e des reves d e feu?") T h i s is
a n effective rewriting of t h e m y t h , for it displaces t h e father s role as l a n g u a g e giver,
a t t r i b u t i n g this f u n c t i o n instead to t h e m o t h e r s sphere, a n d signaling that t h e e n -
try into t h e symbolic order is gradually prepared rather t h a n precipitated by a
rupture.28

28
A s Kaja S i l v e r m a n m o r e generally remarks, " [ T h e m o t h e r ] is traditionally first language teacher,
c o m m e n t a t o r , arid storytellerthe o n e w h o first organizes the world linguistically for t h e child, a n d
first presents it to t h e O t h e r . . . . T h e t h e o r e t i c a l . . . e q u a t i o n of t h e m a t e r n a l voice with ' p u r e sono-
rousness' m u s t t h e r e f o r e be understood n o t as a n extension of its intrinsic n a t u r e , or of its acoustic f u n c -
tion, b u t as part of a larger cultural disavowal of t h e mother's role both as a n agent of discourse a n d as a
m o d e l for linguistic . . . identification." Silverman, The Acoustic Mirror: The Female Voice in Psycho-
analysis and Cinema (Bloomington: I n d i a n a University Press, 1988), 100.
 R E W R I T I N G A W O M A N ' S LIFE
M a r i e t t e s entry into t h e symbolic coincides with h e r c o g i t o h e r self- IV
r e c o g n i t i o n in Mariette a n d is therefore arguably signed by t h e book's a u t h o r ,
" L i o n e l de V." But this surrogate nom du pere b e c o m e s significant, b e c o m e s t h e
sign of t h e n e w order into w h i c h she moves only because p r o m p t i n g s f r o m w i t h i n
t h e p r e s y m b o l i c order have already oriented h e r in this direction.
M a r i e t t e s s o j o u r n in Paris, in writing, in t h e symbolic order is m a r k e d by disil-
l u s i o n , by a l i e n a t i o n , by i n c o m p l e t e n e s s , a n d by a sense of irretrievable loss.
W h e r e a s t h e voices of n a t u r e were t r a n s p a r e n t for h e r a n d r e n d e r e d m e a n i n g i m -
m e d i a t e , m e a n i n g in Paris is m e d i a t e d by a n o p a q u e l a n g u a g e t h a t cosmeticizes
a n d distorts t r u t h . Lionel's writing is t h e p r i m e e x a m p l e of a pervasive d i s j u n c t i o n
of l a n g u a g e a n d t r u t h , a p p e a r a n c e a n d reality. His poetry serves h i m well " p o u r
farder e n p u b l i c u n acte m a l s e a n t " (217) ["to prettify an u n s e e m l y act to t h e p u b -
lic"]. His discourse is characterized by its duplicity, by a p e r p e t u a l split b e t w e e n
words a n d acts, l a n g u a g e a n d sentiments: "Sa prose et ses vers j u r a i e n t etrange-
m e n t / Avec tous les instincts de son t e m p e r a m e n t " (209) ["His prose a n d his verses
clashed curiously / W i t h all t h e instincts of his t e m p e r a m e n t " ] . L i o n e l is a false
mirror, a d e f o r m i n g echo:

D e t o u t ce q u i seduit etre l ' e c h o sonore

E t le s e m b l a n t e m u de t o u t ce q u ' o n adore
D i r e en accents profonds l ' a m o u r et la vertu
E t les f o u l e r a u x pieds lorsque le c h a n t s'est tu. (218)

To be the sonorous echo of all that is seductive

And the semblance of all that is tender and lovable
To speak in reverent tones of love and virtue
And to stomp on them when the song is over.

T h e d o u b l e face of l a n g u a g e c o m e s m o s t clearly into view for M a r i e t t e w h e n

s h e u n d e r s t a n d s t h a t t h e l u r e of Mariette was false: she has entered into t h e p r o m -
ised l a n g u a g e as o b j e c t b u t n o t subject. M a r i e t t e m i g h t have yearned to be a p o e t
a n d a p o e m , to p a r a p h r a s e A. S. Byatt, b u t t h e lesson to be l e a r n e d is t h a t s h e c a n
never a u t h o r h e r own text. 2 9 S h e dares initially to d r e a m of a p a r t n e r s h i p in letters,
even after she has b e c o m e resigned to s u b m i s s i o n in love:

Elle revait dej, d o u c e m e n t attendrie,

Q u ' apres 1 h u m b l e labeur, l'etude aurait son tour (217)

' I n A. S. Byatt's novel Possession ( N e w York: R a n d o m H o u s e , 1990), her character E l l e n t h e wife of

a f a m o u s poet, writes of such adolescent a m b i t i o n s in h e r journal (136). See epigraph to C h a p t e r 3 ( 5 5
5
supra) for full citation.
E P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
118 Moved to sweet tears, she already dreamed
That after her humble toil she would have a chance to study.

But Lionel's response is negative:

M a i s p e i n e eile e u t dit la p r e m i e r e parole

D e ce secret espoir, qu'il s'ecria, railleur:
"(Ja, la belle, ai-je l'air d'etre u n m a i t r e d'ecole?" (218)

But scarcely had she spoken the first word

Of her secret hope when he cried out mockingly,
"Well, now, my dear, do I look like a schoolmaster?"

Needless to say, M a r i e t t e will never be a d m i t t e d to t h e subject position s h e seeks in

l a n g u a g e , a l t h o u g h she does a c c e d e to a n e w position in l a n g u a g e w h e n she t r a n -
scribes t h e words of a L i o n e l w h o is too d r u n k to h a n d l e a p e n :

"Pensez tout h a u t , et m o i j'ecrirai pres de vous!

Vous, l'esprit, m o i , la m a i n , cela m e sera doux!" (227)

"Think aloud, and I will write beside you!

You, the mind, I, the handthat will be sweet to me!"

T h e role of a m a n u e n s i s ironically realizes Mariette's desire to write, by literalizing

it. T h e act t h a t w o u l d serve to t r a n s c e n d h e r f e m a l e destiny serves instead to m a -
terialize it. 30
M a r i e t t e never c o m p l e t e s t h e transition f r o m presymbolic to symbolic, f r o m
m a t t e r to spirit, f r o m c o n c r e t e to abstract. Alienated w i t h i n t h e order to w h i c h she
aspired, she seeks traces of t h e m a t e r n a l l y figured order she a b a n d o n e d . S h e is in
fact h a u n t e d by t h e sense of a lost p l e n i t u d e whose a b s e n c e p h a n t a s m a t i c a l l y in-
t r u d e s u p o n h e r present:

M a r i e t t e est en pleurs. D a n s cette ville a m e r e ,

Elle se sent fremir: elle croit voir sa m e r e ,
C o m m e si d e sa t o m b e elle se relevait. (219)

30
Margaret H o m a n s w o u l d perhaps read Mariette's role of scribe differently, for in Bearing the Word
she suggests that a f e m a l e author's representation of a f e m a l e character as scribe constitutes a literali-
zation of writing, and h e n c e a recuperation of the m a t e r n a l a n d t h e presymbolic (31-32). Despite m y
a g r e e m e n t with m a n y of Homans's points, I c a n n o t read Mariette's f u n c t i o n as Lionel's a m a n u e n s i s as
other t h a n a n ironic degradation of h e r aspirations.
 R E W R I T I N G A W O M A N ' S LIFI
Mariette is in tears. In this harsh city, \ \<
She shudders; thinking she sees her mother, ,
As if she were rising from the grave.

Nostalgia repeatedly seizes u p o n t h e m o t h e r as t h e figure of disappeared unity:

E l l e se souvenait de sa p u r e c h i m e r e
Q u i riait sur les flots d u grand R h i n e c u m a n t ;
Aux bords du fleuve assise eile voyait sa mere,
Elle e n t e n d a i t Julien l'appeler tristement.
C e n'est plus t o n vieux R h i n , ce n'est plus ta jeunesse
C e fleuve, ces palais se d e r o u l a n t a u loin;
C e s m a r b r e s , ces jardins q u e la l u n e caresse,
C'est Paris e n d o r m i q u i n e te c o n n a i t point! (224; my emphasis)

She remembered her pure chimera

That laughed on the streams of the great foaming Rhine;
S h e s a w her m o t h e r sitting o n t h e banks o f the river,
She heard Julien sadly calling her.
This is no longer your Rhine, this is no longer your youth,
This river, these palaces looming in the distance,
These marble statues, these gardens caressed by the moon,
This is Paris asleep and a stranger to you!

E v e n nostalgia, however, seems to recognize an e l e m e n t of m y t h i c r e c o n s t r u c t i o n

("sa p u r e c h i m e r e " ) in t h e i m a g e of t h e flowing m o t h e r waters a n d t h e c h i l d h o o d
c o m m u n i o n with a n e m b r a c i n g nature; even nostalgia hears reason e n o u g h to
place r u p t u r e a n d loss w i t h i n n a t u r e rather t h a n after t h e Fall: " O h ! t r o m p e u s e est
la voix de t o u t e la n a t u r e " ["Oh! t h e voice of n a t u r e is deceitful"], says t h e n a r r a t o r
as a p r e l u d e to h e r R h i n e l a n d ode (224).
In fact m o t h e r , n a t u r e , p l e n i t u d e , unity, satiety b e c o m e increasingly p r o b l e m -
atic c o n c e p t s for M a r i e t t e a n d increasingly m y t h i c constructs for t h e narrator.
Images of fertility b e c o m e sterility, flow t u r n e d to aridity, a n d m o t h e r s milk drying
u p a p p e a r frequently:

L'esperance, ici-bas, est la m e r e c o m m u n e ,

E t sa m a m m e l l e tous offre u n lait savoureux.
M a i s a u x levres d u pauvre, il s epuise o u s'altere. (225)

Hope here on earth is our common mother

And her breast offers sweet milk to all
But on the lips of the poor, it dries up or turns.
E P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
120 W h e n in d e s p e r a t i o n M a r i e t t e throws herself into t h e S e i n e in an a t t e m p t to re-
c u p e r a t e a p r i m o r d i a l u n i o n , t h e n u r t u r i n g fluid is n o longer there; t h e riverbed is
a tomb:

S e i n e , q u e nos ai'eux n o m m a i e n t la n o u r r i c i e r e ,
T o n lit n e s t a u j o u r d ' h u i q u ' u n i m m e n s e ossuaire! (232)

Seine, that our ancestors called the nurturer,

Your bed today is but an immense ossuary!

W h a t this suicide m a n q u e makes clear is t h e utter e s t r a n g e m e n t of t h e m a t e r n a l

order M a r i e t t e reaches futilely to retrieve t h r o u g h d e a t h . T h e desired p s e u d o -
u t e r i n e f u s i o n with t h e S e i n e (reinforced by t h e textual play with associations
b e t w e e n t h e river S e i n e a n d sein, " w o m b " or "breast") is r e c o n t a i n e d by a m a l e
weave. Let us n o t forget that Seine is also that seine or n e t m o s t literally represented
by Julien's fishermanly rescue:

L e p l o n g e u r , d e t o u r n a n t le sinistre c o u r a n t ,
D e sa robuste m a i n la r a m e n e a u rivage. (232)

The diver, fighting the sinister current,

Brings her back to the shore with his robust hand.

T h e robust h a n d t h a t replaces "l'etreinte des flots" (232) ["the e m b r a c i n g waters"] is

a n o t h e r avatar of t h e p r o t e a n seine, s u c c e e d i n g t h e m a t e r n a l forms. 5 1 T h e c o n -
t a i n i n g s e i n e / h a n d c a n also be read as a figure for t h e e n c l o s i n g text, t h e patriar-
chal tissue t h a t inevitably reappropriates f e m a l e voice as if to c o n f i r m t h a t even
m a t e r n i t y is a p a t e r n a l c o n c e p t .
A l t h o u g h Mariette's rescue f r o m t h e water a n d h e r brief retreat into Julien's f a m -
ily are represented as a potential rebirth ("A sa sereine e n f a n c e elle espera r e n a i t r e "
[233] ["She h o p e d to b e reborn to h e r c a l m childhood"]), r e t u r n is n o t possible:
t h e r e c a n b e n o r e c u p e r a t i o n of a r e m e m b e r e d c h i l d h o o d p l e n i t u d e b e c a u s e t h a t
p l e n i t u d e , as we have seen, exists only as retrospective illusion. T h e desire t h a t
provoked Mariette's initial d e p a r t u r e has n o w b e c o m e t h e e n n u i of a declassee. Her
despair prefigures t h a t of E m m a Bovary, w h o s e bitter existence w o u l d soon be so

51
At a later point in the text, w h e n Mariette is again leaning over the river, t e m p t e d by its flow, Lionel
reappears a n d provides h e r with " u n e invincible etreinte" (236) ["an invincible embrace"] that replaces
t h e o n c e and t h r e a t e n e d f u t u r e "etreinte des flots."
 R E W R I T I N G A W O M A N ' S LIFE
u n a p p e t i z i n g l y served to h e r o n a d i n n e r plate: " T o u t e l ' a m e r t u m e de l'existence 121
lui s e m b l a i t servie sur son assiette, et, la f u m e e d u bouilli, il m o n t a i t d u f o n d d e
son m e c o m m e d'autres bouffees d'affadissement" ["All t h e bitterness of life
s e e m e d served u p o n h e r plate, a n d with t h e s m o k e of t h e boiled beef t h e r e rose
f r o m h e r secret soul waves of n a u s e o u s disgust"]. 3 2 Like E m m a , M a r i e t t e is over-
c o m e by waves of existential disgust that m i n g l e with t h e coarse odors of J u l i e n s
p e a s a n t table:

Les viandes et le lard r e p a n d a i e n t leurs vapeurs

E t le vin renverse tachait la n a p p e grise;
S u r le reste des mets s'allongeait u n vieux chat;
Julien f u m a i t sa pipe avec u n air beat.
La c h a m b r e regorgeait de ces o d e u r s m e l e e s
Sans souci d elegance, en f a m i l l e exhalees;
L e d e g o t lui m o n t a i t de la levre a u cerveau. (233)

The meats and the lard gave off their fumes,

And spilled wine spotted the gray cloth;
An old cat stretched out over the leftovers;
Julien smoked his pipe beatifically.
The room reeked of these mingled odors
Let out in the simple intimacy of home;
Disgust rose from her mouth to her brain.

R e i n s e r t i o n in t h e m a t e r n a l order is n o m o r e t e n a b l e t h a n was inscription in t h e

paternal:

E l l e n e p o u v a i t plus goter leur q u i e t u d e ,

S o n c o e u r s etait rouvert a u x reves e n f l a m m e s ,
A la voix d e l'amour, celle d e l'etude,
A tous les h o r i z o n s q u i leur etaient fermes! (233-34)

She could no longer swallow their calm

Her heart had reopened to fiery dreams
To the voice of love, to the voice of study,
To all the horizons that were closed to them!

52
Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, ed. Jacques Suffel (Paris: G a m i e r F l a m m a r i o n , 1970) 99- trans
Paul de M a n ( N e w York: N o r t o n , 1 9 6 5 ) , 4 7 .
E P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
122 At t h e close of this s c e n e of rescue, failed rehabilitation, a n d r e d e p a r t u r e , t h e
text has c o m e full circle b u t resolved n o t h i n g . A l t h o u g h C o l e t clearly m a k e s t h e
p o i n t t h a t t h e world inside t h e Lionel book is n o t e q u a l to its cover a n d t h a t M a -
riette c a n n o t r e c l a i m h e r birthright b e c a u s e she sacrificed it, she establishes as well
that J u l i e n s s i m p l e h e a r t a n d beatific smile are n o t e n o u g h to m a k e his c o n f i n e d
life palatable. T h e lack of narrative clarity a b o u t w h a t t h e right c h o i c e w o u l d be
c o r r e s p o n d s to t h e onset of Mariette's m a d n e s s , w h i c h is rooted in t h e imperative
for a n absolute c h o i c e b e t w e e n two alternatives t h a t m i g h t b e designated, in J. P.
Mbius's t u r n - o f - t h e - c e n t u r y m e d i c a l terms, as civilization or milk: " P r o p o r t i o n -
ately as 'civilization advances, fertility declines, t h e better t h e schools, t h e worse
t h e c o n f i n e m e n t s , less b e c o m e s t h e secretion of milk." 3 3 T h e d a u g h t e r w h o w o u l d
m a k e h e r h o m e fully in t h e symbolic m u s t kill t h e m o t h e r . T h e d a u g h t e r w h o
w o u l d c o n t i n u e to reside in t h e m a t e r n a l sphere finds all h o r i z o n s closed. 3 4 M a -
riette is c a u g h t , t h e n , b e t w e e n two spheres, u n a b l e to appropriate either h e r m e m -
ories or h e r d r e a m s , h e r voice or h e r p e n .
After she leaves J u l i e n s f a r m , we find h e r poised o n a hill c o n t e m p l a t i n g Paris.
T h i s pose is m o r e accurately a n equipoise, t h e e m b l e m of h e r suspension b e t w e e n
f e m i n i n e a n d m a s c u l i n e , c o u n t r y a n d city, n a t u r e a n d c u l t u r e , wordless c o m m u -
n i c a t i o n a n d linguistic opacity. It is also a caricature of h e r u p w a r d mobility, h e r
social c l i m b i n g . Correlatively, it prefigures t h e m a d n e s s scene at t h e e n d of t h e
text, in w h i c h t h e h e r o i n e m u s t be physically b o u n d by a straitjacket to keep h e r
f r o m c l a m b e r i n g into t h e trees.
In t h e final scene, we find M a r i e t t e w a n d e r i n g barefoot a n d disheveled a m o n g
t h e trees in t h e courtyard of t h e Salpetriere, hair loose a n d flowing, w e a r i n g a
c r o w n of straw, w e e p i n g flowerlike tears a n d songlike sobs. S h e has b e e n saved
f r o m d r o w n i n g , only to b e c o m e O p h e l i a .

REWRITING OPHELIA

La Servante is f r a m e d by a five-page i n t r o d u c t i o n , in t h e f o r m of t h e Mariette text,

a n d a five-page epilogue, w h i c h is written in t h e s h a d o w of t h e O p h e l i a story. Both
stories c o n s t i t u t e sanctified c u l t u r a l m o d e l s against w h i c h t h e body of La Servante
m u s t d e f i n e itself. In fact t h e story of O p h e l i a , w h o , like L i o n e l s h e r o i n e , loves a
p o e t a n d dies y o u n g , amplifies b u t does n o t diverge f r o m t h e archetypal patterns of
Mariette.

" J . P. M b i u s , " T h e Physiological M e n t a l Weakness of W o m e n , " Alienist and Neurologist 22 (1901):

634.
54
See Jean Wyatt's Reconstructing Desire: The Role of the Unconscious in Women's Reading and Writ-
ing ( C h a p e l Hill: University of N o r t h C a r o l i n a Press, 1990) for a n excellent analysis of t h e dichoto-
m o u s choices awaiting t h e d a u g h t e r w h o chooses n o t to travel t h e preassigned f e m i n i n e path.
I

R E W R I T I N G A W O M A N ' S LIFI
C o l e t spars with O p h e l i a as she does with Mariette, engaging with h e r plot b u t 12:
f r a c t u r i n g it, e m b r a c i n g b u t dislocating its central e l e m e n t s i t s m a d n e s s , song,
silence, fluidity, f u s i o n with n a t u r e , betrayed love, d e a t h e l e m e n t s whose re-
casting w o u l d h a v e b e e n all t h e m o r e unsettling to c o n t e m p o r a r y readers b e c a u s e
of their familiarity with t h e O p h e l i a plot a n d character. Hamlet h a d b e e n rediscov-
ered in F r a n c e in 1827, in a p r o d u c t i o n in w h i c h a y o u n g Irish actress, Harriet
S m i t h s o n , stole t h e show as O p h e l i a . 3 5 S m i t h s o n s long black veil, straw-strewn
hair, a n d poetic d e l i r i u m took Paris by storm; they were widely r e p r o d u c e d in
prints a n d paintings, p o p u l a r lithographs, a n d fashion design. 3 6 Trendsetters
sported a " c o i f f u r e la f o l l e " a black veil "with wisps of straw tastefully inter-
w o v e n in t h e h a i r " 3 7 w h i c h is faithfully r e p r o d u c e d in M a r i e t t e s m a d scene:

J u s q u ' a u sol ses c h e v e u x , tels q u ' u n voile de d e u i l ,

T r a i n a i e n t y r a m a s s a n t des brins d ' h e r b e et de m o u s s e . (245)

Her hair, hanging like a mourning veil,

Swept the ground, gathering wisps of grass and moss.

T h e O p h e l i a figure c o n t i n u e d to h a u n t t h e F r e n c h i m a g i n a t i o n well after t h e 1827

g r o u n d - b r e a k i n g p e r f o r m a n c e , notably d u r i n g t h e period leading u p to h e r 1 8 5 3 -
54 r e a p p e a r a n c e in La Servante. G e o r g e S a n d represented h e r in Indiana in 1832;
M s s e t a n d H u g o a l l u d e d to h e r in t h e 30s a n d 40s; Delacroix executed a series of
paintings a n d lithographs representing O p h e l i a in t h e 1830S-50S. A n d in 1 8 3 6 - 3 9
L o u i s e C o l e t was part of a t e a m of translators w h o collaborated with D . O ' S u l l i v a n
a n d M . Jay o n a n a n n o t a t e d edition of Chefs-d'oeuvre de Shakespeare. Hamlet was
38
o n e of t h e works studied.

So w h e n C o l e t b e c o m e s O p h e l i a s narrator, she brings with h e r n o t only a stock

familiarity with t h e p o p u l a r i z e d S m i t h s o n interpretation, b u t also a n editorial
k n o w l e d g e of t h e play a n d c o n s e q u e n t l y an a u t h o r i t y t h a t lends to h e r plot revi-

35
T h e S m i t h s o n p e r f o r m a n c e was the most d r a m a t i c m o m e n t in a m o r e gradual repatriation of t h e
O p h e l i a character, w h o was infinitely m o r e appropriate to t h e r o m a n t i c spirit t h a n to the m e a s u r e d e n -
l i g h t e n m e n t m i n d . See James M . Vest's The French Face of Ophelia from Belleforest to Baudelaire
( L a n h a m , N.Y.: University Press of A m e r i c a , 1989) for the fascinating history of h e r vicissitudes.
36
S m i t h s o n s O p h e l i a d o m i n a t e d theatrical, medical, pictorial, a n d literary iconography of the char-
acter for g e n e r a t i o n s a r g u a b l y until well into the twentieth century. E l a i n e Showalter points o u t that
Jean Simmons's O p h e l i a in the L a u r e n c e Olivier film of 1948 is still d o m i n a t e d by Smithson's interpre-
tation of t h e role. Showalter, "Representing O p h e l i a : W o m e n , Madness, a n d the Responsibilities of
Feminist C r i t i c i s m , " in Shakespeare and the Question of Theory, ed. Patricia Parker a n d Geoffrey Hart-
m a n ( L o n d o n : M e t h u e n , 1985), 83. See, too, B r a m Dijkstra's a c c o u n t of O p h e l i a s n m e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y
f o r t u n e , in Idols of Perversity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986).
37
S h o w a l t e r , "Representing O p h e l i a , " 83.
38
Vest, The French Face of Ophelia, 148.
iPISTOLARY NARRATIVES
24 sions a n element of b o t h calculation and c o n s e q u e n c e . H e r portrait of M a r i e t t e at
t h e Salpetriere, w i t h h e r hair h a n g i n g long a n d u n b o u n d , is particularly o b e d i e n t
t o Elizabethan c o n v e n t i o n s of representation, w h i c h coded disheveled hair as a
sign of immodesty a n d sensuality often indicative of f e m a l e d e m e n t i a . 3 9 H e r a l l u -
sions to the g e n t l e n e s s of Mariette s m a d n e s s " S i d o u x et si placide est son egare-
ment" (245) [ " H e r d e r a n g e m e n t is so placid a n d docile"]also reflect t h e S h a k e -
spearean m o d e l , as does t h e D a p h n e - l i k e f u s i n g of w o m a n a n d tree t h a t w e see in
the affinity of M a r i e t t e s own limbs for tree limbs. 4 0
T h e i c o n o g r a p h i c a l l y correct detail of Colet's O p h e l i a renders h e r plot m o d i f i -
cations all t h e m o r e conspicuous. H e r m o s t flagrant a l t e r a t i o n s t h e transposition
of t h e m a d s c e n e a n d t h e d r o w n i n g s c e n e a n d t h e t r a n s f o r m a t i o n of lethal d r o w n -
ing into d r o w n i n g m a n q u e g i v e pause for t h o u g h t . T h e i n t e r r u p t e d suicide m u s t
be viewed as m o r e t h a n a response to a larger narrative tradition of w o m e n sacri-
ficed to m e n s plots. It is also, m o r e specifically, a reflection o n a n a b i d i n g associ-
a t i o n g e n e r a l l y inscribed in t h e discourse of hysteria a n d particularly i m p r i n t e d
u p o n Flaubert's t h o u g h t s a b o u t Colet's f e m i n i n e s t y l e o f w o m e n with water a n d
all t h i n g s flowing.
Colet's invocation of O p h e l i a in response to Flaubert's d e n i g r a t i o n of h e r over-
flowing style feminin fights water with water. If O p h e l i a s d r o w n i n g represents " t h e
[ m a s c u l i n e ] necessity of d r o w n i n g b o t h words a n d feelings," as David L e v e r e n z
h a s a r g u e d , a n d f u r t h e r constitutes "a m i c r o c o s m of t h e m a l e world s b a n i s h m e n t
of t h e f e m a l e , b e c a u s e ' w o m a n ' represents everything d e n i e d by reasonable m e n , "
t h e n t h e h o m e o p a t h i c d r o w n i n g of d r o w n i n g that C o l e t writes into h e r O p h e l i a is
a rescue operation: it c o m b s n o t only t h e river for t h e heroine's body, b u t also h e r
tears, for t h e feelings t h e y c o n t a i n , a n d h e r voice, for t h e drift of its words. 4 1 M a -
riette is a n O p h e l i a w h o will n o t d r o w n .

39
See M a u r i c e C h a r n e y and H a n n a C h a r n e y , " T h e L a n g u a g e of M a d w o m e n in Shakespeare a n d His
Fellow Dramatists," Signs 3 ( W i n t e r 1977): 4 5 1 - 6 0 . N o t e also t h e earlier portrait of M a r i e t t e , in t h e
drowning scene, w h e r e h e r long hair is floating perilously toward the wheel of a mill (La Servante,
232).
40
W o m a n as tree was a topos in n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y art and literature, a subset of t h e w o m a n a n d n a -
ture t h e m e . See Dijkstra, idols, 9 3 - 1 0 1 . N o t e also t h e similar allusion to the representation of O p h e l i a
not only wearing b u t b e c o m i n g the flowers that garland her, in Colet's description of M a r i e t t e s tears:
"ses larmes sont les fleurs qui c o u r o n n e n t son f r o n t " (245).
41
David Leverenz, " T h e W o m a n in Hamlet: An Interpersonal View," Signs 4 ( W i n t e r 1978): 303. Le-
verenz is referring specifically to Laertes' expression of grief at Ophelia's death:

T o o m u c h of water hast t h o u , poor O p h e l i a ,

A n d therefore I forbid m y tears; b u t yet
It is o u r trick; n a t u r e h e r c u s t o m holds,
Let s h a m e say what it will: w h e n these are g o n e ,
T h e w o m a n will be out.

Shakespeare, Hamlet, ed. Edward H u b l e r ( N e w York: Signet, 1963), 4 . 7 . 1 8 5 - 8 9 .

 REWRITING A WOMAN'S LIFE
T h a t La Servante has at its core a woman's unsuccessful attempt to return to a 125
f e m i n i n e source is especially poignant in the light of Flaubert's reading of this text
in t h e Correspondance, as e m b l e m a t i c of a generalized cultural tendency toward
effusiveness. T h e text of La Servante, in fact, moves like a thirsting Tantalus be-
tween wetness a n d dryness, flowing substances a n d desiccation. W h e n Mariette
turns her back o n the maternal countryside for t h e city and the book the o m n i -
present tears t u r n to ice. A l t h o u g h it is the kind of day "o tout semble pleurer"
[ o n w h i c h everything seems to weep"], as she departs, "la glace et le verglas cou-
vraient le grand c h e m i n " (207) ["ice a n d frost covered the highway"] Marietta's
Parisian debacle is repeatedly figured as lakes drying out or clear waters t u r n i n g to
m u d . H e r e is the evocation of Lionel s debauchery:

Tel o n voit d ' u n beau lac q u a n d l'eau vive est tarie

Sur la vase m o n t e r les vapeurs des bas-fonds,
E t sa rive autrefois verdoyante et fleurie
Etale l'herbe seche aux squelettes des joncs. (212)

}ust as one sees, when the source of a beautiful lake has dried up,
The swamp vapors rising above the mud,
And its formerly green and flowering bank
Displaying dried grass and the skeletons of jonquils.

Similarly, here is the image of Mariette's disillusionment:

Mais voici qu'au m a t i n , q u a n d la paupiere s'ouvre,

Le beau fleuve limpide est u n torrent fangeux. (219)

But in the morning the eye opens to see

That the beautiful clear river is a muddy torrent.

A n d Jet us not forget that the life-giving, maternally-figured Seine b e c o m e s a bed

ot dry bones w h e n Mariette plunges into its waters.

Bachelard calls water "le Symbole profond, organique de la femme qui ne sait que pleurer ses pe.nes
et dont les yeux sont si f a k e m e n t 'noyes de larmes' " ["the profound, organic symbol of woman who
o n l y - c a n ^ h e r s u f r e n g a n d whose eyesare so easily 'drowned with t e a r s ' 1 ( and he r e e ~ e r t e
grief before Opheha's s u i c d e as a s.gn of what is feminme m him, adding, "H redev.ent h o m m e - l n
edevenant sec - q u a n d les larmes ont tari" ["He becomes a man a g a , n - b y 'drying o u t ' - w h e n h,"
tears have dried up"]. Gaston Bachelard, L'Eau et les reves (Pans: Corti, 1960) 1 i l
Luce Irigaray has written some suggestive pages on the association of the feminine with the fluid the
masculine with the solid, and the privileging of the latter. Ingaray, This Sex WhichTmOne t ns
Catherine Porter with Carolyn Burke (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), 106-18.
i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
126 So t h e d r o w n i n g of d r o w n i n g or t h e r e c u p e r a t i o n of t h e f e m i n i n e never effec-
tively h a p p e n s in La Servante, a n d o n e m i g h t a r g u e that Colet's narrative, like its
S h a k e s p e a r e a n intertext, speaks ultimately to t h e "dissociation of sensibility" that
L e v e r e n z locates in Hamlet as d i c h o t o m i e s of "role a n d self, reason a n d n a t u r e ,
m i n d a n d body, m a n l y a n d w o m a n l y , or t h e l a n g u a g e of power a n d t h e l a n g u a g e
of feeling." 4 3 It is in this dissociative state, this space of l i m b o b e t w e e n w o m a n l y
a n d m a n l y codes t h a t c a n never c o i n c i d e , t h a t M a r i e t t e s m a d n e s s m u s t be located.
T h e originality of Colet's representation of m a d n e s s is t h a t it is n o t d e f i n e d , as is
usually t h e case, as t h a t w h i c h speaks in w o m a n ' s tongues, b u t rather as t h a t w h i c h
lies in b e t w e e n f e m i n i n e a n d m a s c u l i n e language. F e m i n i n e m a d n e s s in C o l e t
that reader's disease, dreamer's mobility, flowing sensibility, a n d inevitable silence,
f o r e r u n n e r of w h a t w o u l d soon be p o p u l a r i z e d as hysteriais a space of e n t r a p -
m e n t , a snare t h a t prevents free passage b e t w e e n f e m i n i n e - a n d m a s c u l i n e -
identified states. By rooting Mariette's m a d n e s s in t h e e x p e r i e n c e of r e a d i n g (the
word folle significantly makes its first a p p e a r a n c e in t h e text as M a r i e t t e finishes
Lionel's novel) 4 4 C o l e t b o t h replicates a n d dislocates c o m m o n l y accepted ideas
a b o u t t h e place of r e a d i n g in t h e etiology of f e m a l e hysteria. S h e attributes to t h e
novel a role in t h e evolution of Mariette's illness, b u t makes it clear t h a t m a d n e s s
o c c u r s b e c a u s e t h e h o r i z o n s o p e n e d by h e r reading are otherwise closed to her.
T h i s a m o u n t s to a n inversion of t h e e s t a b l i s h m e n t a c c o u n t , a c c o r d i n g to w h i c h
hysteria e n s u e s w h e n t h e h o r i z o n s n o r m a t i v e l y closed to w o m e n are o p e n e d
torn or r e n t b y novel reading. 4 5 M a d n e s s for C o l e t is t h a t state or space of a l i e n -
ation t h a t c a n n o t b e a c c o m m o d a t e d w i t h i n either f e m i n i n e or m a s c u l i n e spheres,
plots, or languages a n d t h a t therefore results in t h e gaping o p e n n e s s , excess, a n d
m u t e n e s s of t h e u n e n c o d e d .

It is to achieve this sense of u n c o n t a i n e d n e s s t h a t C o l e t reorders O p h e l i a so t h a t

h e r m a d n e s s is n o longer that w h i c h leads to a n o t h e r a c t i o n (her suicide) a n d is
thereby s u b s u m e d or r e c o n t a i n e d by it. T h e m a d n e s s of Colet's M a r i e t t e instead
stands a l o n e outside enclosing structures, a n d resists closure. Colet's ironic strat-

43
Leverenz, " T h e W o m a n in Hamlet," 308.
44
Elle [Mariette] f e r m a le livre,
Et le baisant le mit sur u n b e a u m o u c h o i r blane.
" E s - t u f o l l e ? " d i t l a u t r e [Thereson], (204)

She closed the book,

And kissing it, placed it on a fine white handkerchief.
"Are you mad?" asked the other.
45
T h i s gap is later described by Baudelaire, a n o t h e r writer w h o understood hysteria well, as " u n m o n d e
oil Taction n'est pas la soeur d u reve" ["a world in w h i c h action is n o t sister to dreaming"]. Baudelaire,
"Le R e n i e m e n t de Saint Pierre," in Oeuvres completes, ed. C l a u d e Pichois (Paris: G a l l i m a r d , 1 9 7 5
76), 1:12122.
 R E W R I T I N G A W O M A N ' S LIFE
egy in t h e last few pages of t h e text is to m u l t i p l y discrete signs of e n c l o s u r e ( M a r i - 12
ette's straitjacket, Lionel's ring o n h e r finger, t h e cell into w h i c h she is t h r o w n in
t h e last line of t h e text) that, in a m o r e global sense, are c o m p l e t e l y powerless to
c o n t a i n or to s t r u c t u r e t h e formless space of Mariette's m a d n e s s .
M a r i e t t e at t h e Salpetriere is twice r e m o v e d f r o m t h e m a t e r n a l sphere of c o m -
m u n i c a t i o n (she has twice repudiated it) a n d n o longer inscribed in Lionel's text
( w h e n h e dies, she is n o longer within his frame). In h e r course f r o m m o t h e r to fa-
t h e r to l i m b o , she has m o v e d f r o m t h e p l e n i t u d e of preverbal voice to t h e written
word a n d t h e n to i n c o h e r e n c e . I w a n t to insist t h a t t h e fall outside l a n g u a g e into
t h e Salpetriere is n o t a r e t u r n to t h e source, to t h e silent c o m m u n i o n of n a t u r a l /
m a t e r n a l voice, b u t a p l u n g e into a c o m m u n i c a t o r y void.

C o l e t presents t h e Salpetriere as a city of silence, a place w h e r e "tout b r u i t se

ta.t" (242) ["all s o u n d is silenced"]. W i t h i n t h e single page t h a t i n t r o d u c e s this
46
s c e n e , t h e r e are five references to t h e m u t e d tongues a n d lives f o u n d t h e r e
W h e n s o u n d is h e a r d at all, it is babble or a n i m a l - l i k e inarticulate noise. W e h e a r
t h e i n m a t e s " p o u s s a n t des cris aigus c o m m e le c h a t - h u a n t " ["crying sharply like
owls"] a n d "glapissant ou criant de bizarres paroles" (244) ["yelping or s h o u t i n g
strange words"]. T h e only o t h e r s o u n d is song, as in t h e case of t h e idiots " c h a n t a n t
u n refrain gai sur d e plaintives notes" (244) ["singing a gay refrain in plaintive
tones ] or, in t h e case of M a r i e t t e , whose own silence is broken by t h e m e t a p h o r i -
cal song of h e r sobs:

Sa s o u f f r a n c e a u j o u r d ' h u i , c'est sa b e a u t e q u i brille,

Ses l a r m e s sont les fleurs q u i c o u r o n n e n t son front.
Ses sanglots ignores sont des c h a n t s m a g n i f i q u e s
Q u e c e u x de son a m a n t n ' e g a l e r e n t jamais. (245

Her beauty shines in her suffering today.

Her tears are flowers that crown her brow.
Her unheard sobs are magnificent songs
That never were equaled by those of her lover.

H e r e it is i m p o r t a n t to r e m e m b e r that m u s i c is traditionally associated with t h e ir-

rational a n d with t h e f e m i n i n e . 4 7 So w h e n Mariette's w e e p i n g is exalted as song I
t h i n k we h a v e to hear, b e n e a t h t h e trite r o m a n t i c apotheosis of m e l a n c h o l y , t h e

I n addition to t h e citation g.ven in t h e text, we read: " D r a m e s fro.ds et muets"; "Elles n e parlent pas"-
O n n . t e n d pas leur p a.nte ; "A l ' h e u r e des repas, dans les longs refeetoires, / S o u v r e n t , sans se par-
ier m . l l e b o u c h e s sans dents ["Cold m u t e dramas"; " T h e y do not speak"; " T h e n plaint is n o t heard"-
At m e a l t i m e in the long r e f e e t o r . e s / A t h o u s a n d toothless m o u t h s open w i t h o u t speaking"] (242-43)

See M c C l a r y , Femm.ne Endings; a n d C h a r n e y and C h a r n e y , " T h e L a n g u a g e of M a d w o m e n "

i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
128 e c h o of O p h e l i a s singing. H e r e c h o i n g song serves n o t only as a textual acknowl-
e d g m e n t of M a r i e t t e s discursive breakdown (song b e i n g u n d e r s t o o d as t h e p u r e so-
nority of voice deprived of signifying content), b u t also as a r e m i n d e r of t h e nexus,
e m b o d i e d by h e r story, of w o m e n , m a d n e s s , fluidity, a n d song. 4 8 T h e link b e t w e e n
fluidity a n d voice is especially p r o n o u n c e d in these verses, for t h e passage f r o m
M a r i e t t e s suffering, s h i n i n g b e a u t y w h i c h evokes tears w i t h o u t n a m i n g t h e m
to h e r tears, n o w n a m e d , t h e n o n to h e r sobs, a n d finally to h e r song, first phrases
f e m a l e voice as inarticulate flow a n d t h e n rephrases f e m a l e fluidity as vocalization
a n d e v e n , as "song," as i n c i p i e n t art. C o l e t s p e n u l t i m a t e a r t i c u l a t i o n a n d ulti-
m a t e r e v i s i o n o f this c o n n e c t i o n b e t w e e n voice a n d flow f u r n i s h e s t h e g r o u n d s
for s o m e c o n c l u d i n g remarks. H e r t e n d e n c y to r e n d e r creativity in m e t a p h o r s of
voice (language a n d body) m u s t be seen as a response to Flaubert's recourse, in his
o w n representations of creativity, to m e t a p h o r s of flow.

RESTYLING VOICE: B E T W E E N LANGUAGE AND BODY

W h e n J u l i a n Barnes translates t h e desired effect of Flaubert's fantasized "roaring

style," h e replaces t h e F r e n c h verb dominer with t h e English "to d r o w n " rather
t h a n with t h e m o r e literal "to overpower" or "to d o m i n a t e " : "Still, I feel t h a t I
m u s t n ' t die w i t h o u t m a k i n g sure t h a t t h e style I c a n h e a r inside m y h e a d c o m e s
roaring o u t a n d d r o w n s t h e cries of parrots a n d cicadas." 4 9 Barnes's translation
m o v e s us f r o m a n a p p a r e n t figuration of style as voice back to t h e u n d e r l y i n g m e t -
a p h o r i c pool f r o m w h i c h Flaubert's discussions of creative power m o r e c o m m o n l y
derive. W h e t h e r fortuitous or c a n n i l y deliberate, his translation has t h e m e r i t of
r e m i n d i n g us of t h e rhetorical a l c h e m y by w h i c h F l a u b e r t consistently t u r n s fe-
m a l e voice into fluid, in this way n o t only liquefying b u t l i q u i d a t i n g it, as if to dis-
solve t h e M e d u s a h e specifically e m b o d i e d in Colet's voice w h e n h e wrote t h a t it
11
h a d " u n pouvoir . . . faire dresser les pierres" (1:287, A u g u s t 1846) ["the
power to m a k e stones rise"]. C o l e t reverses t h e m e t a m o r p h o s i s w h e n she trans-
f o r m s flow into voice, albeit negativized voice. For a l t h o u g h , as I have a r g u e d , t h e
voice w e h e a r at t h e e n d of La Servante is wordless, Colet's n a r r a t o r m a k e s m a d -
ness speak by f r a m i n g its speechlessness.
T h e t r a n s m u t a b i l i t y of f e m a l e vocality a n d fluidity speaks to a n age-old m y t h i c
c o n s t r u c t i o n serving to n a t u r a l i z e a cultural representation of w o m e n ' s voices as
48
O n t h e association of m u s i c with w o m e n , materiality, a n d sexuality, see M c C l a r y , Feminine End-
ings; S i l v e r m a n , Acoustic Mirror; a n d G u y Rosolato, "La Voix: E n t r e corps et langage," Revue fran-
qaise de psychanalyse 37 (1974): 7 5 - 9 4 .
49
Julian Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot ( N e w York: Knopf, 1985), 59. For t h e sake of c o m p a r i s o n , h e r e o n c e
again is Flaubert's text: "Je sens q u e je n e dois pas m o u r i r sans avoir fait rugir q u e l q u e part u n style
c o m m e je l'entends d a n s m a tete et qui pourra bien d o m i n e r la voix des perroquets et des cigales"
(2:110, 19 J u n e 1852).
 R E W R I T I N G A W O M A N ' S LIFE
corporeal, c o n t i n u o u s , irrepressible, p e r i l o u s a n d implicitly p o w e r f u l . It is per- 129
h a p s best e m b o d i e d by t h e figure of t h e Sirens l u r i n g m e n to a watery d e a t h with
their song a n d m o s t e c o n o m i c a l l y recapitulated by Bachelard s h o m o n y m i c a p p o -
sition of sea song a n d m o t h e r song: " C e c h a n t p r o f o n d [de la m e r ] est la voix m a -
ternelle, la voix d e n o t r e m e r " 5 0 ["This d e e p song {of t h e sea} is t h e m a t e r n a l voice,
t h e voice of o u r sea {mother}"].
As B a c h e l a r d (following Flaubert) f u r t h e r stated, " T o u t ce q u i c o u l e est d e l'eau
. . . [et] t o u t e e a u est u n lait" 5 1 ["everything that flows is w a t e r . . . {and} all/vater
is a m i l k " ] . T h e identification of f e m a l e voice with fluidity a n d , specifically, with
f e m a l e b o d y fluids, effectively c o n t a i n s this voice, a n d deprives it of its agency.
Following t h e m o d e l Kaja S i l v e r m a n has developed in h e r work o n f e m a l e voice in
c i n e m a , w e c a n say that t h e process w h e r e b y f e m a l e voice is e m b o d i e d i n t e r i o r -
ized or i n f u s e d as body fluid potentially expressible t h r o u g h various organ h o l e s
is m o r e accurately repressive, a n d t h a t e a c h of t h e holes or points f r o m w h i c h a
w o m a n ' s subjectivity is ostensibly to be expressed is in fact " t h e site at w h i c h that
subjectivity is i n t r o d u c e d in her." 5 2 T h e e m b o d i m e n t of voice, a l t h o u g h culturally
devalorized as f e m i n i n e , is m o r e generally o n e of t h e properties of h u m a n voice,
w h i c h , in G u y Rosolato's t e r m s , is situated " b e t w e e n body a n d language." 5 3 T h e
f e m i n i z a t i o n of e m b o d i e d voice is t h e n a gesture of p r o j e c t i o n (and rejection).
O u r passage f r o m Flaubert's representation of f e m i n i n e voice as bodily effluvia
to be c o n t a i n e d , to Colet's version of f e m i n i n e voice as f r a m e d discourse, reverses
g e n d e r stereotypes: it moves us f r o m t h e materiality of his m o d e l to t h e abstraction
of hers. For Flaubert's letters a n d Colet's reply in La Servante constitute a d i a l o g u e
a b o u t c o n t a i n m e n t . H e speaks in fluid m e t a p h o r s of t h e n e e d to c h a n n e l a certain
lyric, r o m a n t i c style a n d f u r t h e r m o r e p e r f o r m s this c h a n n e l i n g by his r h e t o r i c of
f e m a l e i n c o r p o r a t i o n , w h i l e she responds by writing a b o u t t h e dispossession of fe-
m a l e voice by m a l e textuality, reinterpreting his c o n t a i n i n g discourse in narrative
t e r m s . In this way Colet's text is a distorted reflection of Flaubert's, a n d t h e resul-
t a n t glare works b o t h to h i g h l i g h t a n d displace his enclosing discourse. 5 4
I h a v e e m p h a s i z e d h e r e t h e narrative i m p o r t a n c e of Colet's p o e m (its internal
narrative s t r u c t u r e a n d d i s p l a c e m e n t s a n d also t h e internarrative s t r u c t u r e consti-
t u t e d by its discourse with Flaubert's letters). M y reading flies in t h e face of a criti-
cal tradition t h a t has consistently read Colet's verse narrative with t h e a c c e n t o n
verse a n d has insistently followed Flaubert's standard in reading Colet's work with
50
Bachelard, L'Eau et les reves, 156.
51
Ibid., 158.
" S i l v e r m a n , Acoustic Mirror, 67.
" Rosolato, "La Voix." See, too, Silverman, Acoustic Mirror; and Roland Barthes, Le Grain de la voix
(Paris: Seuil, 1981).
S4
T h i s is a n o t h e r version of the m i m e t i c strategy Irigaray uses to displace m a l e discourse Irigaray
Speculum of the Other Woman, trans. Gillian C . Gill (Ithaca: C o r n e l l University Press, 1985).
i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
130 h e r person as quintessentially r o m a n t i c to t h e p o i n t of s e n t i m e n t a l drivel, e f f u -
sively lyrical to t h e p o i n t of bathos, a n d , m o s t pointedly, hysterical. 5 5 F l a u b e r t a n d
t h e larger critical tradition h e r e tacitly e c h o cultural associations of verse with t h e
f e m i n i n e , m u s i c , materiality, t h e body, a n d voice as p u r e sonority u n m e d i a t e d by
m e a n i n g . A l t h o u g h F l a u b e r t ( w h o reportedly could n e i t h e r write a line of verse
n o r carry a t u n e ) paid n o m i n a l h o m a g e to t h e quality of Colet's verses, h e s i m u l -
taneously dismissed t h e m as insignificant p r o d u c t s of h e r body: "Je n e te sais n u l
gre de faire d e b e a u x vers. T u les p o n d s c o m m e u n e p o u l e les oeufs, sans en avoir
c o n s c i e n c e " (2:480, 18 D e c e m b e r 1853) 56 ["I give you n o credit for writing good
verses. You lay t h e m as a h e n lays eggs, with n o consciousness of w h a t you are
doing"].
M y o w n c l a i m is n o t that C o l e t deserves a place in t h e p a n t h e o n of aesthetic per-
fection; it is at o n c e m o r e m o d e s t a n d m o r e c o m p l e x . I w a n t to be n e i t h e r t h e apol-
ogist for h e r style n o r t h e c h a m p i o n of h e r passions. I do, however, w a n t to disso-
ciate t h e two; a n d if I read La Servante as a text that could only h a v e b e e n written
by a w o m a n , it is b e c a u s e it displays a r e m a r k a b l e self-consciousness a b o u t w o m -
en's position in patriarchal society, a n d n o t b e c a u s e it flows f r o m Colet's lips in an
oral/genital indistinction too o f t e n assigned by b o t h h e r c u l t u r e a n d o u r s to f e m a l e
discourse. C o l e t wrote h e r novel in verse or, in o t h e r words, i m p o s e d narrative
f o r m o n h e r poetry. As s u c h , she wrote a hybrid or even h e r m a p h r o d i t i c text, ac-
c o r d i n g to g e n d e r e d c o n v e n t i o n s of genre, o n c e again m a n i f e s t i n g a refusal to
speak in a categorically f e m i n i n e or m a s c u l i n e voice. It is this refusal to c h o o s e b e -
t w e e n two equally l i m i t i n g alternatives t h a t m a k e s La Servante a protofeminist
text in N a n c y Miller's sense t h a t feminist texts "protest against t h e available fiction
of f e m a l e b e c o m i n g . " 5 7
T h e oppositional force of Colet's narrative c a n be gauged by Flaubert's scatolog-
ical dismissal of it as " u n deversoir passions, u n e espece d e p o t de c h a m b r e 011 le
t r o p - p l e i n de je n e sais q u o i a c o u l e " ["an outlet for passions, a sort of c h a m b e r pot
in w h i c h t h e overflow of w h o knows w h a t has dripped"], a n d by his a c c o m p a n y i n g
rejection of its anger: " C e l a n e sent pas b o n . C e l a sent la h a i n e " (2:502, 9 - 1 0 Jan-
u a r y 1854) [ " T h a t doesn't smell good. T h a t reeks of hatred"]. Now, Flaubert's f u -
rious response to La Servante is prefaced by a l e a p to t h e defense of o n e of Colet's

55
Julian Barnes, Jean B r u n e a u , and M a r i l y n Gaddis Rose are a m o n g t h e few c o m m e n t a t o r s I have read
w h o have written sympathetically of Colet. See Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot; Bruneau's preface to F l a u -
bert's Correspondance; a n d Rose's introduction to h e r translation of Louise C o l e t , Lui: A View of Him
(Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1986). A n d see F r a n c i n e d u Plessix Gray's f o r t h c o m i n g biog-
raphy, Rage and Fire: A Life of Louise Colet, Pioneer Feminist, Literary Star, Flaubert's Muse (New
York: S i m o n and Schuster, 1994), for a m o n u m e n t a l revalorization of Colet's life a n d work.
56
1 owe t h e i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t Flaubert's n o n m u s i c a l i t y to Herbert L o t t m a n , Flaubert: A Biography
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1989), 66.
" N a n c y K. Miller, Subject to Change ( N e w York: C o l u m b i a University Press, 1988), 129.
 R E W R I T I N G A W O M A N ' S LIFE
f o r m e r lovers, t h e p o e t Alfred de Musset, w h o m h e loathes as b o t h writer a n d 131
m a n . F l a u b e r t takes M s s e t (as d o most s u b s e q u e n t readers) to be a thinly dis-
guised referent for t h e L i o n e l / L e o n character: " P o u r q u o i insulter Msset? q u e t'a-
t-il fait?" (2:502, 9 - 1 0 J a n u a r y 1854) [ " W h y insult Msset? W h a t has h e d o n e to
you?"]. It is worth n o t i n g t h a t variants o n t h e n a m e L e o n are closely identified with
F l a u b e r t stand-ins in Colet's later r o m a n s clef ( l i n e Histoire de soldat Leon and
Luv. Leonce). W e also recall t h e lover F l a u b e r t gave to E m m a Bovary in t h e f o r m
of L e o n . A n d we c a n n o t suppress t h e l e o n i n e roar of disapproval with w h i c h F l a u -
bert aspires to d r o w n t h e voice of parrots a n d cicadas. S u c h e c h o e s of t h e lion's part
in t h e F l a u b e r t - C o l e t d i a l o g u e suggest that Lionel's referential identity c a n n o t be
so u n a m b i g u o u s l y assigned.

M y i n t e n t is n o t to substitute o n e biographical interpretation for a n o t h e r a n d

certainly n o t to u n d e r t a k e at this c o n c l u d i n g m o m e n t t h e biographical r e a d i n g I
have deliberately avoided t h r o u g h t h e body of m y own text. I w a n t rather to c h a l -
lenge t h e L i o n e l - M u s s e t e q u a t i o n o n t h e g r o u n d s that its referential specificity
represents a m u c h too facile r e d u c t i o n of a f e m i n i s t text to a f e m a l e vendetta. T o
read this text la F l a u b e r t as a purely personal expression is to i n f u s e it w i t h i n C o -
let's body as a sign of h e r leaking f e m a l e physiology, a n d in this way to d e f u s e its
m o r e general ideological force. 5 8
It is t h e force of Colet's text as ideological c o m m e n t a r y that p r o m p t s Flaubert's
w r a t h , provokes t h e visceral o u t b u r s t t h a t h e t h e n projects as scatological c r i t i q u e
of h e r style. His reaction to h e r anger is a revealing m e a s u r e of t h e threat of a w o m -
an's voice that escapes c o n t a i n m e n t , a w o m a n ' s discourse that, u n l i k e Mariette's,
resists c i r c u m s c r i p t i o n , a n d a woman's pen t h a t dares to express t h e extent of its
repression. 5 9 N o w o n d e r t h a t h e reinscribed L o u i s e C o l e t , stripped of h e r a u t o n -
omy, deprived of h e r p e n , as E m m a Bovary. B u t t h a t is a n o t h e r story.

* A l t h o u g h in o n e of her M e m e n t o s C o l e t suggests that she will write a b o u t Msset (2:901-2 1 July

1853), in a n o t h e r she reflects o n M s s e t as a kind of E v e r y m a n , particularly c o m p a r i n g F l a u b e r t to
h i m : E t tout en m a r c h a n t je pensais q u e tous les h o m m e s des degres pres lui ressemblaient [a M s -
set], q u e G[ustave] e n viendrait peut-etre la u n jour!" (2:896, 4 S e p t e m b e r 1852) ["And while walking
reSmbled h i m {Musset}
o n e day! ] ' " ^ ' t h a t G{ustave} would perhaps be like t h a t

59
O n t h e link between the expression of anger and accession to power, see H e i l b r u n , Writing a Wom-
an s Life, especially 1 4 - 2 5 .
6 WRITING WITH A VENGEANCE
Writing Madame Bovary,
Unwriting Louise Colet

Plus tard si je vis, si tu vieillis, j'ecrirai peut-etre

toute cette histoire qui n'en est meme pas une.
CUSTAVE FLAUBERT TO LOUISE COLET,

1 1 JUNE 1847

# R e c o u n t i n g t h e definitive break, in 1854, b e t w e e n C o l e t a n d F l a u b e r t ,

H e r b e r t L o t t m a n remarks that "we shall miss Louise C o l e t m o r e t h a n G u s t a v e
s e e m e d to, for h e was never again to express himself so expansively a b o u t his work-
in-progress." 1 E c h o i n g a tradition of dismissing t h e poet by r e c o g n i z i n g h e r service
as Flaubert's lover a n d principal c o r r e s p o n d e n t d u r i n g t h e Bovary years, L o t t m a n
n o n e t h e l e s s u n d e r e s t i m a t e s t h e uses of L o u i s e C o l e t . For Flaubert's explicit c o m -
m e n t a r y in t h e letters a b o u t his work-in-progress is less h e l p f u l to a r e a d i n g of his
novel t h a n is t h e representation, t h r o u g h o u t these letters, of their recipient as
w o m a n a n d writer. T h i s is n o t to a r g u e t h a t E m m a Bovary was L o u i s e C o l e t , in a
literary-realist or biographical sense, any m o r e t h a n she was G u s t a v e F l a u b e r t , b u t
rather, t h a t t h e writing of Madame Bovary c o r r e s p o n d e d to t h e process of c o n -
structing L o u i s e C o l e t , a n d t h a t t h e fictional a n d epistolary texts are d y n a m i c a l l y
interwoven.

W e h a v e followed earlier m o m e n t s of this d y n a m i c . T h e letters to L o u i s e C o l e t

1
H e r b e r t L o t t m a n , Flaubert: A Biography (Boston: Little, Brown, 1989), 126.

132
 WRITING WITH A VENGEANCE
provide a log of a voyage of discovery n o t u n l i k e a host of o t h e r n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y 133
explorations of t h e self c h a r t e d o n t h e o c e a n s a n d islands of t h e O t h e r . C h a n n e l ,
port, vessel, Muse, C o l e t is used by F l a u b e r t as m e t a p h o r , way p o i n t for t h e trans-
port of his ideas, p h a n t a s m s , desires, fears. W e know w h e n h e asks h e r to s t a n c h
lyricism's milky flow t h a t t h e "real w o m a n " disappears; that Louise Colet is only a
m e t a p h o r for c o n d i t i o n s t h a t t r a n s c e n d her; that at stake are his o w n e b b i n g a n d
flowing resources. B u t t h e d r a m a of Flaubert's j o u r n e y toward his own h e a r t of
darkness does n o t dispel t h e questions raised by his literary i m p e r i a l i s m . W h a t of
t h e a p p r o p r i a t e d waterways? W h a t of t h e o c e a n s crossed a n d c h a n n e l e d ? W h a t
of L o u i s e C o l e t ?
C a s t by t h e Correspondance in t h e role of Galatea to Flaubert's P y g m a l i o n ,
C o l e t risks b e c o m i n g h e r lover's creation. F l a u b e r t h a d great designs for L o u i s e
C o l e t a n d did n o t hesitate to m a k e t h e m k n o w n : " O h si je pouvais faire de toi ce
q u e j'en reve, q u e l l e f e m m e , quel etre tu serais!" 2 [ " O h , if I c o u l d m a k e you i n t o
t h e s u b s t a n c e of m y d r e a m s , w h a t a w o m a n , w h a t a being you w o u l d be!"]. W e
h e a r t h e frustrated ring of his creator's cry w h e n h e finds t h e f o r m of t h e w o m a n
a n d t h e text u n e q u a l to t h e p r o m i s e of t h e raw material. H e r words are lost.
D u r i n g t h e period C o l e t served as m e t a p h o r to F l a u b e r t , however, she was h e r -
self writing, in La Servante, a b o u t t h e a p p r o p r i a t i o n of w o m e n ' s lives a n d texts by
m e n , a n d also a b o u t w o m e n ' s ways of reading, writing, a n d negotiating t h e reap-
p r o p r i a t i o n of their lives. I h a v e s h o w n t h a t La Servante c a n be read as a n o p e n let-
ter to F l a u b e r t , a r e c l a i m i n g a n d revalorization of s u b o r d i n a t e d voices. C o l e t does
n o t celebrate w o m a n ' s evasion of patriarchal c o n t a i n m e n t ; rather, she expresses
a n d exposes s u c h c o n t a i n m e n t , evading a similar fate for herself by speaking its
threat. W e recall t h e sense of o u t r a g e conveyed by Flaubert's letters a b o u t this text.
His fury, his desire for revenge t h r o u g h writing, aesthetically disciplined into writ-
ing with a v e n g e a n c e , i n f o r m s Madame Bovary, his own retelling of a w o m a n ' s
(failed) flight f r o m social a n d ideological c o n t a i n m e n t . 5
T h e r e is a rhetorical f o r e b o d i n g of t h e contest of voices t h a t w o u l d b e consti-
t u t e d by Flaubert's letters, Colet's La Servante, a n d Flaubert's Madame Bovary, in
his c h o s e n i m a g e of a " r o a r i n g " style strong e n o u g h to overpower t h e voice of par-
rots a n d cicadas. T h e i n t e n t i o n a t t r i b u t e d to t h e notably absent l i o n t o quell
t h e o t h e r voices is strong t e s t i m o n y to their anticipated power. T h i s power is acti-
vated in La Servante, in w h i c h L o u i s e C o l e t , Flaubert's w o u l d - b e parrot, speaks

2
Gustave Flaubert, Correspondance, ed. Jean Bruneau (Paris: G a l l i m a r d , 1973-91), 2:467 25 No-

vember 1853. All f u r t h e r r e f e r e n c e s will b e to this e d i t i o n a n d will b e g i v e n p a r e n t h e t i c a l l y in t h e text

3
F l a u b e r t ' s t e r m f o r t h i s f u r y o f r e v e n g e is " r a g e . " " J e n ' a i r i e n p o u r m e s o u t e n i r q u ' u n e e s p e c e d e rage

permanente" (2:75, 24 April , 8 5 2 ) ["I h a v e n o t h i n g t o s u s t a i n m e b u t a s o r t o f p e r m a n e n t r a g e " ] he

writes to Colet, referring to his writing; a n d to Bouilhet, "J'ai r e m p o i g n e la Bovary avec rage" (2-573 9

M a y 1855) ["I r e t a c k l e d m y Bovary with rage"]. This last s t a t e m e n t is m a d e in a letter written two

m o n t h s after the definitive break with Colet.

i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
134 instead in a different voice, a lyric voice, p r o n o u n c i n g a threat to t h e roar of d o m -
i n a t i o n . In response to t h e lion's projected roar, La Servante chronicles a feminine
subjectivity, realizing Flaubert's p r o p h e t i c fears of t h e parrot's retort a n d t h e cica-
da's rebel song.
Madame Bovary is Flaubert's a n s w e r i n g roar of rage, his m o s t bitter n o t e of re-
venge, his longest letter in a c o r r e s p o n d e n c e already officially e n d e d . F l a u b e r t be-
gan work o n t h e novel in S e p t e m b e r 1851, less t h a n two m o n t h s after his corre-
s p o n d e n c e with C o l e t was r e n e w e d a n d less t h a n two weeks after h e s u r r e n d e r e d
o n c e again to h e r seductions. In J a n u a r y 1854 F l a u b e r t responded in anger a n d at
great l e n g t h to La Servante. In late April 1854 his letters ceased; in M a r c h of t h e
following year, w h e n C o l e t l e a r n e d h e was in Paris a n d s o u g h t to see h i m , h e wrote
h e r a letter of definitive r u p t u r e . 4 O n e year later, t h e m a n u s c r i p t was finished.
E v e n s u c h a sketchy o u t l i n e suggests that t h e works a n d lives of C o l e t a n d F l a u b e r t
have intersecting c h r o n o l o g i e s w h o s e ramifications for t h e novel n e e d to be c o n -
sidered. A l t h o u g h h e r Lui (1859) achieved s o m e notoriety as a novel of revenge, as
has h e r less r e m e m b e r e d Une Histoire de soldat (1856), t h e m o t i v a t i n g role of re-
taliation in t h e writing of Madame Bovary has b e e n largely overlooked. 5
I will b e r e a d i n g Madame Bovary as a derivative of t h e letters to L o u i s e C o l e t ,
w i t h i n t h e c o n t e x t of La Servante a n d Flaubert's reaction to it. B u t I will m a k e t h e

4
M u c h has b e e n written about the rupture of Flaubert and Colet; there has been a great deal of specu-

l a t i o n b u t little m o r e a s to t h e s o u r c e of t h e b r e a k . T h e text of t h e final l e t t e r is a s f o l l o w s :

M a d a m e ,

J'ai a p p r i s q u e v o u s v o u s e t i e z d o n n e la p e i n e d e v e n i r , h i e r , d a n s la s o i r e e , trois fois, chez

moi.

Je n ' y etais p a s . E t d a n s la c r a i n t e d e s a v a n i e s q u ' u n e telle p e r s i s t a n c e d e v o t r e p a r t , pourrait

v o u s attirer d e la m i e n n e , l e s a v o i r - v i v r e m ' e n g a g e v o u s p r e v e n i r : que je n'y serai jamais.

J'ai l ' h o n n e u r d e v o u s saluer.

G . F.

(2:572, 6 M a r c h 1855)

Madame,
I understand that you troubled yourself to come to my house last night three times.
I was not there. And dreading the reprisals that such persistence on your part might elicit on
mine, politeness obliges me to warn you: that I will n o t b e there at any time.
With all due respect.
G.F.
5
N o doubt the canonical status of Madame Bovary, its a c c e p t a n c e a s h i g h a r t , h a s t o a c e r t a i n extent

w a r d e d o f f a n a l y s i s o f i t s b a s e r m o t i v e s . F o r r e m a r k s o n Lui a n d its s o u r c e i n r e v e n g e a g a i n s t Flaubert

as well as, a n d e v e n r a t h e r t h a n , t h e ostensibly c e n t r a l figure of A l b e r t / M u s s e t s e e B r u n e a u , in Flau-

bert, C o r r e s p o n d a n c e , 2:1272; M a r i l y n C a d d i s R o s e in t h e foreword to h e r translation of L o u i s e Colet's

Lui: A View of Him (Athens: University of G e o r g i a Press, 1986), xv; M i c h e l i n e B o o d a n d S e r g e Grand,

Llndomptable Louise Colet (Paris: P i e r r e H o r a y , 1986), 180.

 W R I T I N G WITH A VENGEANCE
C o l e t c o n n e c t i o n obliquely, t u r n i n g first to Flaubert's m o r e general uses of hyste- 135
n a in c o n s t r u c t i n g E m m a Bovary a n d h e r d a u g h t e r , Berthe, before m a k i n g a case
for his m a t e r i a l r e c o n s t r u c t i o n , in t h e body of E m m a Bovary, o f t h a t particular sty-
listic figure of hysteria t h a t h e h a d n a m e d Louise Colet6 I will argue t h a t t h e
w o m a n written is n o t only a r e c o n s t r u c t i o n b u t also a restriction of t h e w o m a n
writer, w h o is r e c o n t a i n e d w h e n she is cast in t h e m o l d of E m m a Bovary, h e r f e m -
i n i n e excesses i n d u l g e d only to be finally c o n d e m n e d .

BERTHE/EMMA

In a n early review of Madame Bovary, Baudelaire offered, in t h e guise of a rhetor-

ical q u e s t i o n , a n elliptical interpretation t h a t arguably still constitutes t h e m o s t i n -
cisive a n d e n c o m p a s s i n g analysis of this novel. After p r o n o u n c i n g t h e adolescent
E m m a "le poete hysterique," Baudelaire goes o n to extol hysteria:

Lhysterie! Pourquoi ce mystere physiologique ne ferait-il pas le fond et le tuf

dune oeuvre litteraire, ce mystere q u e l'Academie de m e d e c i n e n'a pas
e n c o r e resolu, et q u i , s'exprimant d a n s les f e m m e s par la sensation d ' u n e
b o u l e a s c e n d a n t e et asphyxiante (je n e parle q u e d u Symptome principal),
se t r a d u i t c h e z les h o m m e s nerveux par toutes les i m p u i s s a n c e s et aussi
par 1'aptitude tous les exces? (my emphasis)

Hysteria! W h y c o u l d this physiological mystery n o t serve as t h e f o u n d a t i o n and

b e d r o c k o f a l i t e r a r y w o r k ? The Academy of Medicine has not as yet been able to
explain the mysterious condition of hysteria. In women, it acts like a stifling ball

s B e n j a m . n Bart argues that "Louise Colet, i eaneature, would be o n e of the principal models for
E m m a Bovary Bart Flaubert (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, r 9 6 7 ) , 156. M y e l o m is n o t q u . t e
as m i m e t i c although there ,s tangible evidence of certain resemblances between Colet and E m m a Bo-
vary (the celebrated a m o r nel cor" engraving on a gift from C o l e t t a Flaubert that shows u p in his novel
as a m a u d l i n gift from E m m a to Rodolphe; an echo of Colefs bloodied handkerchief which Flaubert
possesses and writes to her about fondly and that turns u p as another keepsake from E m m a to Rodolphe-
he fireworks in celebration of the T h r e e Glorious Days, which Flaubert and Colet attended the nighi
hey met, reminding us of the fireworks of the Cornices Agricoles in Madame Bovary; and so on) I read
these details as coagulated points of a m u c h more a m o r p h o u s process linking Louise Colet and E m m a
Bovary (and Berthe); n o one is a referent for the others, but rather they are all surrogates, substitutes for
each other and p e r s o n , f i c t i o n s of forces, conditions, desires, and fears that I hope to articulate in these
pages. For fuller details about these connections, see the following sources. O n the "amor nel cor" en-
graving: Bood and G r a n d , LIndomptable Louise Colet, 178; Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary ed
Jacques Suffel (Pans: G a m i e r F l a m m a r i o n , i 9 7 9 ) , 2 18. O n the bloodstained handkerchief: Flaubert to
Colet, 1:273, 4 - 5 August 1846 and 1:308, 23 August 1846; Madame Bovary, 228. O n the fireworks
with a romantic overlay (fiercely satirized in the novel): Bart, Flaubert, 142; Madame Bovary 181-83
i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
136 rising in the body (I mention only the main symptom), while in nervous men it
can be the cause of many forms of impotence as well as of a limitless aptitude for
excess7

T h e interpretation Baudelaire suggests h e r e intrigues m e n o t only b e c a u s e I t h i n k

h e is right in identifying hysteria (as opposed to t h e m o r e c o m m o n l y cited a d u l -
tery) as t h e bedrock of Madame Bovary, b u t b e c a u s e this tentative identification
("ne ferait-il pas") is c o u c h e d in ambiguity. Itself o p e n to interpretation, it is an in-
vitation to reread m o r e t h a n just Flaubert's novel.
For t h e identification with Madame Bovary is never explicitly m a d e : n o partic-
ular text is n a m e d , t h e indefinite article is used ("une o e u v r e litteraire"), a n d t h e
verb appears in t h e c o n d i t i o n a l (thus h y p o t h e t i c a l , even projective) m o d e . B a u -
delaire m i g h t just as well be suggesting hysteria as a m o r e general literary source,
even predicting its potential as a force of textual g e n e r a t i o n a n e w m u s e . T h e
richness of his c o m m e n t lies precisely in its ambiguity; it says a n d m e a n s two
things at o n c e . I a m insisting o n this o v e r d e t e r m i n a t i o n b e c a u s e it serves to de-
scribe t h e course t h a t m y reading of Madame Bovary takes. W h a t follows is a n ex-
p l o r a t i o n of hysteria as it f u n c t i o n s in this particular novel (as t h e m e , as figure,
a n d , ultimately, as narrative voice). 8 But m o r e generally, if implicitly, it is a n at-
t e m p t to locate in Madame Bovary s o m e keys to a s u b g e n r e that b e c a m e p r o m i -

7
Charles Baudelaire, "Madame Bovary par G u s t a v e Flaubert," in Oeuvres completes, ed. C l a u d e Pi-

chois, 2 vols. (Paris: G a l l i m a r d , 1975-76), 2:83; trans. Paul de M a n , in Flaubert, Madame Bovary

( N e w York: N o r t o n , 1965), 341, trans, modified. T h e article first appeared in L'Artiste, 18 October

1 8 5 7 ( s i x m o n t h s a f t e r t h e b o u n d e d i t i o n o f Madame Bovary was published a n d o n e year after the novel

b e g a n to be issued in serial edition in La Revue de Paris).

8
T h e n o t a b l e o m i s s i o n h e r e is ( p s y c h o ) b i o g r a p h y . T h e referential pathology of a u t h o r or character is

not the object of m y focus, except to the extent that Flaubert or E m m a converges with or diverges from

representations of disease. T h e exact n a t u r e of b o t h E m m a ' s and Gustave's ailments (which are often

c o n f l a t e d ) h a s b e e n m u c h d e b a t e d a n d o f t e n , I t h i n k , to little avail. F o r a s u m m a r y a n d b i b l i o g r a p h y of

s u c h efforts, see R o g e r W i l l i a m s , The Horror of Life (Chicago: University of C h i c a g o Press, 1980); see

my c o m m e n t s on Williams in C h a p t e r 4. For the record, it is w o r t h mentioning that Flaubert was a

self-proclaimed hysteric at a t i m e w h e n this diagnosis was not yet officially available to m e n . (Although

it is t r u e , a s I p o i n t o u t i n m y i n t r o d u c t i o n a n d first chapter, that a few physicians had claimed hysteria

for m e n as w e l l as w o m e n by this time. However, this was n o t yet a received idea within t h e medical

community, a n d c e r t a i n l y n o t w i t h i n t h e l a y c o m m u n i t y ; it is t h e r e f o r e a l l t h e m o r e s t r i k i n g t h a t certain

a u t h o r s [ a m o n g t h e m B a u d e l a i r e a n d Flaubert] identified t h e m s e l v e s or o t h e r m a l e s as hysterics, intu-

iting w h a t m e d i c i n e h a d not yet f o r m u l a t e d at t h e time.) F l a u b e r t b o r r o w e d f r o m his o w n experience

m a n y of the details of E m m a ' s visions, hallucinations, and convulsions. (See m y citations in Chapter

4, and Williams, Horror of Life, chapter 3.) F l a u b e r t ' s first recorded reference to his o w n hysteria is

m e t a p h o r i c a l ; it c o i n c i d e s w i t h t h e w r i t i n g o f Madame Bovary. h e wrote to L o u i s e C o l e t that his efforts

to w r i t e t h e b a n a l i t i e s of life w e r e c a u s i n g h i m to suffer "[des] hysteries d ' e n n u i " (2:68, 8 A p r i l 1852).

A l t h o u g h t h e t e r m hysteria d o e s n o t a p p e a r i n F l a u b e r t ' s n o v e l s , it o c c u r s a t l e a s t a d o z e n t i m e s i n the

Correspondance between 1852 and 1880. See Jan Goldstein's fascinating study, " T h e Uses of Male

Hysteria: M e d i c a l a n d Literary Discourse in N i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y France," Representations 34 (Spring

1991): 134-66.
 W R I T I N G WITH A VENGEANCE
n e n t o n t h e literary scene of t h e latter n i n e t e e n t h century: t h e novel of hysteria . 1 137
seek n o t only w h a t t h e diagnosis can tell us a b o u t E m m a Bovary, a b o u t F l a u b e r t ,
a b o u t t h e novel, b u t also w h a t Madame Bovary has to say a b o u t hysteria, hysterics,'
a n d their place in t h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y imaginary.

Madame Bovary stands roughly m i d w a y b e t w e e n two physicians' texts with w h i c h

it c a n profitably engage in intertextual dialogue: t h e entry "Hysterie" in t h e Dic-
tionnaire des sciences medicales written by L o u y e r - V i l l e r m a y in 1818, a n d t h e ar-
ticle by C h a r l e s R i c h e t called "Les D e m o n i a q u e s d ' a u j o u r d ' h u i , " w h i c h appeared
in t h e Revue des deux mondes in 1880. 9 T h e f o r m e r article (which appears to have
f u r n i s h e d m a n y of t h e "clinical" details of E m m a ' s a i l m e n t ) occupies forty-six
d e n s e pages in t h e Dictionnaire, t h e standard m e d i c a l reference of t h e period; 1 0 it
presents t h e nosology, s y m p t o m s , causes, history, d e v e l o p m e n t , a n d recom-
m e n d e d t r e a t m e n t of t h e malady. T h e latter is t h e first in a series of t h r e e articles
written by R i c h e t , w h o was, w e recall, o n e of Charcot's disciples, in an a t t e m p t to
e d u c a t e t h e p u b l i c a b o u t hysteria, t h e Salpetriere Hospital, a n d t h e Master's
teachings; rather curiously, o n e of t h e p r i m a r y sources Richet's lesson o n hysteria
draws u p o n is Madame Bovary.
W h i l e C h a r c o t ' s associate hails F l a u b e r t as a precursor, citing literary e v i d e n c e
in s u p p o r t of m e d i c a l observation, F l a u b e r t looks back to a m e d i c a l source, w h i c h
in t u r n , I a r g u e , is to a great extent culturally d e t e r m i n e d . T h e fluid r e l a t i o n s h i p
a m o n g these t h r e e texts is, I t h i n k , e m b l e m a t i c of t h e larger pattern of reciprocal
i n f l u e n c e m a r k i n g narrative a n d medical discourses in t h e n i n e t e e n t h century.
M y c o m p a r i s o n of these texts is shaped by t h e a s s u m p t i o n t h a t narrative a n d m e d -
ical discourses are c o n t i n u o u s , n o n h i e r a r c h i c , both e n m e s h e d in a pervasive
ideology w h i c h , like Flaubert's ideal narrator, is invisible a n d o m n i p o t e n t , every-
w h e r e a n d n o w h e r e at o n c e .

W h e n C h a r l e s R i c h e t uses w h a t h e approves as t h e "descriptions exactes" (346)

9
J.-B. Louyer-Villermay, "Hysterie," in Dictionnaire des sciences medicales ( P a r i s : P a n c k o u c k e 1818)

2 3.226-72; Charles Richet, "Les D e m o n i a q u e s d'aujourd'hui," Revue des deux mondes 3 7 ( 1 5 January

1880): 3 4 0 - 7 2 . S u b s e q u e n t references to these articles will b e given parenthetically in t h e text

T h e Dictionnaire des sciences medicales in fact figures explicitly in Madame Bovary I t i s d e s c r i b e d a s

c o n s t i t u t i n g a l m o s t all o f C h a r l e s B o v a r y ' s library: " L e s t o m e s d u Dictionnaire des sciences medicales
non coupes, m a , s d o n t la b r o c h u r e a v a i t s o u f f e r t d a n s t o u t e s les v e n t e s s u c c e s s i v e s p a r o ils avaieni

p a s s e , g a r n i s s a i e n t p r e s q u e e u x s e u l s les six r a y o n s d ' u n e b i b l i o t h e q u e e n b o i s d e s a p i n " ( " V o l u m e s of

the 'Dictionary of Medical Science,' uncut, b u t t h e b i n d i n g rather the worse for the successive sales

t h r o u g h w h i c h t h e y h a d g o n e , o c c u p i e d a l m o s t a l o n e t h e six s h e l v e s of a p i n e w o o d b o o k c a s e " ] Flau-

bert, Madame Bovary, 66; trans. Paul d e M a n , 2 2 - 2 3 . M l s u b s e q u e n t citations will b e taken f r o m these

e d . t i o n s a n d w i l l b e n o t e d i n t h e t e x t . If C h a r l e s w a s n o t i n t h e h a b i t o f r e f e r r i n g t o t h e Dictionnaire
F l a u b e r t was. In a letter to S a m t e - B e u v e (3:277, 23-24 D e c e m b e r 1862), h e refers to the article o n lep-

rosy as a s o u r c e for a description in Salammbd. I a m i n d e b t e d to L a w r e n c e R o t h f i e l d ' s " F r o m Sem,otic

to Discursive Intertextuality: T h e C a s e of M a d a m e Bovary,'"Novel 19 (Fall 1985): 6 5 for bringing these

references to m y attention.
i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
138 of hysteria f u r n i s h e d by Madame Bovary to c o m p l e t e his professional description
of t h e disease, h e lets Flaubert's text speak for itself. C o n f i d e n t in his e s t i m a t i o n
t h a t E m m a is n o t e w o r t h y a m o n g fictional hysterics as "[l'hysterique] la p l u s vraie"
(348) ["the truest hysteric"], h e lends to a page of r u n n i n g citations f r o m Madame
Bovary t h e voice of authority o n e m i g h t otherwise expect to e m a n a t e f r o m excerpts
of a clinical case s t u d y . "
W h i l e R i c h e t apparently considers t h a t Flaubert's a n e c d o t a l c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n of
E m m a ' s a i l m e n t needs n o analysis, w e m i g h t , in t h e interests of brevity a n d clarity,
break d o w n t h e passages h e quotes into a simple list of s y m p t o m s d e n o t e d a n d c o n -
n o t e d . E m m a is t h e n revealed to b e capricious, histrionic, narcissistic, e m o t i o n -
ally a n d financially extravagant, a n d p r o n e to e m o t i o n a l swings, i m p u l s i v e deci-
sions, sexual fantasies, r o m a n t i c w h i m s , a n d acts of virile daring. S h e is given to
fits of feverish chatter, periods of speechless lethargy, a n d , of course, b o u t s of read-
ing. H e r physical s y m p t o m s i n c l u d e paleness, palpitations of t h e h e a r t , a n d sen-
sations of s u f f o c a t i o n .
If R i c h e t dispenses with any a t t e m p t to i m p o s e nosological r e d e f i n i t i o n u p o n
Flaubert's narrative, this is at least in part b e c a u s e s u c h a n enterprise w o u l d be re-
d u n d a n t . In t h e first part of his article, prior to q u o t i n g f r o m Madame Bovary, he
e n u m e r a t e s t h e characteristics of hysteria. H e m i g h t just as well h a v e b e e n s u m -
m a r i z i n g E m m a ' s case, for t h e two sets of s y m p t o m s are remarkably alike in c o n -
t e n t if n o t in style of p r e s e n t a t i o n . T h e similarity invites s o m e skepticism; it is n o t
at all clear w h e t h e r F l a u b e r t in fact anticipated w h a t w o u l d b e a c c e p t e d , s o m e
thirty years later, as t h e m o s t m e d i c a l l y a c c u r a t e a n d u p - t o - d a t e r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of
hysteria, or w h e t h e r t h e view of hysteria adopted by Charcot's g r o u p was based at
least in part o n literary a n d o t h e r popularly d i s s e m i n a t e d representations of it.
T h e r e are clear indications, w i t h i n Richet's exposition as well as externally, t h a t by
t h e t i m e h e was writing, t h e p h e n o m e n o n h e was describing was well k n o w n in
spirit if n o t in n a m e , a n d t h a t a certain cluster of characteristics c o n s t i t u t e d t h e es-
sence of a p o p u l a r c o n c e p t i o n of " f e m a l e nerves." 1 2 T h e complicity R i c h e t m a i n -
tains with his reader t h r o u g h o u t t h e article implies their shared c u l t u r a l p r e c o n -
ceptions: "Je m ' i m a g i n e q u e t o u t le m o n d e c o n n a i t plus o u m o i n s les bizarreries
d u caractere des f e m m e s nerveuses" (342) ["I i m a g i n e t h a t everyone is m o r e or less
familiar with t h e bizarre characteristics of nervous w o m e n " ] ; " L e caractere des

" T h e unexpected deference to a literary source in this doctor's article n e e d s to b e qualified by a re-

minder of his i n t e n d e d (literary) a u d i e n c e , w h i c h would doubtless have been better acquainted with

novelistic heroines than with clinical patients. Nonetheless, t h e a u t h o r i t y h e is w i l l i n g t o g i v e t o Flau-

bert's fictionespecially at a t i m e w h e n doctors w e r e generally suspicious of a n d hostile to literary rep-

resentations of h y s t e r i a c a n n o t be dismissed.
12
See G. H a h n , " C h a r c o t et son influence sur l'opinion publique," Revue des questions scientifiques
(July-August 1 8 9 4 ) : 2 3 0 - 6 1 ; F r a n c i s q u e S a r c e y , Le Mot et la chose (Paris: O l l e n d o r f f , 1863), 280; G u y

de Maupassant, " U n e F e m m e , " in Chroniques (Paris: 10/18, 1980), 2:111-15.

I

WRITING WITH A VENGEANCE

hysteriques est fort etrange, c o m m e c h a c u n s a i t " ( 3 4 3 ) [ " T h e character of hysterics 139
is extremely strange, as everyone knows"]. His task h e r e is less to i n t r o d u c e a n e w
p h e n o m e n o n t h a n to c l o t h e a familiar o n e in positivistic garb, to r e n d e r it scien-
tifically respectable: " C e q u ' o n appelle les nerfs d ' u n e j e u n e f e m m e , c'est t o u t
s i m p l e m e n t de l'hysterie" (342) [ " W h a t is referred to as f e m a l e nerves is simply
hysteria"].
A n o t a b l e e x c e p t i o n to Richet's otherwise u n m e d i a t e d use of Madame Bovary
provides a m o r e revealing glimpse of t h e ideological u n d e r p i n n i n g s of t h e hysteria
diagnosis. H e c o n c l u d e s his lengthy series of q u o t a t i o n s f r o m t h e novel by quali-
fying E m m a ' s case in passing as "hysterie legere" (349) ["mild hysteria"]. As h e ex-
plains in a startling earlier passage, "cette hysterie legere n'est pas u n e m a l a d i e veri-
table" (346) ["this m i l d hysteria is n o t a t r u e disease"]. For all Richet's insistence
t h a t E m m a is " t h e truest of hysterics," h e classifies h e r as a victim of m e r e l y m i l d
h y s t e r i a t h e kind that is n o t even "a t r u e disease." T h e a p p a r e n t inconsistency
h e r e c a n be cleared u p if we read o n . For m i l d hysteria is n o w redefined: "C'est u n e
des varietes d u caractere de la f e m m e " ["It is o n e of t h e varieties of w o m a n ' s n a -
ture"]. R i c h e t elaborates:

O n p e u t m e m e dire q u e les hysteriques sont f e m m e s plus q u e les autres

f e m m e s : elles o n t des s e n t i m e n s passagers et vifs, des i m a g i n a t i o n s
m o b i l e s et brillantes, et p a r m i t o u t cela l ' i m p u i s s a n c e de d o m i n e r par la
raison et le j u g e m e n t ces s e n t i m e n s et ces i m a g i n a t i o n s . (346)

One might even say that hysterics are more womanly than other women: their
feelings are fleeting and intense, their imagination brilliant and mobile, and along
with all that, they are incapable of dominating their feelings and imagination by
reason and judgment.

T h e " t r u e disease" h e refers to is n o t hysteria at a l l i n its m i l d or severe f o r m -

b u t femininity. Hysteria t u r n s o u t to be just a way of labeling or h i g h l i g h t i n g t h e
pathological f e m i n i n e .

R i c h e t h e r e shows his mettle. H e proves to be n o t only a strong reflector of

n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y cultural stereotypes, b u t also (no d o u b t in spite of h i m s e l f ) an
i n o r d i n a t e l y good reader of Flaubert; for his c o m m e n t s allow us to gloss E m m a ' s
n e r v o u s disorder as a e u p h e m i s m for h e r femininity, a n d to relate h e r suffering to
h e r f e m a l e sexuality. I w a n t to take this diagnosis o n e step f u r t h e r , suggesting t h a t
we t h i n k of h e r " f e m a l e m a l a d y " as m o r e precisely a case of mothersickness which
is m y translation of " m a l d e m e r e , " a t e r m given as a s y n o n y m for hysteria by t h e
Dictionnaire des sciences medicates. W e s h o u l d n o t leap to interpret this m a l a d y as
t h e e n n u i of c h i l d b e a r i n g or childrearing. T h e r e is that, of course, in MadameBo-
E P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
140 vary, b u t it is only a c o n c r e t i z a t i o n of t h e m o r e general, m o r e f u n d a m e n t a l afflic-
tion of h a v i n g a w o m b . "
T o sort t h r o u g h t h e implications this affliction has for Madame Bovary, I weave
back a n d forth b e t w e e n t h e novel a n d t h e dictionary. A reading of t h e Dictionnaire
yields, if n o t t h e verifiable source of E m m a Bovary s hysterical traits, at t h e very
least a c o m p e n d i u m of t h e era's u n d e r s t a n d i n g of s u c h traits, a n d so a n indirect
source. E m m a is closely m o d e l e d u p o n an i m a g e of hysterics as described in this
article. Like t h e m , she has " u n t e m p e r a m e n t n e r v e u x , u n e sensibilite exquise . . .
u n e i m a g i n a t i o n b r l a n t e . . . u n c o e u r trop t e n d r e o u facile e n f l a m m e r "
( D S M , 231) ["a n e r v o u s t e m p e r a m e n t , exquisite sensitivity . . . a b u r n i n g imagi-
n a t i o n . . . an overly t e n d e r or easily i n f l a m e d heart"]. T h e s e characteristics, we
are told, reflect a t e n d e n c y toward hysteria. C i r c u m s t a n t i a l factors t h a t favor t h e
diseasefactors t h a t play a role in t h e etiology of E m m a ' s i l l n e s s i n c l u d e "la lec-
t u r e des r o m a n s " (235) ["the reading of novels"] a n d " u n e e d u c a t i o n m o l l e " (231)
["a lax upbringing"]. O n e is r e m i n d e d of E m m a ' s c o n v e n t u p b r i n g i n g :

V i v a n t d o n e sans jamais sortir de la tiede a t m o s p h e r e des classes . . . eile

s'assoupit d o u c e m e n t la l a n g u e u r m y s t i q u e q u i s'exhale des p a r f u m s de
l'autel, de la f r a i c h e u r des benitiers et d u r a y o n n e m e n t des cierges. (70)

Living thus, without ever leaving the warm atmosphere of the class-rooms . . . she
was softly lulled by the mystic languor exhaled in the perfumes of the altar, the
freshness of the holy water, and the lights of the tapers. (25)

O t h e r c o n t r i b u t i n g factors are given as "les o d e u r s desagreables, fetides o u irri-

tantes" (231) ["unpleasant, fetid, or irritating odors"]; t h e phrase evokes that well-
k n o w n description, cited earlier, of E m m a ' s m e a l t i m e despair:

Maise'etaitsurtoutauxheuresdes repasquelle n'enpouvaitplus. . .

t o u t e l ' a m e r t u m e de l'existence lui semblait servie sur son assiette, et, la
f u m e e d u bouilli, il m o n t a i t d u f o n d de son arne c o m m e d'autres bouffees
d'affadissement. (99)

But it was above all the meal-times that were unbearable to her. . . all the
bitterness of life seemed served up on her plate, and with the smoke of the boiled
beef there rose from her secret soul waves of nauseous disgust. (47)

" O n the nineteenth-century tendency to define the feminine as "an aptitude for maternity," see

Yvonne K n i b i e h l e r ' s p r o v o c a t i v e a r t i c l e " L e D i s c o u r s m e d i c a l s u r la f e m m e : C o n s t a n t e s et ruptures,"

Romantisme 1314 (1976): 41.

1

W R I T I N G WITH A VENGEANC1
Certain foods endowed with aphrodisiac properties, such as "les truffes, les c h a m - 141
pignons, . . . peut-etre les fraises, les framboises" (232) ["truffles, mush-
rooms, . . - m a y b e strawberries, raspberries"] can also n u r t u r e hysteria. And w h a t
a b o u t apricots? It is hard not to be r e m i n d e d of E m m a ' s spasms and the subsequent
dlness provoked by R o d o l p h e s a b a n d o n m e n t , but precipitated by the suffocating
a r o m a of a basket of apricots used to convey the letter of rupture. M o n s i e u r H o -
mais, as usual the voice of c o m m o n wisdom, theorizes on the c o n n e c t i o n :

Mais il se pourrait q u e les abricots eussent occasionne la syncope! II y a

des natures si impressionables l'encontre de certaines odeurs! . . . Les
p r e t r e s . . . ont t o u j o u r s m e l e des aromates leurs ceremonies. C ' e s t p o u r
vous stupefier l ' e n t e n d e m e n t et provoquer des extases, chose d'ailleurs
facile obtenir c h e z les personnes d u sexe, qui sont plus delicates q u e les
autres. , ,
(235)

It is quite possible that the apricots caused the syncope. Some natures are so
sensitive to certain smells. . . .Priests. . . use aromatics in all their ceremonies.
It is to stupefy the senses and to bring on ecstasiesa thing, moreover, very
easy in persons of the weaker sex, who are more sensitive than we are. ' (150-51)

Moreover, E m m a , with her fleshy hps, beautiful teeth, cascades of black hair a n d
large dark eyes, m a t c h e s the physical profile of w o m e n prone to hysteria, accord-
ing to t h e Dictionnaire:

O n l'observe f r e q u e m m e n t . . . parmi celles qui o n t . . . les yeux noirs

et vifs, la b o u c h e grande, les dents b l a n c h e s et les levres d ' u n rouge
incarnat, les cheveux a b o n d a n s , le systeme pileux fourni et c o u l e u r de
jais, et d o n t les caracteres sexuels sont tres-prononces. (234)

We frequently find it among women who have dark, lively eyes, a large mouth,
white teeth and rose-red lips, a luxuriant head of hair, thick, jet-black body hair,
and whose sexual characteristics are very pronounced.

A l t h o u g h there is a marked correlation between E m m a ' s nervous traits a n d the

characteristics of hysteria as described by the Dictionnaire, two objections m i g h t
be raised at this point. In the first place, o n e wonders w h e t h e r a merely t h e m a t i c
c o r r e s p o n d e n c e would have constituted sufficient grounds for Baudelaire's accla-
m a t i o n of hysteria as "the f o u n d a t i o n a n d bedrock of a literary work." A n d in t h e
second place, there is an important e l e m e n t of the Dictionnaire article that has n o
manifest correlation with the presentation of E m m a ' s case; I a m referring to a fa-

1
i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
142 miliar a n d pervasive e m p h a s i s in t h e article o n t h e causal r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n
hysteria a n d t h e f e m a l e r e p r o d u c t i v e system. F r o m t h e b e g i n n i n g of t h e d i c t i o n a r y
entry, hysteria is inextricably b o u n d to f e m a l e r e p r o d u c t i o n . "II existe u n e m a l a d i e
d o n t l ' u t e r u s est le siege" (228) [ " T h e r e is a disease w h o s e seat is t h e uterus"], we are
told. T h e disease is classified within t h e g e n r e "nevroses de la g e n e r a t i o n " ["repro-
d u c t i v e neuroses"] a n d t h e species "nevroses genitales de la f e m m e " (227) ["female
genital neuroses"]; its s y n o n y m s , in addition to " m a l de m e r e " ["mothersickness"],
are given as "affection u t e r i n e , suffocation de m a t r i c e , e t r a n g l e m e n t de l ' u t e r u s
. . . ascension de la m a t r i c e , nevrose u t e r i n e " (226) ["uterine c o m p l a i n t , suffoca-
tion of t h e w o m b , strangling of t h e u t e r u s . . . rising of t h e w o m b , uterine
neurosis"].
B u t in t h e relatively rare event t h a t a critic has discussed either E m m a as
m o t h e r , or h e r d a u g h t e r Berthe, it has a l m o s t invariably b e e n to r e m a r k o n t h e ab-
sent m o t h e r or o n t h e " d i m i n u t i v e role" played by t h e daughter. 1 4 (Let us n o t forget
t h a t E m m a t u r n s h e r h e a d a n d faints w h e n she learns t h a t she has given birth to a
d a u g h t e r ; t h e p a t t e r n is set.) Is it n o t paradoxical to insist o n a correlation b e t w e e n
a disease believed to be rooted in m a t e r n i t y a n d a novel a b o u t a w o m a n w h o ,
t h o u g h a m o t h e r , is arguably t h e least " m a t e r n a l " of all m o t h e r s ?
A revealing excerpt f r o m Flaubert's c o r r e s p o n d e n c e c a n b e used to c o u n t e r b o t h
of these o b j e c t i o n s . In a letter to Louise C o l e t , F l a u b e r t c o u n s e l s h e r o n w h a t h e
considers t h e best way to i n c o r p o r a t e observed reality into a literary work. Perhaps
n o t coincidentally, Flaubert's advice is p r o m p t e d by Colet's projected research visit
to t h e Salpetriere Hospital, w h e r e she intends to witness hysterics a n d various
o t h e r m a d w o m e n firsthand in order to d o c u m e n t t h e last s c e n e of h e r verse n a r r a -
tive, La Servante. H e r e are Flaubert's instructions:

T u m e dis q u e tu dois aller la Salpetriere p o u r [ta Servante]. Prends

garde q u e cette visite n'influe trop. C e n'est pas u n e b o n n e m e t h o d e q u e
de voir ainsi t o u t de suite, p o u r ecrire i m m e d i a t e m e n t apres. O n se
p r e o c c u p e trop des details, de la c o u l e u r , et pas assez de son esprit, car
la c o u l e u r d a n s la n a t u r e a u n esprit, u n e sorte de vapeur subtile q u i se
degage d'elle, et c'est cela q u i doit a n i m e r en dessous le style. Q u e de fois,
p r e o c c u p e ainsi d e ce q u e j'avais sous les yeux, n e m e suis-je pas d e p e c h e
de l'intercaler d e suite d a n s u n e o e u v r e et de m'apercevoir e n f i n qu'il
fallait l'oter! La c o u l e u r , c o m m e les a l i m e n t s , doit etre digeree et m e l e e
a u sang des pensees. (2:372, July 1853)

14
See, for example, Diana Festa-McCormick, " E m m a Bovary s Masculinization: Conventions of

Clothes and Morality of Conventions," in Gender and Literary Voice, ed. Janet Todd ( N e w York:

H o l m e s and Meier, 1980), 234.

 WRITING WITH A VENGEANCE
You tell me you must go to the Salpetriere for [your Servant], Take care that this 143
visit does not influence you too much. It isn't methodologically sound to see all at
once, in order to write immediately afterward. One becomes too preoccupied with
details, with color, and not enough with its spirit, for color in nature has a spirit, a
kind of subtle vapor that is given off by it, and that is what should animate style
from beneath. How many times, preoccupied with what I had before my eyes, have
I not rushed to insert it immediately in a work only to realize later that it had to be
removed! Color, like food, must be digested and mixed with the blood of our
thoughts.

T h i s lesson i n t e n d e d to g u i d e C o l e t toward t h e most effective integration of

m a d n e s s w i t h i n h e r text provides a crucial c l u e to Flaubert's integration of h y s t e r i k
w i t h i n Madame Bovary, t h e writing of w h i c h h e was struggling with daily at t h e
t i m e
f this letter. His c a u t i o n that C o l e t n o t try to transcribe directly a n d in vivid
detail t h e m a d n e s s she was to observe a n d w o u l d seek to c o n v e y is a reflection of his
o w n t e c h n i q u e in Madame Bovary, w h e r e h e is c o n c e r n e d n o t with t h e letter of
hysteria, b u t t h e figure: with w h a t h e calls h e r e t h e spirit, " u n esprit, u n e sorte de
v a p e u r subtile . . . q u i doit a n i m e r e n dessous le style." In c o u n s e l i n g C o l e t to
avoid literal transcription, a n d to let the spirit of madness animate her style from
beneath, F l a u b e r t u n c a n n i l y rehearses t h e discovery Baudelaire w o u l d m a k e ,
w h e n h e read Madame Bovary f o u r years later, t h a t hysteria c o u l d f u n c t i o n as t h e
f o u n d a t i o n " l e f o n d et le t u f " o f a literary work.
If we s u p e r i m p o s e Flaubert's letter a n d Baudelaire's review (to w h i c h F l a u b e r t
n o t surprisingly responded: " V o u s etes e n t r e d a n s les arcanes de l'oeuvre.
C e l a est c o m p r i s et senti fond"15 ["You have e n t e r e d t h e a r c a n a of this work.
You h a v e a profound sense a n d u n d e r s t a n d i n g of it"]), we c a n reply to b o t h p o t e n -
tial o b j e c t i o n s at o n c e . In Madame Bovary F l a u b e r t does n o t in fact o m i t t h a t as-
pect of hysteria considered d u r i n g m o s t of t h e n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y to be its integral
c o m p o n e n t n a m e l y , t h e f e m a l e reproductive system. B u t h e is less c o n c e r n e d
with its t h e m a t i c representation ("[les] details, . . . la c o u l e u r " ) t h a n with its pres-
e n c e as a figure, a "subtle vapor" ( " u n e sorte de vapeur subtile"): a f i n e h a z e per-
m e a t i n g t h e a t m o s p h e r e of his novel. 1 6 T h e Dictionnaire classification of this m a l -

15
B a u d e l a i r e , "MadameBovary," 2:1120.
16
M y hypothesis that the writing of Madame Bovary involved Flaubert's transformation of hysteria

from letter to figure is s u p p o r t e d by Claudine Gothot-Mersch's observations: "Les scenarios et les

b r o u i l l o n s , p l u s q u e la version definitive, m e t t e n t aussi e n relief le c t e h y s t e r i q u e d u p e r s o n n a g e . Cer-

t a i n s t e x t e s n o u s m o n t r e n t la j e u n e f e m m e se l i v r a n t , d e s T o s t e s , d e s c o m e d i e s q u i t r a h i s s e n t u n grave

desequilibre. . . . [Des] h a l l u c i n a t i o n s m o i n s graves se r e n c o n t r e n t f r e q u e m m e n t d a n s les brouillons"

[ " T h e scenarios a n d r o u g h drafts, m o r e t h a n t h e definitive version, a c c e n t u a t e the hysterical side of the

character. S o m e of t h e texts s h o w us the young w o m a n , f r o m the early days in Tostes, indulging in

scenes that betray a severe imbalance. . . . M i l d e r hallucinations s h o w u p frequently in t h e drafts"].

I
i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
144 ady as a "generative neurosis" a n d a " f e m a l e genital neurosis" finds its e c h o in
Madame Bovary, for E m m a ' s d a u g h t e r is b o t h m e t a p h o r a n d m e t o n y m y for h e r
mother's w o m b , a n d t h u s integrally related to h e r hysteria.
M u c h as E m m a ' s w e d d i n g cake with its cardboard stars a n d sugary d u n g e o n s
synthesizes t h e novel's course w h i l e ironizing it, a n d m u c h as t h e street organ with
its m i n i a t u r e waltzers s u m m a r i z e s t h e Vaubyessard ball, Berthe recapitulates
E m m a : she is a reductive reprise, a negative m i n i a t u r e h e r mother's p a r o d i c
double. 1 7 H e r very n a m e c o n t a i n s w i t h i n it t h e relentless pattern of E m m a ' s des-
tiny, for it shuttles b e t w e e n t h e ideal a n d t h e b a n a l , invoking t h e o n e b u t evoking
t h e other. " B e r t h e " o s t e n s i b l y c h o s e n b e c a u s e " E m m a se souvint q u ' a u c h a t e a u
de la Vaubyessard eile avait e n t e n d u la m a r q u i s e appeler Berthe u n e j e u n e f e m m e "
(124) [ " E m m a r e m e m b e r e d that at t h e c h a t e a u of Vaubyessard she h a d h e a r d t h e
M a r q u i s e call a y o u n g lady Berthe"] (64)is i n t e n d e d to signify e l e g a n c e , plea-
sure, mobility, t h e w e l l - b o r n , a n d t h e viscount with w h o m she waltzed at t h e ball.
B u t " B e r t h e " is p h o n e t i c a l l y attached to a n o t h e r m e m o r y t h a t of Les Bertaux,
t h e f a r m w h e r e E m m a was r a i s e d a n d so with e q u a l facility it signifies b o r e d o m ,
drudgery, stagnation, n e a r - p e a s a n t origins, a n d a f a r m e r father. 1 8
T h e irony of t h e child's n a m e is well m a t c h e d by t h e c i r c u m s t a n c e s of h e r birth.
W e m i g h t say t h a t E m m a has a d o u b l e pregnancy, a n d two c h i l d r e n , in t h e sense
t h a t she experiences everything twice, first in exalted a n d t h e n in degraded f o r m ,
a n d t h a t B e r t h e is t h e child of t h e s e c o n d pregnancy, t h e O t h e r c h i l d . T h e first or
i m a g i n a r y p r e g n a n c y w o u l d have yielded a son: "II serait fort et b r u n ; eile l'appel-
lerait G e o r g e s , et cette idee d'avoir p o u r e n f a n t u n m a l e etait c o m m e la r e v a n c h e
e n espoir d e toutes ses i m p u i s s a n c e s passees" (122) ["He w o u l d b e strong a n d dark;
she w o u l d call h i m G e o r g e ; a n d this idea of having a m a l e child was like a n ex-

Claudine Gothot-Mersch, La Genese de Madame Bovary (Paris: Corti, 1966), 194-95. Moreover,

Flaubert's description in t h e C o r r e s p o n d a n c e of his o w n initial contact with m a d w o m e n provides con-

crete details w h o s e figurative equivalents are retained in Madame Bovary: " L a p r e m i e r e f o i s q u e j'ai vu

des fous, c'etait ici, l ' h o s p i c e g e n e r a l . . . . Dans les cellules, assises et a t t a c h e e s p a r le m i l i e u d u

corps, n u e s j u s q u ' la c e i n t u r e et t o u t e c h e v e l e e s , u n e d o u z a i n e d e f e m m e s h u r l a i e n t et se dechiraient

la figure avec leurs ongles" ["The first contact I had with the insane was here, at t h e general hospi-

tal. . . . I n t h e cells, seated a n d b o u n d a r o u n d t h e m i d d l e , naked to the waist a n d completely dishev-

eled, a d o z e n w o m e n w e r e s c r e a m i n g a n d tearing at their faces with their nails"] (letter to L o u i s e Colet,

2 :
37, 7 July 1853). T h e traits figured by E m m a Bovarylasciviousness, self-destructiveness, incom-

municativeness, constraint, marginality, alienationare here concretely represented.

17
It is w o r t h n o t i n g t h a t C h a r l e s s e e s B e r t h e a s h e r m o t h e r ' s d o u b l e : "II v o u l a i t q u e B e r t h e f t b i e n ele-

vee, quelle et des talents, quelle apprit le p i a n o . Ah! quelle serait jolie, plus tard, quinze ans,

quand, r e s s e m b l a n t sa m e r e , elle porterait, c o m m e elle, d a n s l'ete, d e g r a n d s c h a p e a u x d e paille! O n

les p r e n d r a i t d e l o i n p o u r les d e u x s o e u r s " ( 2 2 3 ) [ " H e w a n t e d B e r t h e to b e w e l l - e d u c a t e d , to be accom-

plished, to learn to play t h e p i a n o . A h ! h o w pretty she w o u l d b e later o n w h e n s h e was fifteen, when,

r e s e m b l i n g h e r m o t h e r , s h e w o u l d , like her, w e a r large straw hats in the s u m m e r - t i m e ; f r o m a distance

t h e y w o u l d b e t a k e n f o r t w o sisters"] (141).
18
M o r e o v e r , this c h i l d n a m e d for nobility e n d s u p as a declassee; H o m a i s will n o longer allow his chil-

dren to play with her o n c e her financial r u i n is a s s u r e d .

 W R I T I N G WITH A VENGEANCE
pected revenge for all h e r i m p o t e n c e in t h e past"] (63). 19 T h i s boy child, c o n c e i v e d 14J
in t h e afterglow of t h e Vaubyessard ball, 2 0 w o u l d have b e e n t h e issue of t h e imagi-
nary plot, t h e v i s c o u n t p l o t t h e positive p r e g n a n c y w h i l e t h e baby girl, t h e
child of t h e reality p l o t t h e negative p r e g n a n c y c l e a r l y belongs to Charles', t h e
m a n w h o c a n n o t even s m o k e t h e v i s c o u n t s cigars. 2 1
C e r t a i n l y t h e d a u g h t e r is n a m e d in m e m o r y of t h e Vaubyessard ball. B u t we n e e d
to recall t h a t E m m a ' s pleasures inevitably peak at t h e edge of abysses a n d t h a t in this
p a r t i c u l a r case, "son voyage la Vaubyessard avait fait u n trou d a n s sa vie, la m a -
niere d e ces grandes crevasses q u ' u n orage, en u n e seule n u i t , creuse q u e l q u e f o i s
d a n s les m o n t a g n e s " (89) ["her j o u r n e y to Vaubyessard h a d m a d e a gap in h e r life,
like t h e h u g e crevasses t h a t a t h u n d e r s t o r m will s o m e t i m e s carve in t h e m o u n t a i n s ^
in t h e course of a single night"] (40). Like t h e entire Vaubyessard episode it e m b l e m -
atizes, t h e n a m e Berthe is hollow. Say it o n c e , a n d you evoke a c h a t e a u filled with
waltzing viscounts a n d marquises; say it again, a n d you hear its near h o m o n y m ,
perte "loss, l a c k " a n d you are back in t h e h o l e left by t h e trip to t h e Vaubyessard!
a h o l e endlessly r e o p e n e d by t h e child's torn stockings, h e r ripped blouses, a n d h e r
v a c u o u s r e a p p e a r a n c e s in t h e novel (309, 361; de M a n 209, 250).
W h a t better n a m e for t h e d a u g h t e r w h o represents h e r mother's disillusion-
m e n t , h e r lack of a son, t h a n t h e very n a m e of loss? 22 Berthe, as girl c h i l d , is t h e

'"Dominick L a C a p r a s u m m a r i z e s the situation: "even her pregnancy was hysterical." "Madame Bo-
vary on Trial (Ithaca: C o r n e l l University Press, 1982), 180.

h b t a k P k c e i n C t 0 b e r ; W k n W t h a t E m m a 1S r e n a n
r / u ! " 1 P 8 ' by the t i m e she leaves Tostes in
March. A revealing p a r a g r a p h in t h e Correspondance lets u s k n o w t h a t t h e r e w a s a vital link between
t h e ball a n d t h e p r e g n a n c y in F l a u b e r t ' s m i n d : "J'ai fini c e soir d e b a r b o u i l l e r la p r e m i e r e i d e e d e mes
reves de ]eune fille. J'en ai p o u r q u i n z e j o u r s e n c o r e n a v i g u e r s u r ces lacs b l e u s , a p r e s q u o i j'irai au
e
' tpasseraiensuiteunhiverpluvieux, quejecloraiparunegrossesse"(2:6 3 , 2 7 M a r c h i8 5 2)["This
evening I finished scnbbling the first i d e a f r o m m y g i r l i s h d r e a m s . It w i l l t a k e m e t w o w e e k s m o r e t o s a , l
o n b l u e lakes, after w h i c h I will g o to t h e Ball, a n d t h e n will s p e n d a rainy w i n t e r that I will close w i t h a
pregnancy"].
2 1
1 a m r e f e r r i n g t o t h e s c e n e f o l l o w m g C h a r l e s ' s d i s c o v e r y o f w h a t E m m a p r e s u m e s is t h e v i s c o u n t ' s c i -
gar case:

C h a r l e s s e m i t f u m e r . II f u m a i t e n a v a n g a n t l e s l e v r e s , c r a c h a n t t o u t e m i n u t e , s e r e c u l a n t
chaque bouffee.

" T u vas te faire m a l , " dit-elle dedaigneusement.

II d e p o s a s o n c i g a r e , e t c o u r u t a v a l e r l a p o m p e u n v e r r e d ' e a u f r o i d e . (89)

Charles began to smoke. He smoked with lips protruding, spitting every moment, drawing back
at every p u f f .
"You'll make yourself ill," she said scornfully.
He put down his cigar and ran to swallow a glass of cold water at the pump. (4o)
22
N a o m i S c h o r suggests in h e r discussion of a n o t h e r n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y protagonist J e a n n e le Pert-

hun des Vauds of Maupassant's Une Vie, that "pushed t o its l o g i c a l e x t r e m e , one m i g h t say that all

w o m e n are called Loss (Perte), s i n c e . . . l o s s is w o m a n ' s l o t . " S c h o r , Breaking the Chain- Women The-
ory, and French Realist Fiction ( N e w York: C o l u m b i a University Press, 1985), 169.
i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
146 boy's a b s e n c e . S h e is at o n c e r e m i n d e r of t h e missing son a n d sign of w h a t a son
m i g h t find missing; as D o m i n i c k L a C a p r a suggests, she is " a l m o s t a literal figure of
castration." 2 3 T h a t is to say, she is also almost a literal figure of E m m a ' s f e m i n i n i t y ,
w h i c h F l a u b e r t , in a n t i c i p a t i o n of F r e u d , represents as h e r r e c o g n i t i o n of a critical
lack t h a t c o u l d only be c o m p l e t e l y filled by a baby boy. 24 If B e r t h e / E m m a prefig-
ures Freud's m o d e l of femininity, she also recalls t h e similar a n d m o r e overtly
d o u b l e - e d g e d f o r m u l a devised by Balzac's Vautrin: "La f e m m e . . . est . . . la
perte de l ' h o m m e " 2 5 [ " W o m a n . . . i s . . . man's loss"]. W o m a n is n o t only t h e in-
c a r n a t i o n of man's potential loss, b u t t h e feared i n s t r u m e n t of this loss. F l a u b e r t
e c h o e s V a u t r i n in a letter to E r n e s t F e y d e a u , in w h i c h h e warns: " M a i s p r e n d s
garde d'abTmer t o n intelligence d a n s le c o m m e r c e des d a m e s . T u perdras t o n g e n i e
a u f o n d d ' u n e m a t r i c e " (3:14, early F e b r u a r y 1859) ["But take care n o t to d a m a g e
your intelligence in c o m m e r c e with ladies. You will lose your genius at t h e b o t t o m
of a w o m b " ] .
If we are to u n d e r s t a n d t h e ways in w h i c h Berthe as figure of h e r mother's a n a t -
o m y e m b o d i e s t h e spirit of h e r hysteria, we m u s t at least begin to tease o u t a c o m -
plex network of associations a n d differentiations c o n c e r n i n g t h e w o m b , t h e p h a l -
lus, castration, a n d hysteria. Let us recall t h e Dictionnaire e x p l a n a t i o n of w h y
hysteria is necessarily t h e exclusive d o m a i n of w o m e n a n d , m o r e specifically, w h y
t h e f e m a l e reproductive system s h o u l d have a n i n f l u e n c e sufficiently p o w e r f u l to
i n d u c e t h e affliction, w h i l e t h e m a l e reproductive system does not. E v e r y t h i n g in
this article suggests t h a t it is t h e f e m a l e rather t h a n t h e m a l e organs t h a t g e n e r a t e
hysteria b e c a u s e , o n t h e o n e h a n d , t h e y are located inside t h e body a n d are h i d -
d e n , invisible, u n k n o w n , yet o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , paradoxically, t h e y are f u n c t i o n -
ally m o r e i m p o r t a n t , m o r e c o m p l e x m o r e powerful. Lest these factors s e e m eti-
ologically irrelevant, let m e s u p p l e m e n t t h e m with a direct q u o t a t i o n p e r t a i n i n g to
t h e causality of f e m a l e hysteria:

Les organes de la g e n e r a t i o n n e p e u v e n t etre r e t r e n c h e s d a n s le sexe,

tandis q u e l'appareil genital, t o u t exterieur c h e z l ' h o m m e , et c h a r g e de
f o n c t i o n s plus limitees, s e m b l e f o r m e r u n systeme c o m m e isole, et q u i
p e u t etre e n l e v e f a c i l e m e n t . (229)

23
LaCapra, "Madame Bovary" on Trial, 180.
2 4
S i g m u n d Freud, "Femininity," in The Standard Edition of the Complete Works of Sigmund Freud,
trans. J a m e s Strachey, A n n a F r e u d , Alix Strachey, a n d A l a n T y s o n , ed. J a m e s Strachey, 2 4 vols. (Lon-

don: H o g a r t h Press, 1953-74), 22:122-35. See, too, Schor's c o m m e n t that " m u c h before Freud, Flau-

bert well understood that in order for maternity to fully satisfy p e n i s envy, the child must be male

( w h i c h w o u l d c o n d e m n a t l e a s t h a l f o f a l l w o m e n t o i n e v i t a b l e n e u r o s i s ) . " Breaking the Chain, 22.

2 5
H o n o r e de Balzac, Splendeurs et miseres des courtisanes, in La Comedie humaine, ed. Pierre-

Georges Castex, 12 vols. (Paris: G a l l i m a r d , 1976-81), 6:934.

 WRITING WITH A VENGEANC
The female reproductive organs cannot be cut o f f , while the male genital \4
apparatus, entirely external and charged with more limited functions, seems
to form an isolated system that can easily be removed.

T h i s c u r i o u s passage implies t h a t hysteria belongs to w o m e n because they are a n -

atomically m o r e c o m p a c t , less v u l n e r a b l e t h a n m e n . T h e explanation is clari-
fiedand a f f i r m e d a few sentences later:

R e m a r q u o n s e n f i n q u e si le role des organes genitaux f e m i n i n s est

b e a u c o u p plus i m p o r t a n t , il c o m m e n c e et finit b e a u c o u p plus tot; e n
general, apres q u a r a n t e ans, la f e m m e n'est plus apte devenir m e r e ;
tandis q u e l'aptitude procreer se p r o l o n g e c h e z l ' h o m m e p r e s q u e
i n d e f i n i m e n t , commesi la nature avait voulu etablir une compensation.

(229; my emphasis)

Finally, let us note that though the role of the female genital organs is much more
significant, it begins and ends much earlier; in general, after age forty, woman can
no longer have children, while the ability to procreate extends almost indefinitely in
men, as if nature had wanted to establish a compensation.

T h e s e c o n d excerpt m a k e s explicit w h a t is only implied in t h e first: specifically,

t h a t t h e sexually exclusive d e f i n i t i o n of hysteria responds to a n effort to c o m p e n -
sate m e n for a n a p p a r e n t i m b a l a n c e in t h e lot of t h e two sexes. N a t u r e i n d e m n i f i e s
m e n for t h e limited f u n c t i o n of their genital organs by g r a n t i n g t h e m extended fer-
tility, a n d i n d e m n i f i e s t h e m also for i n c u r r i n g t h e greater risk of loss, by assigning
hysteria to w o m e n .
Hysteria, t h e n , is an alternative f o r m of castration visited u p o n w o m e n by m e n :
"nature's c o m p e n s a t i o n , " or m a l e revenge. Like t h e n o t i o n of f e m a l e castration
with w h i c h it is allied, it is already a fetish, a kind of c o m p r o m i s e f o r m a t i o n that
strives to s u s p e n d a n d c o n f u s e polarities of m a s c u l i n e a n d f e m i n i n e , p r e s e n c e a n d
a b s e n c e , outside a n d inside, s u p p l e m e n t a r i t y a n d lack.

W e c a n t u r n o n c e again to Berthe in order to elucidate Flaubert's use of hysteria

as c o m p r o m i s e . Because a b s e n c e is this child's identifying f e a t u r e , t h e few patterns
t h a t e m e r g e f r o m h e r otherwise i n c o n s e q u e n t i a l a p p e a r a n c e s in t h e novel b e c o m e
telling. Flaubert's representation of Berthe is distinguished by an incessant m o b i l -
ity w h o s e e x t r e m e f o r m t o w a r d w h i c h m y a r g u m e n t will d e v e l o p i s fluidity.
T h e r e is an e m p h a s i s o n h e r c o m i n g s a n d goings. W h a t little w e h e a r a b o u t h e r is
d o m i n a t e d by a c c o u n t s of h e r puppetlike e n t r a n c e s a n d exits. T h e c o m i c a l l y re-
petitive quality of h e r peregrinations is evident in t h e following c o n d e n s e d
sampling:
i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
148 E m m a f u t prise . . . d u besoin de voir sa petite fille . . . q u i avait ete mise
e n n o u r r i c e . . . . Elle retira Berthe de n o u r r i c e ( 1 2 4 - 2 5 , 139). E m m a
. . Aaprit. . . . Puis eile [la] recoucha (126). La servante amena
Berthe. . . . " E m m e n e z - l a , " dit [ E m m a ] (151). "Amenez-la-moi!" dit sa
m e r e . . . . Elle la remit a u x m a i n s de la d o m e s t i q u e (201). Elle fit revenir
la m a i s o n sa petite fille, q u e son m a r i , d u r a n t sa m a l a d i e , avait renvoyee
c h e z la n o u r r i c e (241). "Amenez-moi la petite," dit-elle. . . . "Assez!
q u ' o n Yemmenel" s'ecria C h a r l e s ( 3 3 7 - 3 8 ) . O n avait conduit Berthe
c h e z M m e H o m a i s . . . . C h a r l e s , le l e n d e m a i n , fit revenir la petite
(349, 3 59; m y emphasis).

Emma was suddenly seized with the desire to see her little girl, who h a d b e e n p u t to
nurse. . . . She t o o k B e r t h e a w a y from the nurse ( 6 5 , 7 6 ) . She t o o k [ h e r ] u p . . . .
Then she p u t b a c k the little girl (66). The servant b r o u g h t Berthe. . . . " T a k e h e r
a w a y , " [Emma] said ( 8 5 ) . " B r i n g h e r t o m e , " said her mother. . . . S f r e g a v e h e r

b a c k to the maid ( 1 2 4 ) . Her little girl, whom her husband had s e n t b a c k to the nurse

during herillness, r e t u r n e d h o m e ( 1 5 5 ) . " B r i n g me the child," she said. . . .

" E n o u g / i . ' T a k e h e r a w a y ! " cried Charles ( 2 3 2 - 3 3 ) . They had t a k e n Berthe to

Madame Homais's. . . . Thenext day Charles had the child b r o u g h t b a c k ( 2 4 2 ,

249).

T h i s c o n s t a n t shuttling m o t i o n is antithetical to E m m a ' s ideal m o d e l of u n r e -

stricted m o v e m e n t , w h i c h she perceives as a typically m a l e property: " U n h o m m e ,
a u m o i n s , est libre; il p e u t p a r c o u r i r les passions et les pays, traverser les obstacles,
m o r d r e a u x b o n h e u r s les plus lointains" (122) ["A m a n , at least, is free; h e c a n ex-
plore all passions a n d all c o u n t r i e s , o v e r c o m e obstacles, taste of t h e m o s t distant
pleasures"] (63). T h e q u e s t i o n of w h e r e E m m a herself is located o n t h e c o n t i n -
u u m of m o v e m e n t is, however, a tricky o n e .
F r o m t h e b e g i n n i n g , E m m a is depicted as t h e essence of mobility; as C l a u d i n e
G o t h o t - M e r s c h remarks, she possesses " u n d y n a m i s m e instinctif, q u i contraste
avec le statisme d e Charles" 2 6 ["an instinctive d y n a m i s m , in s h a r p contrast to
Charles's static nature"]. H e r physical traits are carefully described to reinforce this
f u n d a m e n t a l aspect of h e r being:

L e g r a n d air l'entourait, levant p e l e - m e l e les petits c h e v e u x follets d e sa

n u q u e , o u s e c o u a n t sur sa h a n c h e les c o r d o n s de son tablier, q u i se
tortillaient c o m m e des banderoles. . . . L'ombrelle, de soie gorge-de-
p i g e o n , q u e traversait le soleil, eclairait de reflets m o b i l e s la p e a u b l a n c h e
de sa figure. (51)

2 6
Gothot-Mersch, La Genese de Madame Bovary, 102.
!

WRITING WITH A VENGEANCE

The open air wrapped her round, playing with the soft down on the back of
14
her neck, or blew to and fro on her hips her apron-strings, that fluttered like
streamers. . . The parasol, made of an iridescent silk that let the sunlight sift
through, colored the white skin of her face with shifting reflections. (12-13)

T h e static a p p e a r a n c e of h e r everyday life is belied by "[sa] p e n s e e v a g a b o n d a n t "

(56) ["her t h o u g h t s w a n d e r i n g " ] (16), an offshoot of t h e voyage motif. E m m a s es-
capes to R o u e n , h e r u n r e a l i z e d d e p a r t u r e with R o d o l p h e , h e r p h a n t a s m a t i c re-
treats to a n idealized o t h e r world are r e c u r r e n t manifestations of t h e general c o n -
dition that G o t h o t - M e r s c h has n a m e d "la m a l a d i e de c h a n g e r de place" 2 7 ["the
m o v i n g disease"].
E m m a ' s malady, a perverse f o r m of m o t i o n sickness, m i g h t otherwise b e de-
fined as a refusal to stay in (her) place. T h i s was clearly t h e prevailing interpreta-
tion at t h e trial of Madame Bovary, w h e n t h e novel was judged by Flaubert's c o n -
temporaries. 2 8 It is particularly revealing that t h e defense attorney, S e n a r d , basing
his case u p o n t h e s a m e u n d e r l y i n g a s s u m p t i o n s a b o u t E m m a as did t h e p r o s e c u -
t i o n , argued that F l a u b e r t i n t e n d e d his novel to be a c a u t i o n a r y tale a b o u t a
w o m a n "qui va chercher le b o n h e u r ailleurs que chez eile" ["who goes looking for
h a p p i n e s s away from her own home"]a w o m a n "qui a reve le b o n h e u r en dehors
de sa maison" ["who d r e a m e d of happiness outside of her house"].29 Throughout
his pleading, S e n a r d c o n t i n u e s to describe E m m a ' s transgressions in spatial m e t a -
p h o r s , m e t a p h o r s that clearly imply that she has strayed f r o m a w o m a n ' s place.
" C o n d u i t e d a n s u n c o u v e n t hors de sa sphere" (404) ["Taken to a c o n v e n t beyond
her sphere"], she has h a d " u n e e d u c a t i o n au-dessus de la condition dans laquelle
eile est nee" (392) [" an e d u c a t i o n above the station into which she was born"]- as a
result she is "deviee" (393) ["deviant"], u n a b l e to take care of "[les] devoirs de sa po-
sition" (392) ["the duties of her position"], u n a b l e to seek happiness "dans sa mai-
son" (392; m y emphasis) ["in her home"].

T w e n t y - t w o years later, a n d speaking f r o m a m e d i c a l position, C h a r l e s R i c h e t

w o u l d e c h o Senard's criticism of f e m a l e u p w a r d mobility:

A P a r i s . . . et d a n s les grandes villes, 011 les jeunes filles des classes

inferieures et de la petite bourgeoisie regoivent u n e e d u c a t i o n s u p e r i e u r e
leur etat social, l'hysterie est tres f r e q u e n t e . (346)

2 7
Ibid.

2 8
As LaCapra has astutely argued, " A t r i a l is a l o c u s o f s o c i a l r e a d i n g t h a t b r i n g s o u t c o n v e n t i o n s of
interpretation in a key institution. "Madame Bovary" on Trial, 7 .
2 9
Requisitoire, Plaidoirie et J u g e m e n t , i n Madame Bovary, 4 1 4 ; m y emphasis. Subsequent references
will a p p e a r in t h e text.
i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
150 In Paris and in big cities, where young ladies of the lower classes and the petite
bourgeoisie are educated beyond their social standing, hysteria is very frequent.

T h e doctor's etiological remarks, t h e lawyer s social c o m m e n t a r y , a n d t h e novelist s

literary portrait derive f r o m a c o m m o n source. Flaubert's v a g a b o n d , Senard's social
climber, R i c h e t s overeducated hysteric are all latter-day versions of a n a n c i e n t the-
ory of hysteria preserved in t h e Dictionnaire t e r m "ascension de la m a t r i c e " ["rising
of t h e w o m b " ] given as a s y n o n y m for hysteria. T h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y f e m a l e
w a n d e r e r e m b o d i e s a n c i e n t Egyptian attributions of certain f e m a l e behavioral dis-
orders to a dislocated u t e r u s t h a t roves a b o u t t h e body, crowding o t h e r structures a n d
i m p i n g i n g u p o n their f u n c t i o n i n g . 3 0 M o r e specifically, she re-presents Plato's for-
m u l a t i o n of t h e w o m b as "an a n i m a l w h i c h longs to g e n e r a t e c h i l d r e n " a n d w h i c h ,
if too l o n g w i t h o u t c h i l d , m a y begin to stray a n d to work mischief in t h e body. 3 1
If we are to contrast E m m a with w h a t M a r i o Vargas Llosa has called "those in-
d u s t r i o u s p r o c r e a t i n g w o m b s , t h e w o m e n of Yonville," 3 2 t h e n I t h i n k we m u s t d o so
in t h e parallel t e r m s of t h a t a n g u i s h e d b a r r e n a n i m a l , t h e r o a m i n g w o m b . E m m a is
t h e i n c a r n a t i o n of t h e w a n d e r i n g w o m b , t h e r u l i n g b u t u n r u l y f e m a l e organ
t h a t will n o t stay in place, t h a t seeks to invade foreign, f o r b i d d e n territory.
If we envision E m m a ' s place o n a s p e c t r u m of potential m o v e m e n t t h a t
stretches f r o m u n f e t t e r e d m a l e mobility to Berthe s r h y t h m of oscillation to f e m a l e
c o n s t r a i n t or immobility, t h e n E m m a , as m o t i o n i n c a r n a t e , appears to be ill-
represented by h e r d a u g h t e r a n d s h o u l d perhaps be assigned instead to t h e m a l e
position. A closer look, however, c o m p e l s us to rethink this position. If t h e para-
d i g m a t i c w o m b is a n a n i m a l straying a b o u t in t h e body, it is nevertheless a caged
a n i m a l , a n d its w a n d e r i n g s are restricted. 3 3
A l t h o u g h E m m a is in m a n y respects t h e essence of p e r p e t u a l m o t i o n , s h e never
effectively c h a n g e s place; h e r m o v e m e n t s are always c o n s t r a i n e d . T h e early, very
a n i m a t e d description of h e r deliberately qualifies this a n i m a t i o n : t h e flyaway wisps
of hair, t h e a p r o n strings twisting a n d billowing like streamers in t h e w i n d , t h e
scintillating effect of t h e iridescent silk all bespeak a h a r n e s s e d , t e t h e r e d variety of
m o t i o n , m o v e m e n t in place. E m m a ' s m u s i n g s as she awaits t h e birth of h e r child
f u r t h e r specify t h e style of a n i m a t i o n with w h i c h she is identified:

3 0
M y i n f o r m a t i o n c o m e s f r o m Ilza Veith, Hysteria: The History of a Disease (Chicago: University of

C h i c a g o Press, 1965).
31
From Plato's Timaeus; quoted by Veith, Hysteria, 7 - 8 . See m y Introduction for greater historical

detail.
52
M a r i o Vargas Llosa, The Perpetual Orgy: Flaubert and "Madame Bovary," trans. H e l e n L a n e ( N e w

York: Farrar, Straus & G i r o u x , 1986), 24.

33
E m m a ' s c o n f i n e d m o t i o n typifies t h e situation of t h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y h e r o i n e , w h o s e b o u n d en-

ergy, as S c h o r h a s brilliantly s h o w n , powers the nineteenth-century novel. See Schor, Breaking the

Chain, especially " U n w r i t i n g L a m i e l , " 135-46.

I

W R I T I N G W I T H A VENGEAN
U n e f e m m e est e m p e c h e e c o n t i n u e l l e m e n t . Inerte et flexible la fois, 1
eile a c o n t r e eile les mollesses d e la c h a i r avec les d e p e n d a n c e s de la loi.
Sa volonte, c o m m e le voile de son c h a p e a u r e t e n u par u n c o r d o n , palpite
t o u s les vents; il y a t o u j o u r s q u e l q u e desir q u i e n t r a i n e , q u e l q u e
c o n v e n a n c e q u i retient. (122-23)

A woman is always hampered. Being inert as well as pliable, she has against her the
weakness of the flesh and the inequity of the law. Like the veil held to her hat by a
ribbon, her will flutters in every breeze; she is always drawn by some desire,
restrained by some rule of conduct. (-,)

T h e i m a g e of an attached veil flutteringpalpitatingin t h e breeze repeats t h e

p a t t e r n of restrained m o t i o n b u t modifies it. H a l f w a y b e t w e e n banality a n d pa-
thology, t h e verb palpiter m a k e s explicit t h e analogy b e t w e e n vacillating or oscil-
lating m o t i o n a n d hysterical s y m p t o m s s u c h as tremors, spasms, a n d convulsions.
F u r t h e r m o r e , t h e phrase "il y a t o u j o u r s q u e l q u e desir q u i entraine, quelque
c o n v e n a n c e q u i retient," w h i c h i m m e d i a t e l y follows a n d interprets t h e palpitating
veil simile, links t h e c o n c e p t of palpitation to t h e b a c k - a n d - f o r t h pattern of m o t i o n
t h a t will later b e e m b l e m a t i z e d by Berthe s puppetlike existence.
Berthe, t h e n , b e c o m e s a parody of E m m a , of t h e w a n d e r i n g w o m b , a n d of
m o v i n g in p l a c e a parody t h a t gains in subtlety w h a t it loses in certainty w h e n it
is c o m p a r e d to a n earlier version of t h e novel, w h i c h h a d Berthe in t h e throes of
c o n v u l s i o n s shortly after E m m a s death. 3 4 T h e identification of E m m a with h e r
d a u g h t e r suggests t h a t she, like Berthe, belongs s o m e w h e r e in t h e m i d d l e of t h e
r a n g e of m o v e m e n t , a n d t h a t she represents a c o m p r o m i s e f o r m a t i o n , a figurative
correlative of t h e Dictionnaire s presentation of hysteria as n a t u r e s way of w o u n d -
ing w o m e n in recognition o f i n retaliation f o r t h e i r noncastratability. If u n -
t r a m m e l e d mobility is e q u a t e d with m a s c u l i n i t y a n d utter i m m o b i l i t y with f e m i -
ninity, t h e n F l a u b e r t m a y well have created in E m m a a degraded version of
t h e " h e r m a p h r o d i t e s u b l i m e " h e tried so h a r d a n d f a i l e d t o m a k e of L o u i s e
Colet. 3 5

54
C h a r l e s a n d B e r t h e a r e d i s c u s s i n g d e a t h ; C h a r l e s f a i n t s , " e t , q u a n d il r e v i n t l u i , e i l e a v a i t d e s con-

vulsions" ["and, w h e n he opened his eyes, she was having convulsions"]. Flaubert, Madame Bovary
Ebauches et fragments inedits, ed. G a b r i e l l e L e l e u (Paris: C o n a r d , 1936), 1:574.
35
" J ' a i t o u j o u r s e s s a y e ( m a i s il m e s e m b l e q u e j e c h o u e ) d e f a i r e d e t o i u n h e r m a p h r o d i t e s u b l i m e " (let-

ter to L o u i s e Colet, 2:548, 12 A p r i l 1 8 5 4 ) ["I h a v e a l w a y s t r i e d ( b u t I b e l i e v e I h a v e f a i l e d ) t o m a k e you

into a sublime hermaphrodite"]. Flaubert's o w n identification with hysteria does not c h a n g e his valo-

rization of hysteria as d e g r a d a t i o n , for L o u i s e C o l e t ( a n d also for E m m a Bovary a n d for w o m e n in gen-

eral). Hysteria in w o m e n c o n s t i t u t e s a m u t i l a t i o n , a loss; b u t w h e n a m a l e a r t i s t i d e n t i f i e s w i t h it it b e -

comes a supplement. As I c o n t e n d in C h a p t e r 4, hysteria allows Flaubert to b e a (super)man with the

sensibilities a n d subjectivity of a w o m a n .
i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
152
EMMA/LOUISE

A n d so w e appear to c o m e full circle. R e a d i n g E m m a s hysteria with c o n t e m p o r a r y

m e d i c a l texts establishes t h e fidelity of h e r case history to n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y c o n -
v e n t i o n s of pathology. W h a t is n o t i m m e d i a t e l y obvious f r o m this kind of read-
i n g a n d w h a t I w a n t briefly to appraise before c o n t i n u i n g i s t h e degree of re-
f r a c t i o n t h a t occurs w h e n F l a u b e r t reproduces his era s i m a g e of hysteria. W h i l e it
w o u l d be impossible to m e a s u r e t h e angle of r e f r a c t i o n t o d o so w o u l d be t a n t a -
m o u n t to tracing t h e limits of F l a u b e r t i a n i r o n y w e m u s t at least begin to evalu-
ate its presence.
T w o decades before C h a r c o t realized t h e power of a n idee regue a n d b e c a m e
h i g h priest of hysteria at t h e Salpetriere, F l a u b e r t read t h e m e d i c a l d i c t i o n a r y
a n d l a t c h e d o n to a rising cliche. I a m using t h e Dictionnaire emblematically
here; F l a u b e r t c o u l d just as well have listened to people in t h e street. His aware-
ness t h a t m e d i c a l a n d p o p u l a r discourses of hysteria were f u n d a m e n t a l l y c o n t i n -
u o u s is reflected by their interchangeability in Madame Bovary,36 It doesn't really
m a t t e r t h a t t h e Dictionnaire des sciences medicates sits with u n c u t pages o n t h e
shelves of C h a r l e s Bovary's study, for its principal tenets (novels are a p r i m e c a u s e
of hysteria in y o u n g girls, t h e fragrance of apricots is also p e r n i c i o u s , b r u n e t t e s
are highly excitable, a n d so on) e m e r g e f r o m t h e m o u t h s of characters s u c h as
M o n s i e u r H o m a i s . T h e p o i n t is that t h e Dictionnaire des sciences medicates,
whatever its a u t h o r i t y as t h e voice of science, whatever its role as pillar of t h e
m e d i c a l institution, is essentially a dictionary of n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y m e d i c i n e ' s
received ideas. So it is n o t surprising that t h e entries related to hysteria in F l a u -
bert's own Dictionnaire des idees regues can be traced back to t h e m e d i c a l
dictionary:

HYSTERIE. La c o n f o n d r e avec la n y m p h o m a n i e .
NERVEUX. Se dit c h a q u e fois q u ' o n n e c o m p r e n d rien u n e m a l a d i e ,
cette explication satisfait l'auditeur.
ROMANS. Pervertissent les masses.
FILLES. Les j e u n e s filles: Eviter p o u r elles t o u t e espece de livre.
BRNES. S o n t plus c h a u d e s q u e les b l o n d e s (voy. BLONDES).

3 6
For a n o p p o s i n g interpretation of Madame Bovary in t e r m s of hysteria, see Rothfield s " F r o m Semi-

otic to Discursive Intertextuality." His argument depends upon the underlying assumptionwhich

runs exactly counter to m y o w n t h a t "the system of medical presuppositions about hysteria did not ex-

ist a s a n e n c o d e d i d e o l o g y b a s e d o n a c l i c h e . . . b u t a s a p a r t o f a c o h e r e n t d i s c o u r s e " ( 5 8 ) . N e i t h e r can

I entirely agree w i t h Jan G o l d s t e i n s subtly a r g u e d claim for a literary subversion of the scientific dis-

course of hysteria, in " T h e Uses of M a l e Hysteria." T h o u g h literary insights into this discourse are

often potentially subversive, they are usually recuperated by an underlying (and perhaps inevitable)

ideological conservatism.
 WRITING WITH A VENGEANCE
BLONDES. Plus c h a u d e s q u e les b r u n e s (voy. BRUNES). 1
ROUSSES. (Voy. BLONDES, BRUNES, BLANCHES et NEGRESSES.)37

HYSTERIA. To be confused with nymphomania.

NER vous. Said every time nothing is understood about an illness;
this explanation satisfies the hearer.
NOVELS. Pervert the masses.
GIRLS. Young ladies: Avoid exposing them to any kind of books.
BRUNETTES. Are hotter than blondes (see BLONDES),
BLONDES. Are hotter than brunettes (see BRUNETTES),
REDHEADS. (See BLONDES, BRUNETTES, WHITE WOMEN, and

NEGRESSES.)

A n d so o n . H o w does Flaubert's ironic reprise, in his own dictionary, of t h e c o n -

v e n t i o n s of hysteria presented in t h e m e d i c a l dictionary, affect o u r r e a d i n g of these
c o n v e n t i o n s as they a p p e a r in Madame Bovary? I have n o ready answer to that
q u e s t i o n ; I c a n only p o i n t in w h a t I t h i n k is t h e right direction by reiterating t h a t
Madame Bovary is b o u n d e d by m e d i c i n e a n d its ironic d o u b l e . I shall begin to
elaborate o n this f r a m i n g by r e t u r n i n g to Dr. Richet, w h o chronologically closes
t h e series of texts with w h i c h I o p e n e d this discussion; his c o m m e n t a r y , as we saw
earlier, m e d i a t e s b e t w e e n m e d i c i n e a n d literature. Bringing to his appraisal of
E m m a Bovary t h e full a u t h o r i t y of his m e d i c a l knowledge, R i c h e t passes judg-
m e n t : " D e toutes les hysteriques d o n t les r o m a n c i e r s o n t r a c o n t e l'histoire, la plus
vivante, la plus vraie . . . c'est M m e Bovary" (348) ["Of all hysterics w h o s e story
has b e e n told by novelists, t h e m o s t lifelike, t h e t r u e s t . . . is M a d a m e Bovary"].
I m p e r v i o u s to irony, R i c h e t t h e H o m a i s of t h e S a l p e t r i e r e e v a l u a t e s Flaubert's
hysteric a n d finds h e r to be a good copy.
If, s o m e w h a t arbitrarily, we assign to R i c h e t t h e p e n u l t i m a t e word in this c o n -
versation, it w o u l d be t e m p t i n g to allow F l a u b e r t t h e last l a u g h . B u t we s h o u l d n o t
too quickly or too gullibly decide that irony has t h e last word here. A n y reading
t h a t addresses t h e q u e s t i o n of E m m a ' s hysteria m u s t , like t h e novel, take its place
b e t w e e n two dictionaries: t h e m e d i c a l version a n d its literary subversion, taking
care n o t to be b l i n d e d by Flaubert's irony in t h e second to his complicity with t h e
first. In fact Flaubert's irony covers his complicity; it b o t h i n c l u d e s a n d eclipses his
collusion with t h e doxa h e vociferously c o n d e m n s as bourgeois discourse: betise
a n d idees request

" G u s t a v e Flaubert, Le Dictionnaire des idees reques, in vol. 2 of Oeuvres completes, ed. Jean Bruneau
a n d B e r n a r d M a s s o n (Paris: Seuil, 1964), passim.

58
C o m m e n t a r y on the workings of betise and idees reques i n F l a u b e r t i s i n f i n i t e . M y o w n t h i n k i n g h a s
b e e n most influenced by Jonathan Culler's Flaubert: The Uses of Uncertainty ( I t h a c a : C o r n e l l U n i v e r -
sity Press, 1985); a n d LaCapra's "Madame Bovary" on Trial.
i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
154 Flaubert's use of hysteria consistently exposes his discursive collusion with ideo-
logical c o n s t r u c t s t h a t h e ostensibly rejects. In order to explore this p r o b l e m I
m o v e o n to consider that particularly c o n c e n t r a t e d aspect of m o b i l i t y f l u i d i t y
that links E m m a Bovary intertextually to Louise C o l e t (the C o l e t w e find in t h e
text of t h e Correspondance), a n d also binds h e r intratextually to Berthe. T h e c o n -
tradictions a n d hypocrisies i n h e r e n t in Flaubert's expression of d o u b l e rage
(against L o u i s e C o l e t a n d against bourgeois society) take m e to a discussion of his
style as b o t h r e c o g n i t i o n a n d denial of conflict: t h a t is, as c o m p r o m i s e a n d , finally,
as a t t e m p t e d resolution.
T h e identification of L o u i s e C o l e t s style, in Flaubert's Correspondence, with
m e t a p h o r s of h e r f e m a l e flowblood, tears, m u c u s , m i l k i s transcribed in his
i m a g i n g of E m m a Bovary's t e m p e r a m e n t as it is e m b o d i e d in h e r d a u g h t e r ,
Berthe. O n c e again, Berthe Bovary is a caricature of h e r m o t h e r , this t i m e c o n -
d e n s i n g E m m a ' s lack of s e l f - c o n t a i n m e n t , h e r e m o t i o n a l overflow a n d fluctuating
dispositions. O n e m i g h t a r g u e for t h e realism of t h e portrait of a child w h o sheds
a n u n c e a s i n g stream of tears, drools freely, vomits o f t e n , gets t h e colic, n e e d s h e r
diaper c h a n g e d , falls a n d bleeds (126, 148, 241; de M a n 66, 82, 155). It is n o n e -
theless arresting to find s u c h a disproportionately large n u m b e r of details devoted
to bodily leaks a n d drips in a n otherwise vague portrait, particularly in view of t h e
fact t h a t B e r t h e s portrait materializes t h e m o r e abstract descriptions of E m m a .
Berthe, presented as a system of perpetual drips, represents a c o n d e n s a t i o n of
E m m a , w h o is k n o w n to t h e bourgeoisie of Yonville for "ses airs evapores" (157)
["her vaporish airs"] (89) a n d is similarly classified, in t h e words of h e r m o t h e r - i n -
law, as " u n e evaporee" (220) ["a vaporish w o m a n " ] (my translation). 3 9 G i v e n t h e
sources of these qualifications, w h i c h are c o m m o n p l a c e s of t h e n i n e t e e n t h -
c e n t u r y discourse of h y s t e r i a " t h e vapors," in t h e p a r l a n c e of t h e e r a o n e
m i g h t b e i n c l i n e d to relegate t h e m to t h e d o m a i n of ironic citation were it n o t
for t h e c o m p l i c a t i n g factor that they find their place in a network of similar i m -
ages c h a r a c t e r i z i n g E m m a , h e r i m a g i n a t i o n , a n d h e r p e r c e p t i o n s (and i n c l u d i n g
e v a p o r a t i o n , vapor, h a z e , fog, clouds, mist) diffused t h r o u g h o u t t h e narrative
discourse. 4 0

3 9
H e r mother-in-law elsewhere continues in the s a m e m o d e , blaming E m m a ' s malaise on her leisure:

"Si eile etait, c o m m e tant d'autres, c o n t r a i n t e g a g n e r son pain, eile riawait pas ces vapeurs-l, qui lui

v i e n n e n t d ' u n tas d ' i d e e s q u e l l e se f o u r r e d a n s la tete, et d u d e s o e u v r e m e n t oil elle vit" ( 1 5 7 - 5 8 ; m y

e m p h a s i s ) ["If s h e w e r e o b l i g e d , like so m a n y o t h e r s , to e a r n h e r living, she wouldn't have these vapors,

t h a t c o m e to h e r f r o m a lot of ideas s h e stuffs into h e r h e a d , a n d f r o m t h e idleness in w h i c h s h e lives"!

(90).
4 0
1 a m not the first to speak of fog a n d h a z e in this novel. T o n y T a n n e r writes s o m e dazzling pages on

interior a n d exterior climate conditions in t h e novel, suggesting that E m m a ' s fogginess m a y be ex-

plained by " h e r situation in a l a n g u a g e d o m i n a t e d by a c o n f u s i o n of m a l e ascriptions a n d descriptions

and prescriptions." Tanner, Adultery in the Novel: Contract and Transgression (Baltimore: Johns Hop-

kins University Press, 1979), 312. T a n n e r s c o m m e n t s o n indistinction a n d the confusion of categories

 W R I T I N G WITH A VENGEANCE
So, for e x a m p l e , t h e malaise that overtakes E m m a as Charles's wife is c o m p a r e d 1
to t h a t of a certain G u e r i n s d a u g h t e r said to have had a fog in h e r h e a d ( " u n e m a -
n i e r e de brouillard q u e l l e a v a i t d a n s la tete" [141; de M a n 78]). At a later p o i n t in
t h e narrative, w h e n she takes c o m m u n i o n w h i l e in t h e throes of brain fever after
Rodolphe's a b a n d o n m e n t , h e r entire b e i n g seems to vaporize: "II lui sembla q u e
son etre . . . allait s'aneantir dans cet a m o u r c o m m e u n e n c e n s a l l u m e q u i se dis-
sipe en v a p e u r " (239) ["It seemed to h e r that h e r being, m o u n t i n g toward G o d ,
w o u l d be a n n i h i l a t e d in that love like a b u r n i n g incense that melts into vapour"']
(i54).
W e m i g h t t h e n say that Berthe materializes L o u i s e Colet's stylistic faults, w h i l e
E m m a etherealizes t h e m . O r , to shift t h e t e r m s of t h e analogy a bit, B e r t h e s li-
quidity is to E m m a ' s vaporousness as t h e woman L o u i s e C o l e t is to t h e style L o u i s e
C o l e t , with t h e first t e r m o n e a c h side of t h e e q u a t i o n acting to e m b o d y , a n d t h e
s e c o n d , to abstract. W e t h e n have two extremes of a c o n t i n u u m t h a t c a n be c o n -
veniently labeled " B e r t h e " a n d " E m m a , " with t h e proviso t h a t this is a p r e l i m i n a r y
s c h e m a t i c representation of a textual rhetoric that we m u s t eventually discuss as
process rather t h a n as static paradigm. For t h e character called E m m a ( w h o is, as
we h a v e seen, m e t o n y m i c a l l y c o n t i n u o u s with h e r daughter) herself i n c l u d e s b o t h
vapor a n d liquid: s h e coincides with an o n g o i n g series of passages f r o m a liquid to
a v a p o r o u s state.

T h e o u t e r a n d i n n e r geographies of E m m a ' s life are b a t h e d in water. T h e r e is a

p r e d o m i n a n c e of liquid imagery in Madame Bovary used liberally as description
a n d m e t a p h o r , t h e two m o d e s often n o t clearly distinguishable. 4 1 E a c h of t h e t h r e e
p r i n c i p a l settings of t h e novel is water-based: Tostes, by its proximity to t h e sea;
Yonville, by its site o n t h e banks of t h e R i e u l e River; R o u e n , by its position o n t h e
Seine. B u t t h e r e c u r r e n t realist descriptions of these bodies of water flow i m p e r -
ceptibly into m e t a p h o r i c a l geography, as w h e n , for e x a m p l e , E m m a a n d R o -
d o l p h e sit by t h e river before their projected e l o p e m e n t a n d "la tendresse des a n -
d e r n jours l e u r revenait a u coeur, a b o n d a n t e et silencieuse c o m m e la riviere q u i

are w o n d e r f u l l y provocative b u t s e e m to p u t F l a u b e r t outside his writing as a n o n p a r t i c i p a t i n g observer

a n d portraitist m u c h of the time. Ross C h a m b e r s writes suggestively a b o u t environmental a n d discur-

sive correlatives of E m m a ' s m a l a d y ( w h i c h h e perceives as m e l a n c h o l y ) a n d finds important connec-

tions b e t w e e n t h e fogs of her m e l a n c h o l y a n d modernity's truths f o u n d in cloudiness, confusion, and

indistinction. Chambers, Melancolie et opposition: Les debuts du modernisme en France (Paris: Corti

1987). A n d Jean-Pierre Richard speaks of fluidity (primarily liquid rather than vaporous) within

nexus of processes (fusion, diffusion, dissolution, mutability) that are close to m y o w n concerns. Rich-

ard, Stendhal et Flaubert: Litterature et sensation (Paris: Seuil, 1954).

41
R o s e m a r y Lloyd's brief b u t e n l i g h t e n i n g passage o n water in Madame Bovary points out that the cre-

ation of (diegetic, e m o t i o n a l , or imaginative) space in this novel d e p e n d s o n a "constant oscillation be-

t w e e n descriptive a n d m e t a p h o r i c a l m o d e s " ; she uses t h e water m o t i f as o n e illustration of s u c h shift-

ing. Lloyd, "Madame Bovary" ( L o n d o n : U n w i n H y m a n , 1 9 9 0 ) , 1 2 3 - 2 4 ; s e e a l s o D . L . Demorest,

LExpression figuree et symbolique dans loeuvre de Gustave Flaubert ( G e n e v a : S l a t k i n e Reprints!

1967), 4 3 0 - 6 0 .
i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
156 coulait" (225) ["the tenderness of t h e old days c a m e back to their hearts, full a n d
silent as t h e flowing river"] (143). Similarly, b u t o n a m i c r o c o s m i c level, t h e r e are
t h e descriptions of E m m a that evoke fluidity, if only in a passing detail, s u c h as h e r
hair flowing in " u n m o u v e m e n t o n d e vers les tempes" (49) ["a wavy m o v e m e n t at
t h e temples"] (11), or a c c u m u l a t e d details that evoke mergings of t h e w o m a n with
h e r s u r r o u n d i n g s . H e r e is E m m a in a w a r m winter m o m e n t w h e n t h e frost begins
to thaw: "L'ecorce des arbres suintait d a n s la cour, la neige sur les couvertures des
b t i m e n t s se fondait. . . . [Son] o m b r e l l e , de soie gorge-de-pigeon, q u e traversait
le soleil, eclairait de reflets m o b i l e s la p e a u b l a n c h e de sa figure. . . . O n e n t e n -
dait les gouttes d ' e a u , u n e u n e , t o m b e r sur la m o i r e t e n d u e " (51) [ " T h e bark of
t h e trees in t h e yard was o o z i n g , t h e snow melted on t h e roofs of t h e b u i l d -
ings. . . . {Her} parasol, m a d e of a n iridescent silk that let t h e s u n l i g h t sift
t h r o u g h , colored t h e w h i t e skin of h e r face with shifting reflections. . . . D r o p s of
water fell o n e by o n e o n t h e t a u t silk"] (13). T h e m e t a m o r p h i c state signaled by t h e
d r i p p i n g bark, t h e m e l t i n g snow, t h e drops of water falling o n t o t h e parasol is c o n -
c e n t r a t e d by t h e oscillating effect of t h e iridescent silk a n d t h e m o i r e , w h i c h often
appears t h r o u g h o u t t h e novel to intensify t h e protean effect of water images.
E m m a ' s d r e a m s c a p e s are of course n o less waterlocked t h a n t h e realist t a b l e a u x ,
only m o r e exotically so. Riverbanks a n d sea breezes are joined by m o u n t a i n lakes,
grottoes, f o u n t a i n s , cascades, a n d gulfs, a n d by t h e appropriate a c c o u t r e m e n t s
swans, chalets, p a l m trees, gondolas, fishing nets, a n d guitars. T h e liquid images
of h e r internal landscapes correspond to t h e fluidity with w h i c h t h e images suc-
ceed o n e a n o t h e r , a n d to t h e mobility of their display. W a t e r imagery also appears
a l o n e , d e t a c h e d f r o m diegetic m o o r i n g s , to convey E m m a ' s perceptive or affective
states, as for instance t h e dark overpowering sea that translates h e r sense of i m -
p e n d i n g d o o m w h e n R o d o l p h e has rejected h e r plea for financial help: " L e sol,
sous ses pieds, etait plus m o u q u ' u n e o n d e , et les sillons lui p a r u r e n t d ' i m m e n s e s
vagues b r u n e s , q u i deferlaient" (333) [ " T h e earth b e n e a t h h e r feet was m o r e yield-
ing t h a n t h e sea, a n d t h e furrows s e e m e d to h e r i m m e n s e b r o w n waves breaking
into f o a m " ] (228). O r again, t h e r e is t h e m o r e positive image of a river of milk t h a t
suffuses E m m a ' s consciousness after h e r lovemaking with R o d o l p h e : "Elle sentait
. . . le sang circuler dans sa chair c o m m e u n fleuve de lait"( 190) ["She f e l t . . . t h e
blood c o u r s i n g t h r o u g h h e r flesh like a river of milk"] (116). 42
B u t if E m m a ' s landscapes e m e r g e f r o m water, t h e y drift into haze. 4 3 H e r water-

4 2
A l t h o u g h t h e r e is s o m e t r u t h t o D e m o r e s t s o b s e r v a t i o n t h a t l a k e s , t o r r e n t s , o c e a n s , and waves rep-

resent in E m m a ' s imagination " c e q u e l ' a m o u r a d e t e r r i b l e e t d e f u n e s t e " [ " w h a t is m o s t t e r r i b l e and

c a t a s t r o p h i c a b o u t l o v e " ] , t h i s is n o t c a t e g o r i c a l l y s o b e c a u s e s u c h i m a g e s c a n a n d d o b e a r p o s i t i v e ten-

ors. D e m o r e s t , L'Expression figuree, 454.

4 3
O n t h e characteristic m o v e m e n t of e x p a n s i o n a n d diffusion in Flaubert, see G e o r g e s Poulet's classic

studies "Flaubert," in Etudes sur le temps humairt (Paris: P l n , 1949) and "Flaubert," in Les Metamor-
phoses du cercle (Paris: F l a m m a r i o n , 1979).
 WRITING WITH A VENGEANCE
based scenes, fantasies, dreams, and metaphors tend to dissipate, to be volatilized 1!
as fog, haze, or mist, to evaporate into the intangibility of disillusioned reverie. In
many cases we can actually watch the transition process, the crossing from one
state to another. One such passage moves us from fountains to their vaporous
spray: "On entendait. . . le bruit des fontaines, dont la vapeur s'envolant rafrai-
chissaitdes tas de fruits" (223) ["They heard . . . the noise of fountains, whose ris-
ing spray refreshed heaps of fruit"] (141). Another takes us from an illusory lake to
the rising mists that both shroud and create it: "De la hauteur ou ils etaient, toute
la vallee paraissait un immense lac pale, s'evaporant 1'air" (187) ["From the
height on which they were the whole valley seemed an immense pale lake sending
off its vapour into the air"] (114). Yet another excerpt puts before us what Emma
views from an open window: "On voyait la riviere dans la prairie, o eile dessinait
sur l'herbe des sinuosites vagabondes. La vapeur du soir passait entre les peupliers
sans feuilles, estompant leurs contours d u n e teinte violette, plus pale et plus trans-
parente qu'une gaze subtile arretee sur leurs branchages" (143) ["The river could
be seen in the fields, meandering through the grass in sinuous curves. The evening
vapors rose between the leafless poplars, touching their outline with a violet tint,
paler and more transparent than a subtle gauze caught amidst their branches"']
(78). Here the passage from river to vapor clearly signifies blurring, clouding, con-
fusing, for the well-delineated curves of the river give way to the indistinct con-
tours of the poplars.
T h e transition f r o m water to vapor, however, is not written for us to read in every
case; these are privileged insights, for m u c h of the t i m e we read the states sepa-
rately. T h e haziness of E m m a ' s perceptions, the vagaries of her dreams, the vague-
ness of her desires are consistently figured in vaporous meteorological i m a g e s -
images that find their counterpart, and their reinforcement, in n u m e r o u s associ-
ated references to that s h i m m e r i n g , vacillating texture of m o i r e fabric, a n d in fre-
q u e n t recourse to the verb miroiter, "to s h i m m e r , to glisten." 4 4 Verb, fabric, a n d
meteorological metaphors share the e l e m e n t of c h a n g e a n d changeability: fluctua-
t e example of the juxtaposition of these elements is t h e s c e n e set b e f o r e E m m a one Thursday

w h e n s h e a r n v e s at R o u e n . S h e sees t h e city a p p e a r before her, "noyee dans le brouillard Ains, vu

d e n haut, le paysage t o u t entier avait lair i m m o b i l e c o m m e u n e p e i n t u r e ; les navires l'ancre se tas-

saient dans un coin; le fleuve arrondissait sa courbe a u pied des collines vertes. . O n entendait le

ronflement des fonderies avec le carillon clair des eglises qui se dressaient dans la brume Les toils
tout reluisants de pluie, miroitaient megalement. . . . Et son coeur sen gonflait a b o n d a m m e n t '

c o m m e s i l e s c e n t v m g t m i l l e m e s q u i p a l p i t a i e n t l e u s s e n t e n v o y e t o u t e s l a f o . s la vapeur des pas-

sions qu eile leur supposait" (287; m y emphasis) ["drowned in the fog. . . . Seen thus from above the

w h o l e l a n d s c a p e s e e m e d f r o z e n , like a picture; t h e a n c h o r e d ships w e r e m a s s e d in o n e c o r n e r the 'river

curved around t h e foot of t h e g r e e n hills. . . . O n e heard the r u m b l i n g of the foundries, mingled with

the clear chimes of the churches, dimly outlined in the fog. . . . The roofs, shining from the rain threw
back unequal, glimmering reflections. . . . H e r heart swelled as t h o u g h the h u n d r e d a n d t w e n t y thou-

s a n d s o u l s p a l p i t a t i n g t h e r e h a d all at o n c e w a f t e d to h e r the passionate haze with which her imagination

had endowed them"] (190; trans, modified).
i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
158 t i o n , oscillation, c o n f u s i o n , a n d indecision b u t also, m o r e positively, exaltation,
ethereality, possibility.
E m m a is t h e c e n t e r of consciousness t h a t filters t h e h a z e of images before us
( t h o u g h as we will see, it exceeds h e r b o u n d s , diffuses well b e y o n d her). C o n t e x t s
vary, b u t t h e l a n g u a g e of vaporization is consistently c o n d i t i o n e d by t h i n or expir-
ing hopes, fantasy, illusion, disillusion, fading reveries, e n n u i . H e r e is E m m a ' s in-
cipient awareness of h e r stagnant life: " C o m r a e les matelots e n detresse, elle pro-
m e n a i t sur la solitude de sa vie des yeux desesperes, c h e r c h a n t a u loin q u e l q u e
voile b l a n c h e d a n s les b r u m e s d e l ' h o r i z o n " (96) ["Like shipwrecked sailors, she
t u r n e d despairing eyes u p o n t h e solitude of h e r life, seeking afar s o m e w h i t e sail in
t h e mists of t h e h o r i z o n " ] (44). W h e n she is saturated with h e r h u s b a n d ' s dullness,
" q u e l q u e c h o s e de stupefiant c o m m e u n e vapeur d ' o p i u m l'engourdissait" (276)
["she felt a stupor o v e r c o m i n g her, as if f r o m an o p i u m haze"] (182; t r a n s l a t i o n
modified). At t h e opera in R o u e n , absorbed in t h e p e r f o r m a n c e of Lucia di Lam-
mermoor, "il lui s e m b l a i t e n t e n d r e , travers le brouillard, le son des c o r n e m u s e s
ecossaises se repeter sur les bruyeres" (248) ["she s e e m e d to h e a r t h r o u g h t h e mist
t h e s o u n d of t h e S c o t c h bagpipes r e - e c h o i n g over t h e moors"] (161). R e t u r n i n g to
Yonville a n d C h a r l e s after a tryst with L e o n , E m m a looks back at R o u e n : "A
c h a q u e t o u r n a n t , o n apercevait de plus en plus tous les eclairages de la ville q u i fai-
saient u n e large v a p e u r l u m i n e u s e au-dessus des m a i s o n s c o n f o n d u e s " ( 2 9 0 - 9 1 )
["At every t u r n , t h e y c o u l d see m o r e a n d m o r e of t h e city below, f o r m i n g a l u m i -
n o u s mist above t h e mass of houses"] (193).

A l t h o u g h t h e representation of E m m a covers a s p e c t r u m t h a t i n c l u d e s t h e liq-

u i d a n d t h e v a p o r o u s as its two extremes, a n d c a n therefore n o t b e fixed in either
position, t h e trajectory of h e r c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n consistently m o v e s in t h e d i r e c t i o n
of d e m a t e r i a l i z a t i o n a n d volatilization. It moves c o u n t e r to Flaubert's representa-
tion of L o u i s e C o l e t , w h o , as we h a v e observed, is constantly degraded by b e i n g re-
materialized a n d r e e m b o d i e d . E m m a ' s d e a t h is t h e n all t h e m o r e n o t a b l e for its re-
versal of t h e c u s t o m a r y process: dying, she is r e t u r n e d to liquid, to Berthe, a n d to
Louise Colet.
T h e wetness w e c o m e to associate with Berthe a n d with L o u i s e C o l e t anticipates
E m m a ' s d e a t h scene, w h i c h is d o m i n a t e d by a resurgence of liquidity: h e r tears,
h e r v o m i t i n g , t h e beads of sweat, t h e regurgitated blood, t h e inky taste in h e r
m o u t h , t h e black liquid that p o u r s f r o m h e r corpse's lips, t h e bodily dissolution
( 3 3 5 - 4 9 ; d e M a n 2 3 0 - 4 2 ) . In graphic r e m i n d e r of his r e c u r r e n t c o m p l a i n t to
C o l e t t h a t everything was dissolving, F l a u b e r t relocates f e m i n i n i t y in a fluidity in-
separable f r o m dissolution a n d decay as E m m a departs in a flood of inky vomit:
" U n flot de liquides noir sortit, c o m m e u n v o m i s s e m e n t , de sa b o u c h e " (349) ["A
r u s h of black liquid p o u r e d f r o m h e r m o u t h , as if she were vomiting"] (242). M o r e
specifically, Flaubert's l i q u i d a t i o n of E m m a recirculates t h e e l e m e n t s t h a t h a v e
I

WRITING WITH A VENGEANCE

dominated his epistolary conversations with Louise Colet: ink, body fluids, femi- 1!
nine voice, creative flow, drowning. Emma takes her place after the Louise Colet
we know from the Correspondence and the Mariette we know from La Servante in
a series of women written into the restraining discourse of gender. But Emma also
takes her place as a woman who writes, again coming after Louise Colet and the
writer manque Colet creates in the character of Mariette. Before Naomi Schor
had argued her compelling case for Emma as "the portrait of an artist, but the artist
as a young woman," one might easily have overlooked the representation of Emma
as writer.45 Schor traces Emma's passage from the position of reader to the active
position of heroine, her desire to be not only a novel but a novelist, her acquisi-
tion, to this end, of the accoutrements of writing (blotter, penholder, envelopes,
writing case), and her desire for literary fame. In this framework her letters to Ro-
dolphe suggest an incipient epistolary novel, and the suicide note is her last text.46
Although Schor's unveiling of Flaubert's portrait of Emma as author is too persua-
sive to be forgotten, the shrouding of her writer's persona in the text of the novel
the fact that it can so easily be overlookedis too significant to be dismissed.
I would displace Schor's emphasis on Emma's gender-related repression of her
own writing desire,47 and stress instead the suppression/repression of Emma's writ-
ing on the part of Flaubert. Having followed the violence with which Flaubert cor-
rects Louise Colet's fluid-identified writing style, having then read La Servante as
the inscription of Colet's resistance to the drowning of her woman's voice, and hav-
ing observed the fury with which Flaubert meets the finished manuscript (which
Colet publishes against his advice) we can better understand that Emma Bovary of-
fered him an opportunity finally to make of Louise Colet "ce que j'en reve" ["the
substance of my dreams"]: the chance to give form to his phantasms and to breathe
life into his wrath.
"Ce poeme est une mauvaise action" (2:502, 9 - 1 0 January 1854) ["This poem is
a bad action"}, Flaubert asserts upon reading La Servante, adding, "tu en as ete
punie, car e'est une mauvaise oeuvre" ["you have been punished for it, for it is a
bad work"]. The invocation of talion law suggests not only judgment but warning.
Colet has been punishedbut perhaps not enough. Dream and castigation, cre-
ation and correction: Emma Bovary is a better-chastised Louise Colet, a tenacious
disavowal of the power of her voice and a degradation of the authority of her ink.
Her voice definitively somatized as body fluids, reinfused in her body as vomit, she
45
Schor, Breaking the Chain, 15.
4 6
See, too, Nathaniel Wing's "Emma's Stories," in The Limits of Narrative (Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1986), 41-77. Maria L. Assad has also s p o k e n persuasively a b o u t E m m a as writer

and the inklike fluid as sign of a destroyed textuality. Assad, " W h o Really Killed E m m a B o v a r y ? " (Paper

delivered at E l e v e n t h Annual Nineteenth-Century French Studies Colloquium, Vanderbilt Univer-

sity, 1 7 O c t o b e r 1985).

47
Schor, Breaking the Chain, 17.
i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
160 is blotted o u t by a flood of regurgitated ink. S u b m e r g e d in t h e r e t u r n of h e r o w n re-
pressed flow, she represents a critical reversal for F l a u b e r t , w h o h a d seen La Ser-
vante as a p r i m e e x a m p l e of c o n t e m p o r a r y writing d r o w n i n g in t h e effusiveness of
f e m i n i n e style: "L'ecriture c o n t e m p o r a i n e est n o y e e d a n s les regies de f e m m e "
(2:508, 15 J a n u a r y 1854) [ " C o n t e m p o r a r y writing is d r o w n i n g in m e n s t r u a l
flow"]. A d j u s t i n g t h e b a l a n c e , F l a u b e r t drowns f e m i n i n e voice in his writing. 4 8
Rewriting Colet's O p h e l i a , M a r i e t t e , w h o was saved at t h e last m i n u t e , rescued
f r o m t h e waters, F l a u b e r t finishes t h e interrupted task. E m m a is O p h e l i a re-
d r o w n e d ; t h e poison is a m e r e alibi of plot.
T h e l i q u i d a t i o n of E m m a Bovary m i g h t t h e n be described as a purge. I n d e e d ,
Dr. C a n i v e t , t h e celebrated m e d i c a l expert called in f r o m N e u f c h a t e l , uses t h a t
very t e r m after t h e e m e t i c has d o n e its work. " D i a b l e ! . . . c e p e n d a n t . . . eile est
p u r g e e " (339) [ " T h e devil! yet she has b e e n purged"] (233), h e declares, perplexed
t h a t t h e sickness c o n t i n u e s w h e n t h e c a u s e appears to have b e e n r e m o v e d . B u t
only after d e a t h is E m m a effectively p u r g e d b o t h of h e r liquidity a n d from t h e
text. W h e n t h e last black fluid has s t r e a m e d f r o m h e r cadaver's m o u t h (349), t h e
text is o n c e again set adrift in a c l o u d of vapors, a n d E m m a all b u t evaporates:

Les h e r b e s a r o m a t i q u e s f u m a i e n t e n c o r e , et des tourbillons de v a p e u r

b l e u t r e se c o n f o n d a i e n t au bord de la croisee avec le brouillard q u i
entrait. . . .
D e s m o i r e s f r i s s o n n a i e n t sur la robe de satin. . . . E m m a disparaissait
dessous; et il lui semblait [ Charles] q u e , s'epandant a u d e h o r s d'elle-
m e m e , elle se perdait c o n f u s e m e n t dans l'entourage des choses, d a n s le
silence, d a n s la n u i t , d a n s le vent q u i passait, d a n s les senteurs h u m i d e s
qui montaient. (350-51)

The aromatic herbs were still smoking, and spirals of bluish vapour blended at the
window with the entering fog. . . .
The watered satin of her gown shimmered. . . . Emma was lost beneath it; and
it seemed to him [to Charles] that, spreading beyond her own self, she blended
confusedly with everything around herthe silence, the night, the passing wind,
the damp odors rising from the ground. (243)

By p u r g i n g E m m a , diffusing h e r body in a c o n f u s i o n of vapor, fog, a n d m o i r e , t h e

text works to expurgate itself, cleansing itself of its stylistic leaks, of t h e residue of
r o m a n t i c i s m t h a t trickles u n p r e d i c t a b l y forth f r o m imperfectly b u r i e d springs.
H a v i n g r e p r o a c h e d literature for its e m b o d i e d voice, F l a u b e r t kills E m m a to u n -

4 8
Is t h i s t h e f a n t a s i z e d " r o a r i n g s t y l e " t h a t w o u l d d o m i n a t e d r o w n , i n t h e h a p p y t r a n s l a t i o n b y J u l i a n
Barnesthe other voices?
I

WRITING WITH A VENGEANCE

voice her body and disembody his own writing voice. This voice without body, 161
without discernible identity, is set loose to wander, a fluid circulating force diffused
in the narrative of Madame Bovary.

LOUISE/GUSTAVE
When we read the death of Emma Bovary, close to the end of the novel, we are
reading the foregrounding of the beginning of the novela bit like what happens
when we read the last book of Proust's Recherche and perceive the foundation for
the novel's existence. As Marcel's evolution prepares the conditions for Proust's
writing, the path toward Emma's demise is a working-through of Flaubert's style.
One might say that the story of Madame Bovary recounts, in liquid and vaporous
phases, the gestation of its style: it provides diegetic correlatives for the abstract
problematics of writing.
Vaporization, a kind of dispersion of liquidity, is a figure of figuration: a dema-
terialization or abstraction of matter, a fading of boundaries, a blurring of identity.
In other words, the generalized tendency toward evaporation in Madame Bovary,
which is most strongly characterized by Emma but which pervades the novel's de-
scriptive, thematic, and rhetorical networks, corresponds to the novel's stylistic
tendencies, notably its unrealizable narrative center and that fading of narrative,
diegetic, and citational voices we call free indirect discourse.49 It is therefore not
surprising to find Flaubert's aesthetic ideal defined in terms similar to vaporiza-
tion, in a letter to Louise Colet contemporaneous with the early period of writing
Madame Bovary:

Les oeuvres les plus belles sont Celles o il y a le moins de matiere.

Je crois que l'avenir de l'Art est dans ces voies. Je le vois, mesure qu'il
grandit, s'etherisant tant qu'il peut, depuis les pylones egyptiens
jusqu'aux lancettes gothiques, et depuis les poemes de vingt mille vers
des Indiens jusqu'aux jets de Byron. La forme, en devenant habile,
s'attenue. . . . Cet affranchissement de la materialite se retrouve en tout.
(2:31, 16 January 1852; my emphasis)

The finest works are the least material. . . . 1 believe that the future of Art lies in
this direction. I see it as it matures, striving to etherealize, from the pylons of

49
O f t h e m a n y excellent critical works devoted at least in part to an exploration of this crucial and c o m -
plicated aspect of Madame Bovary, those 1 have f o u n d most helpful are LaCapra's "Madame Bovary" on
Trial a n d Vaheed R a m a z a n i s The Free Indirect Mode: Flaubert and the Poetics of Irony (Charlottesville:
University Press of Virginia, 1988).
iPISTOLARY NARRATIVES
162 Egyptian temples to Gothic lancet arches, and from Indian poems of twenty
thousand lines to Byron's streaming verses. Form, as it advances, grows more
spare. . . . This liberation from materiality is to be found everywhere.

This praise of lightness, airiness, attenuation, dematerialization, and diffusion is

once again reminiscent, by antithesis, of the liquid, cloying characterization as-
signed to Colet's style and of the reflection of this fluid style in the creation of Em-
ma's daughter, Emma's environs, her appearance, the fluctuations of her fantasies
and her desires. A flowing style, metonymically one with the ink that delivers it,
may be assumed to have similar equivocal properties: beautiful and treacherous, it
is both compelling and drowning. It is difficult to forget Flaubert's ambivalent ode
to ink: "Comme on s'y noie! comme il attire!" (2:395, August 1853) ["How one
drowns in it! How it entices!"]. One understands the recourse to a "vaporization"
of this style at once seductive and repulsive; it is a compromise that retains a certain
essence while modifying its form. Dispersed, suspended in air, this style owns no
source, no definition, no limitations. Everywhere and nowhere, it is spirit rather
than matter: it is that madness that Flaubert advises Colet to observe at the Salpe-
triere Hospital and then to diffuse in her writing as a subtle haze or "vapeur
subtile." 50
Practicing what he preaches to Louise Colet, Flaubert diffuses a fine madness
into and throughout Madame Bovary, writes it as a subtle haze, vaporizes it as
style. We have, then, a text about hysteria, but also, more crucially, a hystericized
text: the vaporization of Emma Bovary's hysteria enacts the hystericization of
Flaubert's novel. To speak of the vaporization of Emma's hysteria is to refer at the
same time to the volatilization and diffusion of the pool of characteristics in which
Flaubert both recognizes and abhors his own self, and that he identifies and pun-
ishes as Louise Colet; it is, by extension, to understand such diffusion as a conver-
sion of inner ambivalence into the broad gestures and fine movements of style. To
emphasize, however, the fundamental interchangeability of Louise Colet, Emma
Bovary, the Flaubertian repressed Other, and feminine flow is to run the risk of
masking the fact that what is being vaporizedbut in that very process, har-
nessedin their name is a social discourse whose exploitation, albeit volatilized,
has unsettling ideological ramifications.
For once we have seen how the conceptual, metaphorical, and stylistic aura of
Madame Bovary is permeated by the discourse of hysteria articulated at that
timeand this, I think, is what Baudelaire perceived when he wrote, in more
concrete terms, that hysteria was the very bedrock of the noveland once we have
seen Madame Bovary as a vengeful continuation of the letters to Louise Colet, the
troubling but inevitable question of the authenticity of that other, conflicting proj-
50
See my citation from this letter, 142, supra.
 W R I T I N G WITH A VENGEANCE
ect of revenge m u s t be raised. I a m referring to that l o n g - t e r m desire to strike o u t 16S
against c l i c h e , against betise, against t h e bourgeois spirita project e p i t o m i z e d
by, b u t n o t limited to, t h e plan for t h e Dictionnaire des idees regues, designed to
h u m i l i a t e its readers w h o w o u l d n o longer d a r e speak "de p e u r de dire naturelle-
m e n t u n e des phrases q u i s'y trouvent" 5 1 ["for fear of u n t h i n k i n g l y speaking o n e of
t h e s e n t e n c e s to be f o u n d there"]. T h e bitterness t h a t emerges in this fantasy of in-
t i m i d a t i o n , w h i c h is, in J o n a t h a n C u l l e r s words, "a desire for revenge a n d t h e
h o p e t h a t t h e despair of l a n g u a g e . . . m i g h t be visited o n others," is otherwise ex-
pressed as a h a t r e d of stupidity that gives rise to creative revenge: "Je sens c o n t r e la
betise d e m o n e p o q u e des flots de h a i n e q u i m ' e t o u f f e n t . II m e m o n t e de la m e r d e
la b o u c h e . . . . M a i s je veux la garder, la figer, la durcir. J e n veux faire u n e pate
d o n t je barbouillerais le XIXe siecle" 5 2 [ " T h e stupidity of m y age m o v e s m e to
waves of hatred t h a t s m o t h e r m e . Shit rises in m y m o u t h . . . . But I w a n t to keep
it, to c o n g e a l it, to h a r d e n it. I w a n t to t u r n it into a paste with w h i c h I will s m e a r
t h e n i n e t e e n t h century"].
B u t if Madame Bovary puts t h e c u r r e n t discourse of hysteria in t h e service of re-
taliation against L o u i s e C o l e t , h o w c a n F l a u b e r t c l a i m in good faith to use writing
as a revenge against bourgeois discourse? W h e n t h e personal settling of scores re-
sorts to t h e w o r n paths of social discourse, F l a u b e r t is r e d u c e d to t h e level of co-
piste, i n t o n e r of received ideas. Retaliating against L o u i s e C o l e t , F l a u b e r t be-
c o m e s society's a c c o m p l i c e or avenger rather t h a n its v e n g e f u l antagonist.
O n e a n s w e r to this revenger's d i l e m m a is irony: F l a u b e r t c a n i n d u l g e in society's
cliches of hysteria a n d m o c k t h e m too, if h e takes a rhetorical stance t h a t suggests
to t h e reader a k n o w i n g distance f r o m a discourse that is i n h e r e n t in, yet alien to,
t h e text. B u t irony is often a n alibi for hypocrisy; like C h a r l e s Bovary, w h o gave
h i m s e l f license to love E m m a b e c a u s e h e refrained f r o m seeing her, F l a u b e r t al-
lows h i m s e l f to subscribe to t h e doxa because h e avoids a c k n o w l e d g i n g it as t r u t h .
("Et, par u n e sorte d'hypocrisie naive, il estima q u e cette defense de la voir etait
p o u r lui c o m m e u n droit d e l'aimer" [52] ["And h e t h o u g h t , with a kind of naive
hypocrisy, t h a t this interdict to see h e r gave h i m a sort of right to love her"] [13].)
His i r o n i c repetition of a certain discourse implicitly affirms it, even w h i l e work-
ing to c o r r o d e it, b e c a u s e this discourse, m i m e d a n d u n d e r m i n e d , is n o n e t h e l e s s
t h e signifying m a t t e r of t h e text. Flaubert's irony t h u s responds to a binary struc-
t u r e of t h o u g h t w i t h i n w h i c h i n c o m p a t i b l e perceptions sustain e a c h o t h e r in u n -
easy b u t u n t h r e a t e n e d c o h a b i t a t i o n k n o w l e d g e m o d i f y i n g belief, w h i c h in t u r n
reshapes knowledge. T h e f u n c t i o n i n g of s u c h a s t r u c t u r e d e p e n d s o n vacillation,
e q u i v o c a t i o n , a n d irresolution. Water, t h e essence of elusiveness a n d mutability,

51
Flaubert, Correspondence, 2:209, 16 D e c e m b e r 1852.
52
CuWer, Flaubert: The Uses of Uncertainty, 165-66; Flaubert, Correspondance, 2:600, 30 September
1855.
i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
164 is its e l e m e n t ; its visual e m b l e m is m o i r e , t h e very tissue of undecidability, a n d its
psychic c o u n t e r p a r t , t h e fetish. 5 3
C a u g h t b e t w e e n t h e Scylla a n d C h a r y b d i s of s t y l e b e t w e e n c r u s h i n g betise
a n d d r o w n i n g s e n t i m e n t F l a u b e r t chooses neither, a n d in refusing to c h o o s e ,
risks b o t h . T h i s is a n o t h e r way of saying that irony is n o t easily c o n t a i n e d or c o n -
trolled, as s o m e of Flaubert's m o s t perceptive critics have s h o w n in e l e g a n t detail,
in r e f e r e n c e to Madame Bovary,54 But I a m also p o i n t i n g o u t a similarity, t h o r -
o u g h l y exploited by F l a u b e r t , b e t w e e n s u c h structures of a m b i v a l e n c e as irony
a n d t h e fetish, a n d t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n of hysteria. Like irony, like t h e fetish, hysteria
is a c o m p r o m i s e f o r m a t i o n . It is a m e a n s of retaining belief in a d i f f e r e n c e that
knowledge rejects. 5 5
Signification a b h o r s indistinction, a n d hysteria, e n t r e n c h e d in sex a n d g e n d e r
d i c h o t o m i e s , denies indistinction by buttressing a series of cultural a n d social dif-
ferences. Yet t h e hysteric, even as she represents t h e e p i t o m e of femininity, is a fig-
u r e of g e n d e r b l u r r i n g a n d mixing. Hyperbolically f e m i n i n e , she is a w o m a n w h o
wants to b e a m a n . Hysteria g r o u n d s difference, b u t also gives it t h e lie. 5 6 T h e cul-
tural p r i m a c y of t h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y hysteric e m b l e m a t i z e s a desperate c o n -
c e r n with g e n d e r differentiation, w h i c h in t u r n responds to a c o m p e l l i n g n e e d to
c h a n n e l t h e h u m a n c o n d i t i o n : to m a r k off as separate t h e flow, c h a n g e , disorder,
decay, a n d d e a t h t h a t i n h a b i t us all. 5 7 T h e hysteric is that m o d e l of pathology w h o
w o u l d ideally attract disease a n d dissolution a n d loss of c o n t r o l a n d , like a m a g n e t ,
cluster t h e m cleanly within t h e c i r c u m s c r i b e d c o m p a s s of f e m a l e d e v i a n c e , m a r -
ginality, alterity. At t h e s a m e t i m e a s Flaubert's own identification with this
pathological m o d e l m a k e s excruciatingly c l e a r s h e is a p h a n t a s m a t i c c o n s t r u c -
t i o n , a n avowal of t h e generalized c o n d i t i o n she is used to deny. Hysteria is struc-

M y u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e f e t i s h , i n t h e b r o a d t e r m s o f a m o d e o f p e r c e i v i n g r e a l i t y , is i n d e b t e d t o Oc-

tave Mannoni's "Je sais b i e n , mais quand m e m e . . . ," in Clefs pour l'imaginaire ou Vautre scene
(Paris: Seuil, 1969), 9 - 3 3 .
54
Melancolie et opposition; C u l l e r , Flaubert: The Uses of Uncertainty; L a C a p r a ,
See Chambers, "Ma-
dame Bovary" on Trial; R a m a z a n i , The Free Indirect Mode; W i n g , The Limits of Narrative.
5 5
1 a m playing here with the traditional notion of the fetishfounded u p o n a belief in s a m e n e s s de-

spite k n o w l e d g e of difference, u p o n the m y t h of castration, t h e (lost b u t r e p l a c e d ) m a t e r n a l phallus,

a n d the denial of the "reality" of sexual d i f f e r e n c e t o suggest instead that the potential reality of same-

ness m a y be m u c h m o r e d i f f i c u l t t o a c k n o w l e d g e t h a n t h a t o f d i f f e r e n c e . (I a m of course not referring

to anatomical differences b u t to a system of difference based u p o n them.)

56
A contextually appropriate example is p r o v i d e d by a boutade attributed to Victor Cousin about

L o u i s e C o l e t , w h o s e hysteria was celebrated a m o n g t h e m e n of letters in h e r e n t o u r a g e : " M a x i m e m u -

l i e r s u m , s e d v i r a g o " ["I a m t h e e p i t o m e o f w o m a n h o o d , b u t a virago/but I act like a m a n " ] . T h e p u n is

reported by Bart in Flaubert, 143.

57
M y t h i n k i n g h e r e o w e s m u c h t o D o r o t h y D i n n e r s t e i n s The Mermaid and the Minotaur: Sexual Ar-
rangements and Human Malaise ( N e w Y o r k : H a r p e r a n d R o w , 1 9 7 7 ) , a n d t o S a n d e r L . O i l m a n ' s Dif-
ference and Pathology: Stereotypes of Sexuality, Race, and Madness ( I t h a c a : C o r n e l l U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s ,
1985).
 W R I T I N G WITH A VENGEANCE
t u r e d like a fetish, a n d t h e h y s t e r i c i s t h e w h o puts hysteria into d i s c o u r s e 16!
m o v e s into t h e fetishists position. 5 8 ,
V a p o r i z a t i o n gives F l a u b e r t a way o u t of t h e infinite equivocation of this binary
s t r u c t u r e , a n escape f r o m t h e irony perilously close to hypocrisy, a release f r o m t h e
endless oscillation of fetishistic p e r c e p t i o n . Vaporization works for F l a u b e r t n o t
only as a n e l e m e n t of plot, b u t as an aesthetic strategy. All t h e w h i l e that F l a u b e r t
is f e m i n i z i n g mortality a n d loss, a n d c o n c u r r e n t l y identifying with a mutability
a n d flux inscribed in t h e n a m e of w o m a n , t h e narrative voice diffuses, disappears
in t h e f u s i n g of disparate voices. T h e evaporation of t h e s u b j e c t dissolves t h e d e a d -
lock of a b d i c a t i o n a n d e m b r a c e . N o c o m p r o m i s e is necessary b e c a u s e t h e r e are n o
longer a n t i t h e t i c a l positions: in fact there are n o positions. As R o l a n d Barthes re-
marks, "On ne sait jamais [si Flaubert] est responsable de ce qu'il ecrit (s'il y a u n
sujet derriere son langage)" 5 9 ["One never knows {if Flaubert} is responsible for what
he writes (if t h e r e is a subject behind his language"]. F l a u b e r t saves h i m s e l f f r o m
d r o w n i n g , a n d f r o m colliding with betise, a n d m o s t s i g n i f i c a n t l y f r o m spin-
n i n g endlessly b e t w e e n t h e two, by s u s p e n d i n g h i m s e l f in that fine protective m i s t
that we variously call vaporization, hystericization, or t h e free i n d i r e c t i o n of style.

CODA: REFLECTIONS ON POISON

(OF ARSENIC, MERCURY, WATER, AND MIST)

B e n j a m i n Bart reports t h a t w h e n F l a u b e r t was d o i n g t h e m e d i c a l research for

E m m a ' s d e a t h s c e n e , h e accidentally substituted t h e s y m p t o m s of m e r c u r y poi-
s o n i n g for those of arsenic, t h e a p p o i n t e d poison, having t u r n e d in error to t h e
w r o n g page in his m e d i c a l source. Arsenic w o u l d n o t have i n d u c e d a n inky taste,
b u t m e r c u r y w o u l d have. Flaubert's mistake was all t h e m o r e p e c u l i a r b e c a u s e h e
h i m s e l f was b e i n g treated with m e r c u r y at t h e t i m e , for his syphilis. 6 0 In s u m , a n
u n c a n n y slip of t h e page makes h e r poison his cure.
W h i l e I a m wary a b o u t b u i l d i n g an a r g u m e n t o n anecdotal e v i d e n c e , I c a n ar-
g u e with c o n f i d e n c e that t h e a n e c d o t e has m e t a p h o r i c a l value, especially b e c a u s e
w e find r e s o n a n c e s of it in a letter F l a u b e r t wrote n o t long afterward. Poison makes
a n o t h e r m e t a p h o r i c a l a p p e a r a n c e , h e r e again linked with c u r e , w h e n h e writes in
1857 to M a d e m o i s e l l e Leroyer de C h a n t e p i e describing h o w h e c u r e d h i m s e l f of
his n e r v o u s c o n d i t i o n : "Vous m e d e m a n d e z c o m m e n t je m e suis gueri des h a l l u -
c i n a t i o n s nerveuses. . . . J e t a c h a i s , p a r l ' i m a g i n a t i o n , d e m e d o n n e r f a c t i c e m e n t
ces horribles souffrances. J'ai j o u e avec la d e m e n c e et le fantastique c o m m e M i t h -

5 8
Schor has quite rightly spoken of Flaubert's "typically fetishistic narrative voice." Breaking the
Chain, 136.
59
R o l a n d Barthes, S / Z (Paris: Seuil, 1970), 146.
60
B a r t , Flaubert, 307.
i P I S T O L A R Y NARRATIVES
166 ridate avec les poisons" (2:716, 18 M a y 1857) ["You ask m e h o w I c u r e d myself of
n e r v o u s h a l l u c i n a t i o n s . . . . I tried, by i m a g i n i n g , to artificially i n d u c e h o r r i b l e
suffering in myself. I have played with d e m e n t i a a n d fantasy as M i t h r i d a t e s played
with poison"].
By way of reference to a king w h o in effect i m m u n i z e d h i m s e l f by taking m e a -
sured doses of poison, F l a u b e r t i n t r o d u c e s his own m i t h r i d a t i s m . T h e s e c o n d ap-
p e a r a n c e of a c u r e by p o i s o n t h a t is, by a t t e n u a t e d doses of a fatal s u b s t a n c e
s u p p l e m e n t e d by t h e t i m i n g of t h e letter (it was written o n e m o n t h after t h e p u b -
lication of Madame Bovary) a n d by Flaubert's legendary u n d e r t a k i n g of this novel
as a c u r e for t h e r o m a n t i c excesses of t h e juvenilia (notably, La Tentation de Saint
61
Antoine) all this suggests t h a t t h e writing of t h e novel was this c u r e . Madame
Bovary was Flaubert's curative poison, t h e m e d i u m of his m i t h r i d a t i s m : his i n o c -
u l a t i o n with an a t t e n u a t e d f o r m of a m o r t a l substance.
H e c h o s e his poison: it was water. Playing with m a d n e s s like M i t h r i d a t e s with
poison, h e volatilized t h e water, t h e e m o t i o n a l e f f u s i o n , t h e r u s h of ink, t h e ro-
m a n t i c flow. Poisoning himself gently, in m e a s u r e d doses, h e t u r n e d liquid to va-
por a n d c u r e d his style; h e vaporized hysteria a n d hystericized t h e text.

6 1
A c c o u n t s to this effect are legion. See, for example, Bart, Flaubert, 243, and, of course, Flaubert's

recurrent references to the self-disciplinary a n d self-punitive aspects of the writing of Madame Bovary,
in the Correspondance of 1851-56.
 PART T H R E E
LITERARY HISTORIES
I

7 THE LEAK IN
CLOTILDE'S HEAD
Hysteria as Source of Zola's
Rougon-Macquart Cycle

Anousdesavoirquelanneaumerveilleuxconfere.
une pareille puissance, au doigt de quel maitre
il a ete place; quel jeu depouvoir il permet ou suppose.
MICHEL FOUCAULT, LA VOLONTE DE SAVOIR

If we were to c o m p i l e t h e various a n a t o m i c a l theories of textual origin

t h a t implicitly constitute o u r literary tradition (and those t h a t have b e e n m o r e ex-
plicitly p r o m u l g a t e d in literature a n d criticism of t h e last decade), we c o u l d well
p r o d u c e a c o m p a n i o n piece to Freud's paper " O n t h e Sexual T h e o r i e s of C h i l -
d r e n . ' " In answer to t h e q u e s t i o n " W h e r e d o babies c o m e f r o m ? " F r e u d , as we
know, reports a series of juvenile hypotheses b u t stresses that those f o r m e d prior
to t h e k n o w l e d g e of sexual difference are n o t g e n d e r specific. Responses to t h e
q u e s t i o n " W h e r e d o stories c o m e f r o m ? " however, apparently are predicated
u p o n sexual difference. Texts are either s i r e d a n d textual p r o d u c t i o n is de-
scribed by m e t a p h o r s of p e n e t r a t i o n , i n s e m i n a t i o n , a n d d i s s e m i n a t i o n o r t h e y
are given birth to, a n d their p r o d u c t i o n is likened to gestation, labor, a n d deliv-

1
S i g m u n d Freud, " O n t h e Sexual T h e o r i e s of C h i l d r e n , " m The Standard Edition of the Complete
Works of Sigmund Freud, trans. James Strachey, A n n a Freud, Alix Strachey, a n d Alan Tyson ed
J a m e s Strachey, 2 4 vols. ( L o n d o n : Hogarth Press, 1 9 5 3 - 7 4 ) , 9 : 2 0 9 - 2 6 .

169
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
170 ery. 2 T h e f e m a l e p a r a d i g m c o n t i n u e s a n d intensifies, b o r r o w i n g f r o m t h e dis-
course of hysteria: texts m a y be woven f r o m a w o m a n ' s p u b i c hair, bled, lactated,
or u r i n a t e d into b e i n g (this last, T h e o d o r e Reik explains, b e c a u s e w o m e n " h a v e a
wider bladder"). 3 T h u s theories of textuality, w h i l e scarcely less p h a n t a s m a t i c t h a n
i n f a n t i l e sexual theories, are distinguished by their gender specificity.
O r so a n overview w o u l d have it. B u t w h e n w e c h o o s e a text, read a given m e t -
a p h o r contextually, explore its t h e m a t i c , structural, n a r c o l o g i c a l i m p l i c a t i o n s ,
t h e m e t a p h o r in t h e text does n o t r e m a i n c o n s t a n t t h a t is, g e n d e r s p e c i f i c f o r
t h e p r o b l e m of d i f f e r e n c e is, of course, n o better resolved in t h e textual d o m a i n
t h a n w i t h i n t h e c o n f i n e s of infantile sexual theory. M y text is Zola's Rougon-
Macquart epic, a n d m y m e t a p h o r , following Z o l a , t h e f e m a l e body.
Let m e begin with a c a u t i o n a r y digression. A l t h o u g h I focus h e r e o n f e m a l e fig-
ures of g e n e r a t i o n , I w a n t first to locate these figures w i t h i n t h e general narrative
pattern. At roughly t h e s a m e t i m e that a n d r o g y n y a n d h e r m a p h r o d i t i s m gained
c u l t u r a l currency, Z o l a was using sexual figures to represent fantasies of h e r m a p h -
roditic a u t h o r s h i p . 4 W e m i g h t t h i n k of his narrative discourse as divided into two
distinct c a t e g o r i e s o r m o r e pertinently, two genres. T h i s division is a n a l o g o u s to
t h e d u a l i s m F l a u b e r t was referring to w h e n h e r e m a r k e d o n t h e c o n c a t e n a t i o n of
realism a n d m y t h in N a n a . 5 W h a t F l a u b e r t n a m e s realism is, of course, t h e d o m -
i n a n t voice of Zola's narrative: in brief, it is a pseudoscientific m i m e t i c discourse
w h o s e insistence o n representation has b e e n traced (notably by Aristotle in t h e Po-
etics a n d F r e u d in Beyond the Pleasure Principle) to children's attempts to master
their e n v i r o n m e n t t h r o u g h imitative play. 6 As D . A. Miller has argued in stronger
t e r m s , t h e practice of "classical" novelistic representation, w h i c h "assumes a fully

2
For the best global analysis of paternal literary m o d e l s a n d metaphors, see S a n d r a M . Gilbert and Su-

s a n G u b a r , The Madwoman in the Attic ( N e w H a v e n : Yale University Press, 1979). F o r a review of ma-

ternal literary m o d e l s a n d m e t a p h o r s , see Elaine Showalters "Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness,"

in The New Feminist Criticism, ed. E l a i n e S h o w a l t e r ( N e w York: P a n t h e o n , 1985), 243-70.

'See, for respective examples, Roland Barthes, SIZ (Paris: Seuil, 1970), 166; S u s a n Gubar, ' " T h e

Blank Page' a n d t h e Issues of F e m a l e Creativity," Critical Inquiry 8 (Winter 1981): 2 4 3 - 6 3 ; Helene

Cixous, " T h e Laugh of the Medusa," in New French Feminisms, ed. Elaine Marks and Isabelle de

C o u r t i v r o n (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1980), 2 4 5 - 6 4 ; T h e o d o r Reik, q u o t e d by Er-

ica F r e e m a n in h e r Insights: Conversations with Theodor Reik ( E n g l e w o o d Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall,

1971), 166.
4
For some short but provocative pages on the fortune of the h e r m a p h r o d i t e in nineteenth-century

French thought, see M i c h e l Foucault's introduction to the English edition of the m e m o i r s of Hercu-

line Barbin, Herculine Barbin: Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth-Century
French Hermaphrodite, trans. R i c h a r d M c D o u g a l l , ed. M i c h e l F o u c a u l t ( N e w York: P a n t h e o n , 1980),

viixvii.
5
"Nana tourne au mythe, sans cesser d'etre reelle" ["Nana slides into myth, without ceasing to be

real"]. G u s t a v e F l a u b e r t , Correspondance, 9 vols. (Paris: C o n a r d , 1926-33), 8:388, 15 F e b r u a r y 1880.

6
C h r i s t o p h e r P r e n d e r g a s t h a s u s e d this e v i d e n c e t o s u g g e s t t h a t a " p r o f o u n d p s y c h i c p a t t e r n [exists] b e -

t w e e n the principle of m i m e s i s a n d . . . the desire for mastery." Prendergast, Balzac: Fiction and Melo-
drama (London: Edward Arnold, 1978), 181-82.
 THE LEAK IN C L O T I L D E ' S HEAD
p a n o p t i c view of t h e world it places u n d e r surveillance," is a r e i n v e n t i o n of 171
n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y policing power. 7
F u r t h e r m o r e , this fantasy of control staged by t h e t e c h n i q u e s of realism is also
explicitly articulated; b o t h in t h e novels a n d in t h e theoretical texts, Zola's master
voice speaks a l a n g u a g e of c o n q u e s t a n d mastery whose claims are plenipotentiary.
" T o u t dire p o u r t o u t c o n n a i t r e , p o u r t o u t g u e r i r " ["To say all, to know all, to c u r e
all"], p r o c l a i m s D o c t e u r Pascal, assimilating, by way of t h e verbs in his triple for-
m u l a , Zola's t h r e e preferred master figures: t h e author, t h e scientist, a n d t h e doc-
tor. 8 " T o u s nos efforts aboutissent a u besoin de n o u s r e n d r e maitres de la verite"
["All o u r efforts lead to t h e n e e d to b e c o m e masters of t h e truth"], says Z o l a in Le
Roman experimental, speaking of t h e goal h e ascribes to t h e naturalist n o v e l i s t s
a goal h e alternatively describes as "la c o n q u e t e lente de cet i n c o n n u q u i n o u s
e n t o u r e " 9 ["the slow c o n q u e s t of this u n k n o w n t h a t s u r r o u n d s us"].
I have t h u s far sketched a p a r a d i g m of discourse whose e l e m e n t s are realism,
n a t u r a l i s m , observation, science, a n d mastery; following Z o l a , w h o almost sys-
tematically affixed t h e adjective virile to naturalist t e c h n i q u e s , I will call this par-
a d i g m male a n d begin to consider its c o u n t e r p a r t . T h e two discursive genres are
suggestively juxtaposed in Zola's terms:

A p p l a u d i r u n e r h e t o r i q u e , s'enthousiasmer p o u r l'ideal, ce n e sont la q u e

d e belles e m o t i o n s nerveuses; les f e m m e s p l e u r e n t , q u a n d elles e n t e n d e n t
de la m u s i q u e . A u j o u r d ' h u i , n o u s avons besoin de la virilite d u vrai p o u r
etre glorieux. 1 0

Applauding a turn of phrase, waxing enthusiastic for the idealsuch things are
only fine nervous emotions; women cry when they listen to music. To be glorious
today, we need the virility of truth.

In o t h e r words, t h e virile m o d e l , "fait de logique et de clarte" ["made of logic a n d

clarity"], is to b e contrasted to its f e m i n i n e c o u n t e r p a r t , evoked as " u n e f f a r e m e n t
s u b l i m e , t o u j o u r s pres d e c u l b u t e r d a n s la d e m e n c e " 1 1 ["a s u b l i m e b e w i l d e r m e n t ,
always o n t h e p o i n t of slipping into d e m e n t i a " ] .
W h a t F l a u b e r t n a m e d myth in Z o l a corresponds to t h a t p a r a d i g m alternatively
labeled inconnu, erotisme, lyrisme, poesie, a n d hysterie by Zola; it describes a n

7
D . A. Miller, The Novel and the Police (Berkeley. University of California Press, 1988), 23.
8
E m i l e Z o l a , Le Docteur Pascal, inLesRougon-Macquart, ed. A r m a n d L a n o u x a n d H e n r i Mitterand,

5 vols. (Paris: G a l l i m a r d , 1960-67), 5:1022. Subsequent references to Le Docteur Pascal will b e given

parenthetically in the text.

9
E m i l e Z o l a , Le Roman experimental (Paris: G a m i e r F l a m m a r i o n , 1971), 85, 86.
10
Zola, " L e t t r e la j e u n e s s e , " i n Le Roman experimental, 103.
11
Z o l a , Le Roman experimental, 93.
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
172 apparently subordinate discourse usually contained by its realist cover b u t that
nonetheless constitutes a gap in this cover. Yet paradoxically, from the beginning
(Les Origines, as the first novel is subtitled), this gap or crack, this embarrassing
breach of textual integritythis originary felureis invested with a mythic prior-
ity. Inscribed on the body of the matriarch, Tante Dide, "notre mere tous" ["the
mother of us all"], the felure is linked not only to the propagation of the epony-
mous Rougon-Macquart dynasty, but also to the analogous textual generation. In
Dide's immediate case, the felure generates "ces drames secrets, qui revenaient
chaque mois" ["secret dramas that return every month"]: an inarticulate, uncon-
trolled discourse of desire that is displaced, as dumb show, to her hystericized
body.12 It is not by chance that Dide's secrets are staged monthly, as if to preserve a
ritualized trace of the menstrual drama. For elsewhere in the cycle, as the felure is
transmitted and transmuted, it is the source of secrets equally inseparable from
secretions.
The hereditary secret resurges, in La Joie de vivre, in the form of Pauline's men-
struation and again in the blood of Louise's childbirth. As Jean Borie remarks,
"L'interdit du sang [chez Zola], l'horreur volupteuse de le voir couler animent avec
une belle urgence le jaillissement meme de son ecriture" 13 ["The blood taboo {in
Zola}, the voluptuous horror inspired by its flow, animates and even compels the
very surge of his writing"]. But there are other carriers available for the hereditary
mystery. In Nana, as the courtesan lies dying, the flow of blood is transmogrified
as "le bouillonnement de la purulence" ["the bubbling purulence"] and the "secret
drama" that convulsed Dide's body, displaced to Nana's suppurating face, becomes
her illegible epitaph. 14 A further transubstantiation, in Pot-Bouille, replaces blood
with a juxtaposed stream of gossip and dirty dishwater, as the maids simulta-
neously flush their mistresses' secrets and their vegetable peels out the kitchen win-
dow into the courtyard below: "C'etait l'egout de la maison, qui en charriait les
hontes"15 ["It was the sewer of the house; it carried all its shames"].
In the last novel of the cycle, Le Docteur Pascal, the felure makes its final, sum-
mary appearance. This novel, which I read as an allegory of Zola's hermaphroditic
textuality, apposes his male and female paradigms of discourse, as personified by
the doctor/scientist/author Pascal on the one hand, and his chimerical niece/
ward/lover Clotilde on the other. When illustrating her uncle's treatises on botan-

1 2
Zola, La Fortune des Rougon, in L e s Rougon-Macquart, 1:136. S u b s e q u e n t references to La Fortune
des Rougon will a p p e a r in the text.
13
Jean Borie, LeTyran timide (Paris: Klincksieck, 1973), 127.
1 4
Zola, Nana, in Les Rougon-Macquart, 2:1485; trans. George Holden (Harmondsworth: Penguin,

1972), 470. S u b s e q u e n t references to Nana are to these editions a n d will b e given parenthetically in the

text.
15
Z o l a , Pot-Bouille, in Les Rougon-Macquart, 3:107. S u b s e q u e n t references to this novel will b e given

in t h e text.
 THE LEAK IN C L O T I L D E ' S HEAD
ical heredity, C l o t i l d e usually yields to t h e rigor of his realist aesthetic, applying 17
herself with " u n e m i n u t i e , u n e exactitude de dessin et de c o u l e u r e x t r a o r d i n a i r e "
["an a t t e n t i o n to detail, a n extraordinary precision of design a n d color"]; however,
she is at t i m e s given to wild, impressionistic renderings of t h e specimens: "C'etait
. . . parfois, c h e z eile, des sautes brusques, u n besoin de s e c h a p p e r e n fantaisies
folles, a u m i l i e u d e la plus precise des reproductions" (5:920) [ " S o m e t i m e s she was
overtaken by b r u s q u e m o o d shifts, by a n e e d to escape into m a d worlds of fantasy,
in t h e midst of t h e m o s t precise reproductions"]. Faced o n e day with Clotilde's
m o s t r e c e n t b o t a n i c a l fantasy, Pascal t u r n s in exasperation to t h e housekeeper,
w h o is m e n d i n g clothes: " P e n d a n t q u e vous y etes, M a r t i n e , s e c r i a Pascal plaisam-
m e n t , en p r e n a n t d a n s ses d e u x m a i n s la tete revoltee de Clotilde, r e c o u s e z - m o i
d o n e aussi cette c a b o c h e - l a , q u i a des fuites" (5:921) [ " W h i l e you are at it, M a r -
t i n e , " Pascal burst o u t jovially, taking b e t w e e n his two h a n d s Clotilde's rebellious
h e a d , "would you also sew u p this h e a d , w h i c h is full of leaks"].
T h e leak in Clotilde's h e a d t h a t is, h e r essential "gushiness"is part o f t h a t in-
sistent, if suppressed, female-associated p a r a d i g m of m y t h , fantasy, a n d extrava-
g a n c e , w h i c h , t h r o u g h o u t t h e cycle, sporadically bursts, drips, flows, or spurts
t h r o u g h its c o n t a i n i n g (realist) cover. Sexually loose, verbally i n c o n t i n e n t , given
to lyrical flow a n d to e m o t i o n a l overflow, w o m e n in Z o l a are repeatedly'repre-
sented as "leaking vessels," to borrow a t e r m f r o m t h e s e v e n t e e n t h century. 1 6 C l o -
tilde's leaking h e a d , last avatar of t h e ancestral "cerveau fele" ["cracked brain"], is,
t h e n , t h e c u l m i n a t i o n of a series of Zola's creative excesses t h a t are m e t a p h o r i c a l l y
i n c o r p o r a t e d by w o m e n . O n e easily imagines Z o l a , la F l a u b e r t , confessing his
s u b m e r g e d p r o j e c t i o n : " C l o t i l d e R o u g o n , e'est m o i . " In fact t h e cycle ends by dis-
p l a c i n g figurative a u t h o r s h i p f r o m Pascal to Clotilde. A l t h o u g h very early in t h e
first novel, Pascal begins to show u p o n t h e sidelines of family d r a m a s , listening
h a r d a n d taking notes, h e explains in t h e last novel that "ces dossiers n e sont pas
destines au p u b l i c " (5:998) ["these files are n o t m e a n t for t h e public"]. A n d w h e n
Pascal's d o c u m e n t s are b u r n e d by his m o t h e r after his d e a t h , in an effort to l a u n d e r
t h e f a m i l y secrets, only c h a r r e d f r a g m e n t s r e m a i n . W e t h e n owe t h e Rougon-
Macquart saga to Clotilde's retelling of t h e original story to w h i c h she was sole wit-
ness, before t h e a u t o - d a - f e t h a t destroyed all b u t t h e traces of its plot. Les Rougon-
Macquart t h u s b e c o m e s Clotilde's story: a transgressive story, a violation of b o u n d -
aries, a f o r b i d d e n story "leaked" to t h e public. 1 7

W e m i g h t read t h e Rougon-Macquart cycle as a naturalist version o f t h a t para-

g e Patricia M e y e r Spacks, G o w f c (Chicago: University of C h i c a g o Press, 1986), 39. F o r a c o m p a r -

.son of this f e m a l e aspect of Zola's m e t a p h o r i c system to Balzac's m o r e generally patriarchal system see

Janet Beizer, Fanuly Plots: Balzac's Narrative Generations ( N e w H a v e n : Yale University Press 1986)

180-86. > y

7 For a n e l a b o r a t i o n of Clotilde's role as author, see J a n e t Beizer, "Remembering and Repeating the

Rougon-Macquart: Clotilde's Story," LEsprit Createur 2 5 (Winter 1985): 51-58.

LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
174 ble of narrative presented by D i d e r o t in Les Bijoux indiscrets. This would make the
Rougon-Macquart a discourse displaced f r o m bouche to bijoufrom s p e e c h or-
gan to sex o r g a n a discourse that persistently regenerates t h e text of its o w n sexual
generation: a kind of a n a c h r o n i s t i c ecriture feminine. T h e danger of s u c h a r e a d i n g
is t h a t it e n c o u r a g e s s o m e facile a s s u m p t i o n s a b o u t Zola's (and Diderot's) texts.
First, it suggests t h a t these texts are celebratory evocations of f e m a l e creativity. It
t h e n allows t h e m to be too quickly a n d too u n p r o b l e m a t i c a l l y appropriated as evi-
d e n c e in t h e o n g o i n g debate a b o u t w h a t organ generates texts. In so d o i n g , this
r e a d i n g overlooks i m p o r t a n t narratological factors. Specifically, it does n o t c o n -
sider h o w f e m a l e body m e t a p h o r s are textually f r a m e d , a n d it bypasses t h e critical
q u e s t i o n of w h o is speaking.
Instead, w e m i g h t retain t h e m o d e l of Les Bijoux indiscrets b u t displace o u r at-
t e n t i o n , as M i c h e l F o u c a u l t does in his reading of this fable, away f r o m t h e "bi-
joux parlants" toward that o t h e r j e w e l t h e sultan's m a g i c r i n g w h o s e stone,
w h e n r u b b e d , "fait parier les sexes q u ' o n r e n c o n t r e " ["gives voice to any sex organs
o n e encounters"]. Like t h e title of t h e t h i r t e e n t h - c e n t u r y fabliau t h a t originated
t h e t h e m e D u Chevalier qui fist les cons parier [Of the Knight who made cunts
speak}Foucault helps us to recognize t h a t t h e speaking s u b j e c t is n o t t h e a g e n t of
discourse. 1 8 W i t h a view toward exploring this imbricated s t r u c t u r e of s u b j e c t a n d
object, toward tracing t h e discourse of t h e "jewels" to t h e master of t h e ring, I t u r n
n o w to e x a m i n e t h r e e representations of w o m e n ' s bodies in textual poses: first t h e
erotic, in Nana; t h e n t h e d o m e s t i c , in Pot-Bouille; a n d finally, in m o r e c o n c e n -
trated f o r m a n d in t h e guise of a c o n c l u d i n g s t a t e m e n t , t h e obstetric, in La Joie de
vivre.

UNCOVERING NANA

T h e Courtesans New Clothes

N e a r l y three-quarters of t h e way t h r o u g h t h e novel t h a t has b e e n r e p r e s e n t i n g t h e
life of t h e c o u r t e s a n in all its nudity, N a n a entertains a g a t h e r i n g of h e r p a r a m o u r s
by e x p o u n d i n g narrative theory.

18
Michel Foucault, La Volonte de savoir (Paris: G a l l i m a r d , 1976), 104; m y emphasis. For m y infor-

mation about Diderot's thirteenth-century predecessor, I a m indebted to A r a m Vartanian's helpful in-

troduction to t h e critical edition of D e n i s Diderot, Les Bijoux indiscrets, ed. A r a m Vartanian a n d Jean

M a c a r y , in Oeuvres completes (Paris: H e r m a n n , 1978), 3:3-18. t o r a n o t h e r use of I,es Bijoux indiscrets

as m o d e l for f e m i n i n e discourse see J a n e G a l l o p , " T h e F e m a l e Body," in Thinking Through the Body
( N e w York: C o l u m b i a University Press, 1988), 7 2 - 7 7 . In Gallop's appropriation of Diderot's parable,

t h e f e m a l e b o d y c o n f e s s e s its s e c r e t s , a l t h o u g h t h e c o n f e s s i o n is f o r c e d ; i n m y own, the discourse be-

l o n g s t o a m a l e a g e n t a n d is p r o j e c t e d o n t o t h e f e m a l e body.
I

THE LEAK IN C L O T I L D E ' S HEAD

N a n a causa avec les q u a t r e h o m m e s , en maitresse d e m a i s o n p l e i n e de 175
c h a r m e . Elle avait lu d a n s la j o u r n e e u n r o m a n qui faisait g r a n d b r u i t ,
l'histoire d u n e fille; et eile se revoltait, eile disait q u e t o u t cela etait faux,
t e m o i g n a n t d'ailleurs u n e r e p u g n a n c e i n d i g n e e c o n t r e cette litterature
i m m o n d e , d o n t la p r e t e n t i o n etait de r e n d r e la nature; c o m m e si 1'on
p o u v a i t t o u t m o n t r e r ! c o m m e si u n r o m a n n e devait pas etre ecrit p o u r
passer u n e h e u r e agreable! (2.1 ^ ^

Nana chatted with the four men like a charming hostess. During the day she had
read a novel which was causing a sensation at the time. It was the story of a
prostitute, and Nana inveighed against it, declaring that it was all false, and
expressing an indignant revulsion against the sort of filthy literature which claimed
to represent natureas if one could show all! as if a novel wasn't supposed to be
written as a pleasurable pastime! (336-37; trans, modified)

T h e passage is r e m a r k a b l e n o t merely b e c a u s e c o u r t e s a n t u r n e d literary critic

marks a n u n p r e c e d e n t e d , a n d i n c o n g r u o u s , switch f r o m body l a n g u a g e to literary
discourse, b u t b e c a u s e in order to dispute t h e claims of literary n a t u r a l i s m ("to rep-
resent n a t u r e " ) , N a n a has recourse to a sexual m e t a p h o r : "as if o n e c o u l d s h o w
all!" Narrative, says this m e t a p h o r , is an act of undressing, an exhibitionistic at-
t e m p t to display w h a t is e u p h e m i s t i c a l l y n a m e d (and t h u s , incidentally, veiled)
"all." W e c a n hardly ignore t h e m a n y scenes in w h i c h N a n a , sex goddess a n d bed
p a r t n e r of a n e m p i r e , undresses before a m i r r o r or strips for h e r lovers; n o r c a n we
forget t h a t she nightly displays herself to theater a u d i e n c e s as she stars in a perfor-
m a n c e of h e r o w n nudity.
Read literally, t h e n , N a n a ' s m e t a p h o r i c d e n i g r a t i o n of realism is p u z z l i n g , b u t
n o m o r e so t h a n t h e figurative c o n d e m n a t i o n . For Z o l a wrote "Le R o m a n experi-
m e n t a l , " his treatise o n narrative as scientific observation, even as h e was prepar-
ing t h e o u t l i n e for Nana. His position o n realism is, of course, a n t i t h e t i c a l to t h e
o n e h e ascribes to N a n a . T h e realist p r o c e d u r e , h e s u m m a r i z e s elsewhere, c o n -
sists of r e n d e r i n g "la n a t u r e . . . d a n s son e n s e m b l e , sans exclusion a u c u n e .
L ' O e u v r e d a r t . . . doit embrasser l ' h o r i z o n entier" 1 9 ["nature . . . in its entirety,
w i t h o u t any exceptions whatsoever. T h e work of a r t . . . m u s t take in t h e w h o l e
horizon"]. T o Zola's " O n e m u s t tell everything," N a n a i m p e r t i n e n t l y replies,
" O n e c a n n o t show all."
W e h a v e h e r e a nexus of sexuality a n d textuality, body a n d narrative, s h o w i n g
a n d telling, w h i c h is n o less crucial for its paradoxical n a t u r e . For N a n a ' s rebuttal

'"Zola, Letter to Antony Valabregne, in Correspondence, in Oeuvres completes, ed. Maurice Le

Blond, 50 vols. (Paris: F r a n g o i s B e r n o u a r d , 1928), 48:256, 18 A u g u s t 1876.
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
176 of absolute revelation challenges t h e a u t h o r i t y of t h e narrative plot t h a t tells of t h e
incessant disrobing of h e r body. A n d m o r e critically, it t h r e a t e n s t h e very p r i n c i p l e
of Zola's narrative: if telling is s h o w i n g a n d N a n a , despite a p p e a r a n c e s , does n o t
show everything, c a n narrative tell everything as Z o l a claims? T h e d i s s o n a n c e cre-
ated by t h e clash of two voices (the authoritative narrative voice a n d t h e ostensibly
less reliable voice of t h e protagonist) hints at t h e possibility t h a t N a n a , despite h e r
p r e s e n t a t i o n as a blind (and ultimately m u t e ) force of desire, sees m o r e a n d tells
m o r e a b o u t narrative t h a n t h e official voice allows.
W h a t follows is an i n q u i r y into this agonistic g a m e of show-and-tell as it is
played o u t in t h e entire novel, w h e r e veils are alternately cast off a n d d o n n e d , c u r -
tains raised a n d lowered, barriers d e m o l i s h e d a n d e r e c t e d a n d texts u n r a v e l e d
only to be rewoven. As N a n a ' s c o m m e n t a r y suggests, t h e d i l e m m a we are ex-
p l o r i n g is at o n c e sexual a n d textual. T h e t h e m a t i c opposition of h i d e - a n d - s e e k ,
dress versus undress, cover versus discovery, is i n t i m a t e l y related to narrative
issues of r e p r e s e n t a t i o n a n d its limits. Z o l a h e r e appropriates a n e x u s that, as
R o l a n d Barthes h a s n o t e d , is etymologically inscribed w i t h i n t h e very c o n c e p t of
textuality:

Texte v e u t dire Tissu; mais alors q u e jusqu'ici o n a t o u j o u r s pris ce tissu

p o u r u n p r o d u i t , u n voile t o u t fait, derriere lequel se tient, plus o u m o i n s
c a c h e , le sens (la verite), n o u s a c c e n t u o n s m a i n t e n a n t , d a n s le tissu,
l'idee generative q u e le texte se fait, se travaille travers u n entrelacs
p e r p e t u e l ; p e r d u d a n s ce t i s s u c e t t e t e x t u r e l e sujet s'y defait, telle u n e
a r a i g n e e q u i se dissoudrait e l l e - m e m e d a n s les secretions constructives de
sa toile.

Text means Tissue; but whereas hitherto we have always taken this tissue as a
product, a ready-made veil, behind which lies, more or less hidden, meaning
(truth), we are now emphasizing, in the tissue, the generative idea that the text is
made, is worked out in a perpetual interweaving; lost in this tissuethis texture
the subject unmakes himself, like a spider dissolving in the constructive secretions of
its web.20

Barthes h e r e proposes that w e c a n conceive of texuality either as revelation or as

process: m i m e s i s or diegesis. I w a n t to a r g u e t h a t a similar c h o i c e i n f o r m s Nana.
T h e show-and-tell m e t a p h o r (showing as telling a n d vice versa) is less t h a n trans-
p a r e n t a n d m a y well represent alternative rather t h a n a n a l o g o u s m o d e s of reading.
For w h i l e we m i g h t d e f i n e Nana as a prolonged striptease, we m u s t i m m e d i a t e l y

2 0
R o l a n d B a r t h e s , LePlaisirdu texte (Paris: Seuil, 1973), 1 0 0 - 1 0 1 ; t r a n s . R i c h a r d M i l l e r a s The Plea-

sure of the Text ( N e w York: Hill a n d W a n g , 1975), 64.

 THE LEAK IN C L O T I L D E ' S HEAD
a c k n o w l e d g e t h a t this is a c o m p o u n d t e r m : a disjunctive. T h e novel u n f o l d s in a 17:
state of c o n f l i c t a n d as s u c h invites two disparate readings. It pretends to be a strip:
a n u n v e i l i n g , a disclosure, w h i c h is given as a social allegory, t h u s as a totalizing
revelation. B u t t h e t r a n s c e n d e n t allegory (the "message") is consistently eclipsed
by t h e story of desire (the w o u l d - b e m e d i u m ) , m u c h as t h e courtesan's u n v e i l i n g is
m o r e t e a s e p r o m i s e a n d p r o c e s s t h a n disclosure a n d fait a c c o m p l i , or strip.
Nana m i g h t be t e r m e d a n exhibitionistic novel, because it displays, as plot m o -
tifs, q u e s t i o n s of reading operative in all narrative. Staged thematically, dualities
of m i m e s i s versus diegesis, closure a n d desire, m e t a p h o r versus m e t o n y m y call at-
t e n t i o n to themselves a n d invite a closer look.
W e m i g h t begin by recollecting s o m e specific intersections of s h o w i n g a n d tell-
ing in t h e novel. W h e n N a n a makes h e r d e b u t (simultaneously o n stage a n d in t h e
novel), she is b o t h a textual a n d sexual p h e n o m e n o n i n t h a t order. T h e d a e -
m o n i c attraction h e r body is soon to exert is preceded a n d e q u a l e d by t h e m a g n e t i c
effect of h e r printed n a m e o n t h e spectators, w h o are first h e r readers: " D a n s la
clarte c r u e d u gaz . . . d e h a u t e s affiches jaunes s'etalaient v i o l e m m e n t , avec le
n o m de N a n a e n grosses lettres noires. D e s messieurs, c o m m e a c c r o c h e s a u pas-
sage, les lisaient" (2:1097) ["In t h e c r u d e gaslight, o n t h e pale bare walls skimpily
d e c o r a t e d in t h e E m p i r e style to f o r m a peristyle like a cardboard t e m p l e , tall yel-
low posters were boldly displayed with N a n a ' s n a m e in thick black letters. S o m e
g e n t l e m e n were reading t h e m , as if accosted o n t h e way"] ( 2 0 - 2 1 ) . " C e t a i t u n e
caresse q u e ce n o m . . . . R i e n q u ' le p r o n o n c e r ainsi, la foule s'egayait et deve-
n a i t b o n e n f a n t . U n e fievre de curiosite poussait le m o n d e . . . . O n voulait voir
N a n a " (2:1100) [ " T h e n a m e was a caress in itself, a pet n a m e w h i c h rolled easily
off every t o n g u e . M e r e l y by p r o n o u n c i n g it thus, t h e crowd worked itself into a
state of g o o d - n a t u r e d gaiety. A fever of curiosity urged it forward. . . . E v e r y o n e
w a n t e d to see N a n a " ] (24).
N a n a is, t h e n , originally a n effect of language, h e r n a m e as m u c h a force of
c o n t a g i o n as h e r body will b e c o m e . But w h i l e h e r n a m e is sexualized, h e r body be-
c o m e s text, taking t h e place of t h e lines she does n o t deliver a n d t h e songs she c a n -
n o t sing: " D e s ce second acte, tout lui f u t permis: se tenir m a l en scene, n e pas
c h a n t e r u n e n o t e juste, m a n q u e r de m e m o i r e . . . . Q u a n d eile d o n n a i t son fa-
m e u x c o u p d e h a n c h e , l'orchestre s'allumait, u n e c h a l e u r m o n t a i t de galerie e n
galerie j u s q u ' a u c i n t r e " (2:1113) ["From t h e second act o n w a r d s she was allowed to
get away with a n y t h i n g . S h e c o u l d hold herself awkwardly, sing every n o t e o u t of
t u n e , a n d forget h e r l i n e s i t didn't m a t t e r W h e n she gave h e r special t h r u s t
of t h e h i p , t h e stalls lit u p , a n d a glow of passion rose f r o m gallery to gallery, u n t i l
it r e a c h e d t h e gods"] (38).
W e have h e r e a n initial d i s p l a c e m e n t of t h e signifier f r o m l a n g u a g e to t h e
b o d y w o r d m a d e flesh. As t h e novel progresses, we in fact find t h e locus of m e a n -
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
178 ing repeatedly relayed f r o m t h e word to t h e body. T h u s , d u r i n g N a n a s liaison with
C o u n t M u f f a t , t h e lies she tells h i m are effaced by h e r physical presence: "II c o m -
prit q u e l l e m e n t a i t . M a i s la sensation tiede de son bras, f o r t e m e n t a p p u y e sur le
sien, le laissait sans force. II n'avait plus ni colere ni r a n c u n e . . . son u n i q u e souci
etait d e la garder la, m a i n t e n a n t qu'il la tenait" (2:1263) ["He c o u l d tell t h a t she
was lying, b u t t h e w a r m feel of h e r a r m , as it l e a n t heavily o n his o w n , left h i m
powerless. H e felt n e i t h e r anger n o r r a n c o u r . . . his o n e t h o u g h t was to keep h e r
with h i m n o w t h a t h e h a d got h o l d of her"] (214). T h e true/false criterion of ordi-
nary l a n g u a g e yields to t h e sheer power of t h e physical signifier.
T h i s shift of signifying fields is m o s t dramatically r e n d e r e d by N a n a s final role
as fairy q u e e n in Melusine: "trois poses plastiques d ' u n e fee puissante et m u e t t e "
(2:1471) ["three plastic poses of a fairy b o t h p o t e n t a n d m u t e " ] (454; trans, m o d i -
fied). N a n a ' s swan song is silent: "Elle n e disait pas u n m o t , m e m e les a u t e u r s lui
avaient c o u p e u n e replique, parce q u e ga genait; n o n , rien d u tout, c'etait p l u s
g r a n d , et eile vous r e t o u r n a i t son p u b l i c , rien q u ' se m o n t r e r " (2:1476) ["She
d i d n ' t say a word; t h e a u t h o r s h a d even c u t t h e line or two t h e y h a d given her, be-
c a u s e they were s u p e r f l u o u s . N o , n o t a single word: it was m o r e impressive t h a t
way, a n d she took t h e audience's b r e a t h away by simply s h o w i n g herself"] (459).

N a n a e p i t o m i z e s w h a t N a o m i S c h o r has called, in r e f e r e n c e to a n o t h e r of Z o -
la's novels, " l ' i n q u i e t a n t e etrangete d ' u n corps saisi de s e m i o t i q u e " 2 1 ["the u n c a n -
niness of a b o d y stricken with semiotics"]. Nana's body b e c o m e s u n c a n n y t h r o u g h
a semiotic sleight of h a n d t h a t w o u l d have us believe that we are r e a d i n g b o d y lan-
guage rather t h a n literary l a n g u a g e . T h e text, replaced or repressed by t h e body it
describes (and i n d e e d creates), returns in t h e f o r m of body language: t h e body as
text or signifying corpus. T h i s trompe-l'oeil effect reaches its peak w h e n N a n a ' s
body serves as intertext for t h e journalist Fauchery. Seeking to satisfy his p r u r i e n t
curiosity a b o u t C o u n t e s s Sabine's morality, F a u c h e r y notices t h a t she has a m o l e
( " u n signe") o n h e r left c h e e k exactly like o n e N a n a has. H e reads this identifying
m a r k as a sign of Sabine's potential depravity, d e d u c i n g t h a t h e r morality m a y b e as
similar to N a n a ' s as h e r m o l e (2:1150, 1163). T h e signifier is q u i t e obviously over-
d e t e r m i n e d , yet F a u c h e r y s initial r e a d i n g is c o n f i r m e d in t h e course of t h e novel.
B u t it is n o t always this easy to affix a m e a n i n g to t h e semiotic charge invested in
t h e b o d y o r t o shift t h e focus of Nana's m e t a p h o r a b i t t o see w h a t purportedly
is b e i n g revealed. P h i l i p Walker has r e m a r k e d u p o n t h e i n t i m a t e r e l a t i o n s h i p in
Zola's works b e t w e e n "sight a n d insight, vision a n d u n d e r s t a n d i n g . " 2 2 As o n e
m i g h t expect, given this rapport, w h e n t h e visual field is obstructed, so, too, is t h e
semiotic.

21
N a o m i Schor, "Sainte-Anne: Capitale d u delire," Cahiers naturalistes 52 (1978): 106.
22
Philip Walker, " T h e Mirror, the Window, and the E y e in Zola's Fiction," Yale French Studies 42

(1969): 52.
 THE LEAK IN C L O T I L D E ' S HEAD
T h u s C o u n t Muffat's voyeuristic foray into the wings of the theater, past the 179
dressing rooms of the stars, corresponds to a desire (albeit repressed) to probe the
secrets of sexuality, to know the mysteries to w h i c h he has not been initiated. T h e
fact that the scene of seduction, however, is the theater, site of disguise, factory of
illusion, precludes the possibility of any real discovery. W e watch M u f f a t , like a
child spying o n his parents, peeking through curtain peepholes, squinting t h r o u g h
wall cracks, peering a r o u n d half-opened doors, a n d averting his eyes f r o m their
too-avid focus u p o n Nana's n o m i n a l l y veiled nakedness. E a c h aperture is as m u c h
a barrier as a n access to revelation, affording a glimpse that has neither t i m e nor
space e n o u g h to crystallize as perception. Moreover, barriers removed yield new
barriers; layer u p o n layer, there seems always to be o n e m o r e veil remaining.
T h u s , w h e n M u f f a t gains entry to Nana's dressing room and N a n a appears n u d e ,
her body is nonetheless veiled, first by a curtain and later by a qualifying statement
that covers both her nakedness and the prior description of it: "Elle n e s etait pas
couverte d u tout, eile venait s i m p l e m e n t de b o u t o n n e r u n petit corsage de percale,
qui lui cachait d e m i la gorge" (2:1208) ["She had not covered herself at all, she
had simply buttoned on a little cambric bodice w h i c h half-hid her breasts"] (149;
trans, modified). O n e might argue that the essence of Nana's seductiveness lies in
this play of presence a n d absence; a presence that is never quite realized an ab-
sence on the eternal verge of b e c o m i n g present. W h a t is erotic here, as Roland
Barthes has remarked m o r e generally, is intermittence: T i n t e r m i t t e n c e . . . de la
peau qui scintille entre deux pieces . . . entre deux bords; c'est ce scintillement
m e m e qui seduit, ou encore: la mise en scene d ' u n e apparition-disparition" ["the
intermittence of skin flashing between two articles of clothing . . . between two
edges. . . . It is this flash itself which seduces, or rather: the staging of a n
appearance-as-disappearance"]. 2 3

In m u c h the same way, what captivates in N a n a is not what she unveils b u t the
veil itself, the challenge to a g a m e of hide-and-seek. T h e veil takes the f o r m of a
mask as M u f f a t , watching N a n a p u t on her m a k e u p , is "seduit par la perversion des
poudres et des fards" (2:1214) ["seduced by the perversion of powders a n d paints"]
(157; trans, modified). T h e perversion that seduces is quite literally a t u r n a b o u t ,
the imagined exchange of surface a n d depth; for the mask is an exaggerated surface
that holds o u t the (illusory) promise of a corresponding depth. T h e r e f o r e , M u f f a t
accedes to n o t h i n g but his own desire; his attempts at sight and insight'equally
thwarted, h e leaves the theater breathing in "tout le sexe de la f e m m e , qu'il igno-
rait e n c o r e " (2:1223) ["breathing in all the a n i m a l essence of w o m a n , of w h i c h h e
was still ignorant"] (166).

T h u s far I have focused u p o n scenes in w h i c h the body as spectacle is incorpo-

rated within the larger context of the theatrical spectacle so that there is a mise en

23
Barthes, LePlaisirdu texte, 19;The Pleasure of theText,
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
180 abyme of showing: a " s h o w " within a show. T h e representational m e t a p h o r is n o t ,
however, always explicitly b o u n d e d by this m i r r o r i n g effect, a n d it b e c o m e s u s e f u l
to consider s o m e distinct b u t parallel attempts to unveil gender a n d g e n r e t h a t is,
to locate t h e sources of sexual a n d textual disguise, or travesty.
W e are at several points in t h e novel led t h r o u g h a series of successive s c r e e n s
b e h i n d t h e c u r t a i n , b e h i n d t h e backdrop, t h r o u g h t h e wings, b e h i n d closed
d o o r s t o w h a t Z o l a calls " l a u t r e cote d u t h e a t r e " (2:1215) ["the o t h e r side of t h e
theater"] (158). B u t t h e ostensibly " o t h e r " side yields m u c h of t h e same: a p r o l o n -
gation of disguise a n d playacting t h a t at o n e m o m e n t mixes a visiting "real-life"
p r i n c e with actors playing royal roles of mythology. T h e c o n f u s i o n is s u c h t h a t

p e r s o n n e n e souriait de cet etrange m e l a n g e , de ce vrai p r i n c e , heritier

d ' u n t r o n e , q u i buvait le c h a m p a g n e d ' u n c a b o t i n , tres l'aise d a n s ce
carnaval des d i e u x , dans cette m a s c a r a d e d e la royaute, au m i l i e u d ' u n
p e u p l e d'habilleuses et de filles, de rouleurs de p l a n c h e s et d e m o n t r e u r s
defemmes. (2:1210)

nobody dreamt of smiling at the strange contrast presented by this real prince, this
heir to a throne, drinking a barnstormer's champagne, and very much at ease in
this carnival of the gods, in this masquerade of royalty, surrounded by dressers,
whores, itinerant actors, and pimps. (152; trans, modified)

In a world c o m p o s e d entirely of poseurs, o n e c a n hardly distinguish b e t w e e n the-

atrical roles a n d t h e roles of everyday life. Disguises t u r n o u t to be n o t so m u c h il-
lusions as illusions of illusion, masks that, to borrow J e a n - L o u i s Baudry's d e f i n i -
tion, "feign d i s s i m u l a t i o n to dissimulate that [they] are n o t h i n g m o r e t h a n a
simulation."24
T h e representation/reality polarity is o n c e again d e c o n s t r u c t e d w h e n N a n a , in
a radical d e p a r t u r e f r o m type-casting, stars as a d u c h e s s in La Petite Duchesse.
W h e n t h e play folds (largely b e c a u s e of h e r i n a d e q u a c y to t h e role), she shrugs it
off, resolved to play successfully a n offstage version of t h e part: "Je vais lui e n d o n -
n e r de la g r a n d e d a m e , ton Paris!" (2:1346) ["I'll show Paris w h a t a great lady is!"]
(310; trans, modified), she exclaims. A n d as all Paris watches, N a n a ' s n e w persona
is l a u n c h e d i n markedly theatrical m e t a p h o r s :

C e f u t u n langage b r u s q u e et definitif, u n e m o n t e e d a n s la celebrite d e la

galanterie. . . . E t le prodige f u t q u e cette grosse fille, si g a u c h e la
s c e n e , si drole des q u e l l e voulait faire la f e m m e h o n n e t e , jouait la ville
des roles d e c h a r m e u s e , sans u n effort. (2:1346)

24
J e a n - L o u i s Baudry, cited by Severo S a r d u y in " W r i t i n g / T r a n s v e s t i s m , " trans. Alfred M a c A d a m , Re-

view (Fall 1973): 33.

 THE LEAK IN C L O T I L D E ' S HEAD
It was a sudden and sure rise to stardom, a rapid climb to a gallant celebrity. . . . 1
And the remarkable thing was that this full-blown woman, who was so awkward on
the stage, so comical when she tried to play the respectable woman, was able to play
the enchantress in town without the slightest effort. (311; trans, modified)

N a n a ' s a d o p t e d role b e c o m e s t h e m o d e l , t h e r e f e r e n t , for t h e b o r n - a n d - b r e d Pari-

sian aristocracy: " E l l e d o n n a i t le t o n , d e g r a n d e s d a m e s l ' i m i t a i e n t " (2:1347) [ " S h e
set t h e t o n e ; t h e great ladies i m i t a t e d h e r " ] (311; trans, m o d i f i e d ) . Reality is o n c e
m o r e s h o w n t o b e a n e x t e n s i o n of r e p r e s e n t a t i o n , a r e - p r e s e n t a t i o n of a r e p r e s e n -
t a t i o n . It is t e m p t i n g to i n t r o d u c e h e r e t h e c o n c e p t of travesty in b o t h its c o l l o q u i a l
a n d literal a c c e p t a t i o n s : a m o c k e r y or d e f o r m a t i o n , a n d a dressing across or dis-
g u i s e . B u t t h e very e s s e n c e of travesty is p u t i n t o q u e s t i o n b e c a u s e t h e c o n c e p t of
disguise i m p l i e s t h e e x i s t e n c e of a reality, a t r u e i d e n t i t y b e h i n d t h e m a s k . All t h a t
c a n b e d i s c e r n e d of t h e "essential d u c h e s s , " h o w e v e r , is a c y c l e of masks: t h e flesh-
a n d - b l o o d d u c h e s s e s a r e m o d e l e d o n N a n a s Paris r e n d i t i o n of h e r stage role,
w h i c h in t u r n is a n i m i t a t i o n , a n i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of great ladies.
T h e fate of travesty is n o d i f f e r e n t o n t h e textual level. Travesty as literary g e n r e
p r e s u p p o s e s a base test, a n o r d i n a r y w o r k t h a t u n d e r g o e s a s u b s e q u e n t d e f o r m a -
t i o n . T h e play in w h i c h N a n a d e b u t s , La Blonde Venus, gives every a p p e a r a n c e of
travesty at first g l a n c e , for it is a b u r l e s q u e r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of t h e a m o r o u s a d v e n -
t u r e s of t h e p a g a n gods, a g r o t e s q u e c a r i c a t u r e of classical m y t h o l o g y . B u t t h e play
is a m o r e d i r e c t d i s t o r t i o n of J a c q u e s O f f e n b a c h ' s La Belle Helene, itself a p a r o d y
of t h e Iliad i n t r i g u e . A n d w h i l e t h e Iliad c a n b e t r a c e d to G r e e k a n d t h e n to R o -
m a n m y t h o l o g y , s u c h a g e n e a l o g y is p o p u l a r or a n o n y m o u s . S o instead of a n ori-
g i n , w e h a v e a m o v e m e n t of i n f i n i t e regress, a n e n d l e s s d i s p l a c e m e n t of s o u r c e s .
T h e q u e s t is f u r t h e r c o m p l i c a t e d by t h e f a c t t h a t t h e s c e n e of La Blonde Venus is
set o n t h e t e r r a i n of L'Assommoir, t h e n o v e l a b o u t N a n a ' s m o t h e r a n d t h e story of
N a n a ' s o w n c h i l d h o o d . M i c h e l Serres h a s suggested t h a t N a n a in h e r stage role of
V e n u s , m a r r i e d to t h e b l a c k s m i t h of t h e gods, "realizes" h e r m o t h e r ' s desired
u n i o n w i t h t h e V u l c a n - l i k e G o u j e t a n d t h u s plays o u t a n i n t e r t e x t u a l incest. 2 5
T h u s t h e r e t u r n of LAssommoir in La Blonde Venus t h r o w s o n e m o r e w r e n c h in
t h e s e a r c h for t e x t u a l origins, for it poses a n a l t e r n a t i v e g e n e a l o g y for t h e play, f u r -
t h e r d i s t u r b i n g t h e a l r e a d y c o m p l e x p a t t e r n of l i n e a r d e s c e n t f r o m m y t h o l o g y .

W e a r e r e m i n d e d h e r e of Barthes's r e m a r k t h a t "le r e a l i s m e n e p e u t e t r e d i t c o -
p i e u r ' m a i s p l u t o t ' p a s t i c h e u r ' (par u n e mimesis s e c o n d e , il c o p i e ce q u i est d e j
c o p i e ) ["realism c a n n o t b e d e s i g n a t e d a c o p i e r ' b u t r a t h e r a p a s t i c h e u r , ' {since}
t h r o u g h s e c o n d a r y m i m e s i s , it c o p i e s w h a t is a l r e a d y a copy"]. 2 6 T h e travesty of re-

25
M i c h e l Serres, Feux et signaux de brume (Paris: Grasset, 1975), 223.
2 6
Roland Barthes, S/Z (Paris: Seuil, 1970), 61; trans. Richard Miller ( N e w York: Hill and Wang,

1974), 55-
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
182 alism is n o different; as layer u p o n layer of text is u n p e e l e d , we can only situate t h e
source in t h e vagueness of textuality.
As we m o v e f r o m g e n r e to gender, sexual origins prove to be as elusive as textual
origins. Transvestism, etymologically e q u i v a l e n t to travesty, plays an equally i m -
portant role in t h e novel a n d is n o less a m b i g u o u s a p h e n o m e n o n . N a n a ' s affair
with G e o r g e s H u g o n is precipitated by h e r dressing h i m u p in h e r o w n clothing. In
w h a t N a o m i S c h o r argues is "a rehearsal for t h e S a p p h i c love scenes with Satin," 2 7
N a n a disguises G e o r g e s as a girl a n d is t h e n seduced by w h a t is f e m i n i n e in h i m :
"Peu p e u , elle se sentait sans force. . . . C e d e g u i s e m e n t , cette c h e m i s e de
f e m m e et ce peignoir, la faisaient rire encore. C'etait c o m m e u n e a m i e q u i la ta-
q u i n a i t " (2:1239) ["Little by little, she felt h e r resistance m e l t i n g . . . . T h i s dis-
guise, this w o m a n ' s c h e m i s e a n d peignoir, renewed h e r giggles. H e was like a girl-
f r i e n d teasing her"] (185; trans, modified). T h i s c a n n o t be qualified as a
transvestite love scene, however, b e c a u s e Georges's sexual identity is n o t firmly es-
tablished. T h i s boy dressed in w o m a n ' s c l o t h i n g in fact earlier appears looking like
"[une] fille deguisee e n gargon" (2:1152) ["a girl dressed u p as a boy"] (84). O n e
c a n n o t properly speak of transvestism in a world w h e r e clothes m a k e t h e m a n a n d
t h e w o m a n w h e r e , that is, c l o t h i n g defines rather t h a n reflects sexual identity.
T h e role of c l o t h i n g as sexual d e t e r m i n a n t is personified by M a d a m e Jules, t h e
theater dresser w h o s e n a m e reflects h e r a n d r o g y n o u s nature:

M a d a m e Jules n'avait plus d age, le visage p a r c h e m i n e , avec ses traits

i m m o b i l e s des vieilles filles q u e p e r s o n n e n'a c o n n u e s jeunes. Celle-la
s'etait d e s s e c h e e d a n s l'air e m b r a s e des loges, a u m i l i e u des cuisses et des
gorges les plus celebres de Paris. Elle portait u n e eternelle robe n o i r e
deteinte, et sur son corsage plat et sans sexe, u n e foret d'epingles etaient
piquees, la place d u coeur. (2:1208)

Madame Jules was a woman of indeterminate age, with the parchment skin and
changeless features peculiar to old maids whom no one ever knew when they were
young. She had shrivelled up in the torrid atmosphere of the dressing-rooms, among
the most famous thighs and bosoms in all Paris. She invariably wore a faded black
dress, and on her flat and sexless chest a forest of pins was stuck in where her heart
should have been. (149)

T h a t t h e w a r d r o b e mistress, purveyor of disguise, is characterized by h e r sexless-

ness serves to e m p h a s i z e t h a t c o s t u m e creates sexual identity, w h i c h is as p r o t e a n

2 7
N a o m i Schor, Zola s Crowds ( B a l t i m o r e : Johns H o p k i n s University Press, 1978), 93.
 THE LEAK IN C L O T I L D E ' S HEAD
as a c h a n g e of clothing. As Virginia Woolf p u t it, "It is clothes t h a t wear us a n d n o t 1
we them."28
If sexuality, like textuality, has n o d e t e r m i n a t e source, w h a t are we to m a k e of
t h e m a n y detailed descriptions of Nana's nudity? T h e p r o b l e m c a n best be d e f i n e d
I t h i n k , by a d e t o u r t h r o u g h t h e most explicit of a series of s u c h passages: t h e cele-
brated s c e n e in w h i c h N a n a , with M u f f a t looking o n , adoringly c o n t e m p l a t e s h e r
b o d y in t h e mirror. W h i l e h e r body a n d t h e various a m o r o u s poses she strikes are
described with almost clinical precision, we (along with t h e c o u n t ) d o n o t see all.
For in t h e midst of t h e a n a t o m i c a l detail, we find this screen: " N a n a etait t o u t e ve-
l u e , u n d u v e t de rousse faisait de son corps u n velours; tandis q u e . . . sa c r o u p e et
ses cuisses d e cavale, . . . les r e n f l e m e n t s c h a r n u s creuses de plis profonds
donnaient au sexe le voile troublant de leur ombre" (2:1271; m y emphasis) ["Nana's
body was covered with fine hair, reddish d o w n w h i c h t u r n e d h e r skin into velvet;
w h i l e t h e r e was s o m e t h i n g of t h e Beast a b o u t h e r e q u i n e r u m p a n d flanks, a b o u t
t h e fleshy curves a n d d e e p hollows of h e r body, which veiled her sex in the sugges-
tive mystery of their shadows"] (223). I w a n t to a r g u e h e r e (as in all t h e o t h e r pas-
sages in w h i c h n u d i t y is declared, only to be d e n i e d by a covering statement) t h a t
t h e o n l y t h i n g veiling N a n a ' s sex is text. If it is impossible to show w h a t is b e h i n d
t h e veil, it is b e c a u s e showing, in narrative, is always d e p e n d e n t o n telling. A n d
telling always interposes t h e veil of l a n g u a g e b e t w e e n t h e reader a n d w h a t it p u r -
ports to reveal; or m o r e accurately, it replaces revelation by t h e l a n g u a g e t h a t re-
lates it.

N a o m i S c h o r has p o i n t e d to t h e use of e u p h e m i s m in t h e passage I have b e e n

discussing, particularly in reference to Nana's observation of "d'autres parties de
son corps" (2:1270) ["other parts of h e r body"] (222). T h e e u p h e m i z a t i o n of N a n a ' s
body, S c h o r proposes, represses n o t only h e r genitals b u t t h e absent p h a l l u s , a n d is
t h u s a token of f e t i s h i s m t h a t is, t h e denial of a phallic absence. 2 9 T h i s interpre-
tation b e c o m e s especially u s e f u l if we read it in t h e very broadest sense, u n d e r -
standing " p h a l l u s , " in Lacan's terms, to m e a n "signifier." 3 0 W e t h e n have a para-
d i g m v e i l , text, e u p h e m i s m , fetish, phallus, s i g n i f i e r w h o s e e l e m e n t s all refer
to t h e s i m u l t a n e o u s creation/repression of a signified. T h e veil is t h e signifier, t h e
p r o m i s e of a signified, of a p l e n i t u d e of m e a n i n g , b u t it is also t h e obstacle t h a t
bars access to t h e signified. E u p h e m i s m is only t h e most obvious m a n i f e s t a t i o n of
t h e textual d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n telling a n d showing, t h e constantly r e n e w e d p r o m -

2 8
T h i s r e m a r k was brought to m y attention by Sandra M . Gilbert, in " C o s t u m e s of t h e M i n d : Transves-

tism as M e t a p h o r in M o d e r n Critical Inquiry 7 ( W i n t e r

Literature," 1980): 3 9 1 - 4 1 7 . See, too, Mar-

jorie G a r b e r s fascinating Vested Interests: Cross-dressing and Cultural Anxiety ( N e w York: Routledge,

1992), w h i c h a p p e a r e d too late to be integrated into this book.

2 9
Schor, Zola's Crowds, 101-2.

50
See especially Jacques Lacan, "La Signification d u phallus," in Ecrits, 2 vols. (Paris: Seuil, 1966),
2:103-15.
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
184 ise to show w h a t in t r u t h never w i l l n e v e r c a n b e revealed. Like P e n e l o p e s tap-
estry, t h e text is t h a t tissue constantly being u n w o v e n a n d rewoven, alternately
p r o m i s i n g a n d forestalling f u l f i l l m e n t .
Zola's theory of t h e realist screen, developed in t h e celebrated letter to A n t o n y
Valabregue, casts an interesting sidelight o n t h e veil m e t a p h o r . W h i l e t h e m e t a -
p h o r works p r i m a r i l y as subtext in Nana, it is m o r e directly c o n f r o n t e d in Zola's re-
marks to Valabregue. H e writes t h e following:

L ' E c r a n realiste est u n simple verre vitre, tres m i n c e , tres clair, et q u i a

la p r e t e n t i o n d'etre si p a r f a i t e m e n t t r a n s p a r e n t q u e les images le traversent
e t s e r e p r o d u i s e n t e n s u i t e d a n s t o u t e l e u r r e a l i t e . . . . II est certes difficile
de caracteriser u n E c r a n q u i a p o u r qualite p r i n c i p a l e celle de n'etre
p r e s q u e pas; je crois, c e p e n d a n t , le b i e n juger, e n distant q u ' u n e fine
poussiere grise t r o u b l e sa limpidite. T o u t objet, en passant par ce m i l i e u ,
y perd de son eclat, o u , plutot, s'y noircit legerement. 3 1

The realist Screen is a mere windowpane, very thin, very clear, which pretends to be
so perfectly transparent that images cross it and are then reproduced in all their
reality. . . . It is, of course, difficult to characterize a Screen whose principal
quality is that of almost not existing; I believe I can, however, evaluate it
accurately by saying that a fine gray dust disturbs its limpidity. Any object that
passes through this medium loses its vividness, or rather, is slightly darkened.

T h i s screen, m e d i u m t h a t deposits a "fine gray d u s t " o n t h e images it filters, is t h e

veil we have b e e n discussing; it is n o n e o t h e r t h a n t h e printed text. Zola's descrip-
tion of t h e realist screen as t h a t n o t - q u i t e - t r a n s p a r e n t veil/tissue/text interposed
b e t w e e n t h e reader a n d t h e t r u t h recalls (or, m o r e accurately, foreshadows)
Barthes's suggestion t h a t textuality be conceived of as "a generative idea . . . a per-
p e t u a l interweaving" rather t h a n as "a r e a d y - m a d e veil b e h i n d w h i c h lies . . .
m e a n i n g . " A l t h o u g h Z o l a w o u l d ideally posit an i m a g e of t r a n s p a r e n c y as t h e real-
ist m o d e l , h e a d m i t s t h e m e d i a t i n g presence, t h e d e t e r m i n i n g p r e s e n c e , of t h e
text. 3 2
It b e c o m e s e v i d e n t t h a t t h e t h e o r i z a t i o n of realism as m i m e s i s c o n t a i n s w i t h i n it
an a m b i v a l e n c e similar to t h e t h e m a t i z e d split in t h e novel b e t w e e n revelation a n d
veiling. T h u s t h e discord t h e m a t i c a l l y inscribed o n a n d a r o u n d N a n a ' s body is in-

3 1
Zola, Letter to Valabregue, 255.
32
B a r t h e s , Pleasure of the Text, 64. W h i l e Z o l a h e r e specifically addresses t h e referential aspect of the

r e a l i s t i l l u s i o n ( t h a t is, t h e b e l i e f i n a n i d e n t i t y o f s i g n i f i e d a n d r e f e r e n t ) , h i s r e m a r k s p e r t a i n a l s o t o the

s e m a n t i c aspect (the belief in a n identity of signifier a n d signified), w h i c h has b e e n m y p r i m a r y focus.

M y use of t h e t e r m s realist illusion, referential illusion, and semantic illusion is b a s e d o n G e r a r d Ge-

n e t t e s d e f i n i t i o n s in " P r o u s t et le l a n g a g e i n d i r e c t , " in Figures II (Paris: Seuil, 1969), 248.

 THE LEAK IN C L O T I L D E ' S HEAD
separable f r o m a theoretical conflict that c o m p l i c a t e s a n d even polarizes o u r read-
ing strategies. T h a t is, d o we read metaphorically, seeking m e a n i n g as revelation
in closed, t r a n s p a r e n t totalizations? O r d o we read metonymically, teased forward
in t i m e toward a m e a n i n g intermittently glimpsed b u t never postponed? T h e s e are
t h e very questions naively f o r m u l a t e d by N a n a w h e n she challenges narrative
c l a i m s to "show all," insisting instead that a novel is written " p o u r passer u n e h e u r e
agreable."
Peter Brooks has proposed a dualistic m o d e l for narrative plot in w h i c h t h e m e t -
a p h o r i c a n d m e t o n y m i c processes are coextensive; w h i l e m e a n i n g in plot is d e p e n -
d e n t o n t h e work of totalization a n d closure p e r f o r m e d by m e t a p h o r , t h e very
m o v e m e n t of plot relies u p o n t h e d y n a m i s m a n d deferral of metonymy."
T h r o u g h o u t Nana, however, t h e m e t a p h o r i c a n d m e t o n y m i c poles of reading are
constantly placed in opposition. T h e d o u b l e plot s t r u c t u r e of t h e novel provides
t h e m o s t r e m a r k a b l e e x a m p l e of s u c h a clash. Is t h e novel an allegory of t h e de-
c l i n e a n d fall of t h e S e c o n d E m p i r e , t h e representation of "la p o u r r i t u r e d'en bas
. . . se redressant et pourrissant les classes d'en h a u t " ? ["the p u t r e f a c t i o n f r o m be-
low, rising to putrefy t h e u p p e r classes"?] O r is it rather "le p o e m e d u cul, et la m o -
ralite . . . le cul faisant t o u t t o u r n e r " ? ["the p o e m of sex, whose m o r a l is t h a t sex is
t h e m o t o r of everything"?] 5 4 Both statements were m a d e by Z o l a , a n d b o t h are
b o r n e o u t by t h e novel, b u t they represent very different readings. If Nana is a b o u t
desire, if N a n a herself is t h e figure of desire, t h e n t h e novel tells of a p r o f o u n d dis-
order, a c o n t a g i o n of u n f u l f i l l e d passion. If t h e novel is ultimately a b o u t t h e col-
lapse of a n e m p i r e , t h e n t h e disorder is s u b o r d i n a t e d , b o u n d by t h e allegory, a n d
t h e r e f o r e r e c u p e r a t e d w i t h i n t h e order of plot. Similarly, t h e c o n t a g i o n is arrested
as it yields to a h i g h e r level of signification, a n d passion is pacified, if n o t c o m -
pletely satisfied, by t h e c o n q u e s t of a t r a n s c e n d e n t m e a n i n g .

W e c a n t u r n to t h e m i c r o s t r u c t u r e of t h e novel for f u r t h e r illustrations of t h e

conflict. How, for instance d o we read t h e lingering bloodstain o n t h e t h r e s h o l d of
N a n a ' s b e d r o o m , r e m n a n t of G e o r g e s Hugon's a t t e m p t e d suicide? Is it a m e t a p h o r
of N a n a ' s guilt, a Lady M a c b e t h - l i k e stigma that can never be removed? So N a n a ' s
m a i d reads it as s h e reiterates t i m e after time: "Vous savez, m a d a m e , q u e ce n'est
pas parti" (2:1447) ["You know, M a d a m e , it hasn't gone"] (426). O r is it a m e t o n -
ymy, a c o n t a g i o u s trace of shared guilt transmitted to all w h o cross t h e threshold?
S u c h is Muffat's reading: " M u f f a t , q u e le trait de sang p r e o c c u p a i t . . . 1 etudiait
m a l g r e lui, p o u r lire, d a n s son e f f a c e m e n t de plus en plus rose, le n o m b r e
33
See especially Peter Brooks, "Freud's Masterplot: A M o d e l for Narrative" a n d "Repetition, Repres-

sion, and Return: Great Expectations a n d t h e Study of Plot," in Reading for the Plot: Design and Inten-
tion in Narrative ( N e w York: K n o p f , 1984), 9 0 - 1 4 2 . M y t h i n k i n g h e r e a n d i n t h e f o l l o w i n g p a g e s is i n -

debted to these studies of narrative plot a n d to D . A. Miller's Narrative and Its Discontents (Princeton:

P r i n c e t o n University Press, 1981).

3 4
Zola, " E t u d e " f o r Nana, i n N a n a 2:1666, 1677.
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
186 d ' h o m m e s q u i passaient" (2:1459) ["Muffat, w h o m t h e blood-stain p r e o c c u p i e d
. . . kept studying it in spite of himself, as if to discover f r o m t h e degree to w h i c h it
h a d f a d e d , h o w m a n y m e n h a d passed t h a t way"] (440).
T h e m o s t interesting examples of d u a l readings involve N a n a as o n e of t h e read-
ers. For N a n a consistently interprets m e t o n y m i c a l l y , perceiving c o m b i n a t i o n s a n d
contiguities rather t h a n recuperative wholes. In o n e n o t a b l e instance, t h e j o u r n a l -
ist F a u c h e r y writes an article a b o u t N a n a entitled "La M o u c h e d or." T h e "official"
i n t e r p r e t a t i o n is clearly m e t a p h o r i c :

C ' e t a i t la fin de l'article q u e se trouvait la c o m p a r a i s o n de la m o u c h e ,

u n e m o u c h e c o u l e u r de soleil, envolee de l'ordure, u n e m o u c h e q u i
p r e n a i t la m o r t sur les c h a r o g n e s tolerees le long des c h e m i n s , et q u i ,
b o u r d o n n a n t e , d a n s a n t e , jetant u n eclat de pierreries, e m p o i s o n n a i e n t
les h o m m e s rien q u ' se poser sur eux, d a n s les palais o eile entrait par
lesfenetres. (2:1270)

It was at the end of the article that the comparison with a fly occurred, a fly the
colour of sunshine which had flown up out of the dung, a fly which had sucked
death from the carrion left by the roadside and now, buzzing, dancing and
glittering like a precious stone, was entering palaces through the windows and
poisoning the men inside, simply by settling on them. (221)

Nana's r e a d i n g of t h e article, as revealed by t h e following d i a l o g u e , is q u i t e

different:

"A propos," d e m a n d a - t - e l l e , "as-tu lu l'article de F a u c h e r y sur m o i ? "

" O u i , 'La M o u c h e d ' o r , ' " repondit D a g u e n e t , "je n e t e n parlais pas,
c r a i g n a n t de te faire de la p e i n e . "
" D e la p e i n e , p o u r q u o i ? II est tres long, son article."
E l l e etait flattee q u ' o n s'occupt de sa p e r s o n n e d a n s Le Figaro.
(2:1267)

" B y the way," she asked, "have you read Fauchery s article about me?"
" 'The Golden Fly?' Yes," replied Daguenet. "I didn't mention it because I was
afraid of upsetting you."
"Upsetting mewhy? It's a very long article."
She was flattered that the F i g a r o should concern itself about her person. (218)

N a n a reads t h e article as a n extension of h e r person, as praise by force of a c c u m u -

lation. Later, at t h e racetrack, a horse n a m e d N a n a takes t h e g r a n d prix. In t h e
 THE LEAK IN C L O T I L D E ' S HEAD
midst of c r u d e jokes t h a t m a k e t h e horse N a n a t h e m e t a p h o r of Nana's bestial n a - 1
ture, she herself is " h e u r e u s e de cette bete q u i portait son n o m " (2:1400) ["de-
lighted by t h e a n i m a l b e a r i n g h e r n a m e " ] (372)thrilled by this c o n t i n u a t i o n of
herself. Finally, w h e n we r e t u r n to Nana's b o u t of literary theorizing, we realize
t h a t t h e novel she is discussing, "a novel w h i c h was c a u s i n g a sensation at t h e
t i m e . . . t h e story of a prostitute" (336), is t h e very book we hold in o u r h a n d s .
N a n a has b e e n reading Nana, t h e story of a prostitute a n d h e n c e h e r o w n story, b u t
also a story very m u c h a b o u t narrative a n d h o w to read it, a n d so o n c e again h e r
o w n story. T h e h e r o i n e is e p o n y m o u s n o t merely because t h e novel r e c o u n t s h e r
a d v e n t u r e s , b u t b e c a u s e , as m e t a n o v e l , it uses h e r a d v e n t u r e to explore its o w n dy-
n a m i c s . Nana also reads N a n a r e a d s h e r as a dialogue b e t w e e n two theories of
reading: m e t a p h o r versus m e t o n y m y , closure versus desire, revelation versus
veiling.
N a n a ' s body, "stricken with semiotics," textually afflicted, is t h e page u p o n
w h i c h t h e narrative conflict is written. H e r d e a t h in a sense effaces t h e conflict, for
it renders t h e "page" illegible. Nana's body, ravaged by smallpox, is described, h e r
face b e c o m e "[une] bouillie i n f o r m e , 011 l'on n e retrouvait plus les traits" (2:1485)
["{a} shapeless p u l p , in w h i c h t h e features h a d ceased to be discernible"] (470).
T h e r e is a n i c e irony in t h e fact that h e r lovers flee h e r d e c o m p o s i n g body, fearing
i n f e c t i o n . For h e r d e a t h in fact marks t h e e n d of contagion. Dis-figured, she is
c u r e d of textuality. Desire is arrested by d e a t h as V e n u s makes way for Atropos: t h e
atropical, t h e trope n o n - t r o p e .
M e t a p h o r appears to recuperate m e t o n y m y as N a n a dies to be allegorically sub-
s u m e d to t h e E m p i r e ' s collapse. If as readers we nonetheless c o n t i n u e to feel t h a t
t h e desire plot is t h e " t r u e " plot, I t h i n k this is so n o t only b e c a u s e it is t h e m o r e per-
verse, b u t also t h e m o r e subversive of t h e two available m o d e l s . N a n a , as t h e voice
of desire, speaks to o u r desire as readers to keep reading, to escape t h e a u t h o r i t y of
a closure that is s o m e w h a t arbitrary. For t h e energy generated by N a n a (by t h e de-
sire plot) is n o t fully i m m o b i l i z e d by t h e allegorical b i n d i n g . T h e allegory is less a
r e p l a c e m e n t t h a n a d i s p l a c e m e n t of desire, b e c a u s e t h e last words of t h e novel rep-
resent a r e m a i n d e r of textual energy a n d a renewed promise. T h e cry "A Berlin!
Berlin! Berlin!"like an e c h o of earlier cries for N a n a d r i f t s u p f r o m t h e b o u -
levard, swelling t h e curtains o f h e r d e a t h c h a m b e r ( 2 : i 4 8 5 ) . T h e s e curtains, a f i n a l
m a n i f e s t a t i o n of t h e veil interposed b e t w e e n t h e reader a n d t h e revelation, refer us
o n c e again to Nana's scoffing words: "as if o n e could show all!" N a n a , t h e naive
self-consciousness of t h e text, is h e r e a wiser version of that other p o l y m o r p h o u s
pervert, t h e child in t h e tale " T h e E m p e r o r ' s N e w C l o t h e s . " M o r e conservative in
h e r claims b u t m o r e radical in h e r implications, N a n a r e m i n d s all w a t c h f u l eyes
t h a t she is ever clothed. Visionary in h e r denial of absolute vision, N a n a reveals
t h e veil a n d p r o c l a i m s t h e t r u t h of t h e text.
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
188
THE RETURN OF THE MAIDS

Pot-Bouille, or the Kitchen of Writing

La femme est le refoule de l'homme.
La bonne est le refoule de la patronne.
HELENE CIXOUS, LA JEUNE NEE

B e f o r e telling of t h e c o u r t e s a n s fall f r o m glory into p u t r e f a c t i o n , in Nana, Zola

h a d narrated t h e rise of this "golden fly" f r o m t h e d u n g h e a p s of Paris. In L'Assom-
moir, billed by its preface as "le p r e m i e r r o m a n sur le p e u p l e . . . et q u i ait l'odeur
d u p e u p l e " ["the first novel a b o u t t h e people . . . that has t h e smell of t h e people"],
h e told of N a n a s ascent f r o m foul p o p u l a r origins. Z o l a t h e n w e n t o n , in Pot-
Bouille, to m a p a c o u r s e into n e w olfactory territory. Pot-Bouille w o u l d explore,
a c c o r d i n g to t h e Ebauche, "la p o u r r i t u r e d ' u n e m a i s o n b o u r g e o i s e " ["the rotting of
a bourgeois establishment"]. 3 5 W h i l e it is t r u e t h a t t h e proposed i n t e n t to portray
bourgeois t u r p i t u d e is realized in t h e course of t h e novel's revelations of t h e m a r -
riage markets, t h e adultery, bigamy, a n d passionless c o u p l i n g s i n short, t h e sex-
ual a n d e c o n o m i c exploitation that lie b e h i n d a hypocritical f a c a d e of c o n v e n -
tional morality a n d proprietyit is false to suppose that t h e score is e v e n e d h e r e .
T h o u g h Pot-Bouille openly conveys Zola's p o i n t t h a t bourgeois m o r a l hypocrisy
is e q u i v a l e n t to p o p u l a r d e g r a d a t i o n , t h e novel also implies that it is t h e sins of t h e
p e o p l e t h a t are visited u p o n t h e bourgeoisie. Because Z o l a c a n n o t s e e m to n a r r a t e
bourgeois i n f a m y w i t h o u t h a v i n g recourse to t h e people as its t h e m a t i c a n d rhetor-
ical source, his portraits in a b j e c t i o n c a n n o t be u n b o u n d f r o m class bias. N e i t h e r
c a n they be separated f r o m g e n d e r bias; for despite Zola's plotted b l a n k e t c o n d e m -
n a t i o n of t h e bourgeoisie in Pot-Bouille, t h e text of t h e masters' sins is written in
t h e f e m i n i n e : relayed f r o m allusions to t h e u n m e n t i o n a b l e f e m a l e m a l a d i e s of
their wives, it is t h e n inscribed o n t h e m o r e expressive bodies of their m a i d s .
T h e gynecological secrets c o n t a i n e d w i t h i n whispered conversations b e t w e e n
m e n in t h e parlor are loudly a n d repeatedly exposed by t h e m a i d s in t h e kitchen:
"C'etait l'egout de la m a i s o n , q u i en c h a r r i a i t l e s hontes" (3:107) ["It was t h e sewer
of t h e h o u s e ; it carried all its shames"]. Rhetorically c o n f l u e n t with streams of dirty
dishwater, rotting cooking wastes, a n d rank f e m a l e secretions, t h e servantwomen's
gossip serves as a narrative filtering system that works to purify t h e very p o l l u t i o n it
is designed to convey. T h e text's r e c u r r e n t r e t u r n to t h e s c e n e of t h e filthy i n n e r
courtyard, t h e c o n t a m i n a t e d kitchens, a n d t h e foul tongues a n d bodies of t h e
m a i d s as signifiers of bourgeois degradation effectively purges t h e bourgeoisie by
deflecting t h e i m a g e of its impurity.
5 5
Zola, L'Assommoir, in Les Rougon-Macquart, 2:373; Zola, Pot-Bouille, Dossier preparatoire, Bi-

b l i o t h e q u e Nationale, D e p a r t e m e n t des manuscrits, Nouvelles acquisitions frangaises 10321, folios 1-

4 4 3 , 3 8 2 . LAssommoir, Nana, a n d Pot-Bouille w e r e written in 1877, 1880, a n d 1882, respectively.

I

THE LEAK IN C L O T I L D E ' S HEA

W e have h e a r d a fair a m o u n t a b o u t Pot-Bouille as representation of b o u r g e o i s 18
hypocrisy b u t h a v e barely b e g u n to interrogate t h e ideological a n d semiological
hypocrisies of a representational process t h a t rides u p o n t h e backs of t h e f e m a l e
servants. 3 6 T o o p e n t h e q u e s t i o n , I t u r n m y a t t e n t i o n in w h a t follows to Zola's a n -
a t o m i c a l exposition of d o m e s t i c sewage as abject source of his text. Correlatively,
I consider t h e p u n c t u a l r e t u r n of t h e kitchens, t h e sewers, a n d t h e maids, reex-
a m i n i n g w h a t has b e e n called t h e novel's leitmotif in t h e m o r e f u n c t i o n a l t e r m s of
a ritual d r a i n i n g of bourgeois p o l l u t i o n a n d , c o n c o m i t a n t l y , of t h e narrative dis-
course t h a t relates it. 37

T h e k i t c h e n scenes t h a t reappear r e g u l a r l y a l m o s t r h y t h m i c a l l y i n Pot-Bouille

are c o n s t r u c t e d at a m e t a p h o r i c crossroads joining a r c h i t e c t u r e , a n a t o m y , a n d lan-
guage. As we are periodically shuttled f r o m t h e o r n a t e s e c o n d - e m p i r e f a c a d e a n d
p u b l i c r o o m s of t h e a p a r t m e n t b u i l d i n g to t h e f o u r stories of kitchens a r r a n g e d
over a n i n n e r pestilential c o u r t y a r d f r o m salon to cesspool, as it w e r e w e m o v e
also f r o m t h e silks a n d satins of bourgeois social attire into t h e m a l o d o r o u s , drip-
ping i n n e r cavity t h a t is consistently assimilated to digestive, excretory, a n d sexual
space: "le b o y a u e m p e s t e , " "le boyau noir," "le c l o a q u e de la m a i s o n , " "les m u r s
. . . ruissel[ant] d ' h u m i d i t e " (passim) ["the stinking b o w e l , " " t h e black b o w e l , "
" t h e cesspool {cloaca} of t h e h o u s e , " " t h e walls dripping with dampness"]. W e slip
s i m u l t a n e o u s l y to t h e dark u n d e r s i d e of polite social discourse, t h e gossip or "dirt"
a b o u t t h e building's residents: "le linge sale de la d o m e s t i q u e " ; "les mots ignobles
. . . t o u t e u n e d e b a c l e d ' e g o u t , q u i , c h a q u e m a t i n , se deversait la" (3:250, 269)
["the servants' dirty l a u n d r y " ; " t h e foul l a n g u a g e . . . t h e sewer overflow t h a t
p o u r e d o u t t h e r e , every m o r n i n g " ] .
As t h e k i t c h e n interludes multiply, t h e c o n n e c t i o n b e t w e e n l a n g u a g e a n d filth,
word flow a n d flushed wastes b e c o m e s increasingly e m p h a t i c . T h e r e is a progres-
sion f r o m a m e t o n y m i c association of words a n d p o l l u t i o n to a m e t a p h o r i c equiv-
a l e n c e of t h e two. S t a t e m e n t s s u c h as " u n e volee de gros mots s e c h a p p a d e ce t r o u ,
o b s c u r et e m p e s t e c o m m e u n puisard" (3:106) ["a volley of dirty words burst f r o m
this h o l e , dark a n d reeking like a cesspool"], or "des voix eclaterent, le flot des or-
d u r e s d u m a t i n m o n t a i t , degorgeait d u b o y a u e m p e s t e " (3:250) ["voices broke o u t ,
t h e m o r n i n g sewage swept u p , p o u r e d o u t of t h e stinking bowel"] give way to " u n
flot b o u e u x d e gros m o t s m o n t a de la c o u r des cuisines" (3:266) ["a m u d d y wave of

3 6
T h e notable exception is J e a n B o r i e s Zola et les mythes (Paris: Seuil, 1971), w h i c h does not retreat

befjjre the question of Zola's complicity with the bourgeoisie. For a thorough discussion of Zola's rep-

resentation of bourgeois hypocrisy, see Brian Nelson's Zola and the Bourgeoisie (London- Macmillan

1983).

37
In his preface to Pot-Bouille, A n d r e Fermigier writes, "Cette i m a g e d u puits, d u b o y a u , d e l'egout, de

la c o u r s a n s air et s a n s l u m i e r e . . . est c o m m e le leitmotiv d u r o m a n " [ " T h i s i m a g e of t h e cesspool, the

bowel, t h e sewer, t h e dark stifling courtyard . . . is l i k e t h e l e i t m o t i f o f t h e n o v e l " ] . Z o l a , Pot-Bouille,

ed. H e n r i M i t t e r a n d (Paris: G a l l i m a r d [Folio], 1982), 18.
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
190 foul talk rose f r o m t h e kitchen courtyard"], "des gros mots d o n t les b o n n e s l'avaient
eclaboussee" (3:272) ["filthy words that t h e m a i d s h a d splattered o n her"], or "la
p u a n t e u r d'evier m a l t e n u , c o m m e l'exhalaison m e m e des ordures c a c h e e s des
families" (3:107) ["the stench of dirty drains, like t h e f u m e s of h i d d e n family
filth"]the latter e x a m p l e s of language represented directly as dirt, c o n t a m i n a -
tion, a n d s t e n c h . Now, o n e m i g h t a r g u e t h a t this sewer synesthesia (the roar of t h e
grease a n d t h e smell of t h e words) corresponds in an u n s u r p r i s i n g way to t h e par-
ticular i g n o m i n y of gossip; however, glossing polluted waters as gossip does n o t ac-
c o u n t for t h e m o r e perplexing fact t h a t t h e c o n s t a n t stream of words t h r o w n o u t t h e
w i n d o w as fetid kitchen slops or body wastes is marked as t h e very stuff of t h e novel.
Pot-Bouille is a patchwork of anecdotes, a collage of reported faits divers. The
stories leaked f r o m w i n d o w to w i n d o w a n d t h e words that splatter t h e courtyard are
t h e c o n s t i t u e n t parts of t h e novel. In fact, as H e n r i M i t t e r a n d notes in t h e Carnets
d'enquetes, of all Zola's novels this o n e d e p e n d e d least o n rigorous d o c u m e n t a t i o n ;
Z o l a relied instead o n "oral d o c u m e n t a t i o n " that M i t t e r a n d elaborates as " q u a n t i t e
d ' a n e c d o t e s ou de s c h e m a s d'anecdotes p r o v e n a n t des m e d i s a n c e s des c o m p e r e s d e
M e d a n " 3 8 [ " n u m e r o u s a n e c d o t e s or a n e c d o t a l outlines w h o s e s o u r c e was t h e slan-
der of t h e M e d a n cronies"]in o t h e r words, t h e gossip of his cohorts. Despite an
occasional reference to a mysterious retiring writer w h o quietly observes a n d t h e n
writes a novel so "dirty" that it lands h i m in prison ( 3 : 3 6 0 ) t h e prototype of a nat-
uralist a u t h o r , p l a n t e d in t h e text as a decoyPot-Bouille is represented as b e i n g
generated by t h e p o l l u t i o n of leaking f e m a l e bodies.
M y insistence o n t h e f e m a l e identification of t h e often u n d i f f e r e n t i a t e d diges-
tive/excretory/sexual effluvia originating in t h e kitchens of t h e novel is based o n
two different b u t m u t u a l l y supportive kinds of evidence: o n t h e o n e h a n d , affinities
with an i c o n o g r a p h i c tradition of w o m a n as leaking vessel a n d , o n t h e other, t h e
narrative centrality of a particular scene in t h e novel t h a t crystallizes lexical a n d
rhetorical traces diffused t h r o u g h o u t . 5 9
T h e tradition I refer to is perhaps best i n t r o d u c e d by t h e story of Tuccia's sieve. 4 0
T u c c i a , a priestess of Vesta accused of breaking h e r vows of chastity, cleared herself
58
Emile Zola, Carnets d'enquetes, ed. Henri Mitterand (Paris: Pln, 1986), 120.
39
It is worth noting as well that a similar network of female bodies, filth, and sewage is found in Zola's
"De la moralite dans la litterature," an article published a year earlier in his Documents litteraires
(1881) and which he had written for Le Messagerde I'Europe. Denouncing his hypocritical fellows who
deny the raw veracity of novels like Nana, he writes: "Meme lorsqu'une femme les eclabousse de son
ordure, lorsqu'ils tombent une belle nuit dans unegout. . . ils gardent le silence. . . . sivousallezau-
del de la robe pour entrer dans la peau . . . vous les bousculez terriblement" ["Even when a woman
splatters them with her filth, even when they fall one fine night into a sewer. . . they keep quiet.
if you go beyond the dress to penetrate the skin, you upset them horribly"]. Zola, "De la moralite dans
la litterature," in Oeuvres completes, Documents litteraires, ed. G. Sigaux (Paris: Fasquelle, 1927-28),
45:586.
40
My comments about Tuccia owe much to Marina Warner's information in Monuments and Maid-
ens: The Allegory of the Female Form (New York: Atheneum, 1985). Tuccia's story is recounted in the
work of Pliny the Elder and Valerius Maximus.
 THE LEAK IN C L O T I L D E ' S HEAI
of t h e charges by carrying a sieve full of water back f r o m t h e river Tiber. T h i s feat
was a m i r a c l e b e c a u s e a sieve is an u n s o u n d vessel, like a woman's body, M a r i n a
W a r n e r r e m i n d s us, "with its o p e n orifices, d a n g e r o u s emissions a n d distressing
a p t i t u d e for c h a n g e . " 4 1 T h e c h a i n of associations linking virtue, integrity, c o n t i -
n e n c e , virginity, a n d w o m a n as vessel or c o n t a i n e r is evident a n d is e m p h a s i z e d by
fertility, pregnancy, a n d maternity, w h i c h unseal t h e c o n t a i n e r a n d let its c o n t e n t s
spill o u t 4 2 M e n ' s bodies are less often represented as vessels; a n d t h e m a n y body
fluids in fact c o m m o n to m e n a n d w o m e n are n o n e t h e l e s s coded as f e m a l e , as if
t h e p r e s e n c e of a w o m b invoked t h e g e n e r i c classification of c o n t a i n e r . So, for ex-
a m p l e , A b b o t O d o of C l u n y in t h e t e n t h c e n t u r y warns: "If m e n could only see
w h a t is b e n e a t h t h e flesh . . . they w o u l d be n a u s e a t e d just to look at w o m e n , for
all this f e m i n i n e c h a r m is n o t h i n g b u t p h l e g m , blood, h u m o u r s , gall. Just i m a g -
ine all t h a t is h i d d e n in nostrils, throat, a n d s t o m a c h . . . . W e are all repelled to
t o u c h v o m i t a n d o r d u r e even with o u r fingertips. H o w t h e n c a n we ever w a n t to
e m b r a c e w h a t is m e r e l y a sack of rottenness?" 4 3
A l t h o u g h T u c c i a herself is n o longer a c o m m o n figure in n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y
iconography, t h e p a t t e r n of associations h e r story brings together c o n t i n u e s to be
pervasive. T h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y hysteric, represented as slave to h e r f e m a l e se-
c r e t i o n s b u t also, a c c o r d i n g to b o t h m e d i c a l a n d p o p u l a r o p i n i o n , as p r o n e to
hypersecretion of g e n d e r - n e u t r a l body fluidsis an avatar of T u c c i a a n d t h e a n -
c i e n t tradition she represents. W e r e m e m b e r t h a t t h e early n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y ar-
ticle "Hysterie" in t h e authoritative Dictionnaire des sciences medicales lists as h a r -
bingers of a hysterical attack " u n e effusion de l a r m e s considerable . . . les clous,
les f u r o n c l e s , les abces, les sueurs, les diarrhees, la salivation" 4 4 ["a heavy flow of
tears . . . c a r b u n c l e s , boils, abcesses, sweat, diarrhea, salivation"]. T h e hysteria
doctors often stress that even n o r m a l w o m e n (that is, protohysterics) secrete tears,
sweat, gastric juices, bile, a n d u r i n e m o r e quickly a n d in greater a b u n d a n c e t h a n
d o m e n . 4 5 T h e y are also p r o n e to an a n a l o g o u s flow of chatter, gossip, exaggera-
tions, a n d lies. So t h e physical a n d m o r a l i n c o n t i n e n c e at t h e core of t h e T u c c i a

story are m a t c h e d by a verbal i n c o n t i n e n c e also well k n o w n to t h e n i n e t e e n t h

century.
It is w o r t h recalling t h e representation in a s e v e n t e e n t h - c e n t u r y e m b l e m book
reported by Patricia M e y e r Spacks, of "a leaking barrel as t h e type of t h e b a b b l i n g as
well as of t h e w h o r i s h w o m a n . " 4 6 C o n s i d e r , too, t h e R e n a i s s a n c e topos t h a t presents
n a t u r a l w o m a n as " t h e gaping m o u t h , t h e o p e n window, t h e body that 'transgresses

4 1
Warner, Monuments and Maidens 254
4 2
Ibid., 251.
4 3
C i t e d by Warner, Monuments and Maidens, 251.

4 4
J.-B. Louyer-Villermay, "Hysterie," in Dictionnaire des sciences medicales, vol. 23 (Paris: Panc-
koucke, 1818), 249.
4 5
S e e , f o r e x a m p l e , J. L . B r c h e t , Traite de l'hysterie (Paris: Bailliere, 1847), 67.
4 6
Spacks, Gossip, 39.
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
192 its o w n limits'" in d e f i a n c e of n o r m a t i v e (i.e., t a m e d ) " W o m a n " w h o s e signs, a s P e -
ter Stallybrass has n o t e d , were " t h e enclosed body, t h e closed m o u t h , t h e locked
h o u s e . " 4 7 T h e triple f o r m u l a invoked by Stallybrass r e t u r n s us to m y earlier c o n t e n -
tion t h a t t h e k i t c h e n scenes of Pot-Bouille are d e p e n d e n t o n a m e t a p h o r i c a l super-
i m p o s i t i o n of h o u s e , body, a n d language. I w o u l d like briefly to detail m y o w n for-
m u l a t i o n a n d , simultaneously, to situate it in m o r e specifically historical terms.
If in t h e n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y w o m e n are still f o r b i d d e n to leave d o m e s t i c space,
servants are m o r e specifically c o n f i n e d , a n d t h e signs of their e n c l o s u r e are m o r e
visible. Servants are increasingly relegated to kitchens, still u n h y g i e n i c a n d poorly
ventilated, w h i c h a d j o i n t h e toilets b u t are rigorously distanced f r o m o t h e r r o o m s ,
a n d at t h e e n d of t h e day they retire to quarters materially separate f r o m t h e m a s -
ters' s p a c e c h a m b r e s de bonnes accessible only by way of back staircases f r o m t h e
kitchen. 4 8 T h e s e a r c h i t e c t u r a l m o d i f i c a t i o n s respond to an increasing repression
o n t h e part of t h e bourgeoisie of w h a t M i k h a i l B a k h t i n calls t h e grotesque b o d y
t h e o p e n , fluid body as p r o c e s s w h i c h is c o n s e q u e n t l y identified with t h e lower
classes, w h o were, in t h e G o n c o u r t s ' celebrated phrase, "plus r a p p r o c h e s d e la n a -
ture et de la sauvagerie" 4 9 ["closer to n a t u r e a n d to t h e primitive"].
W e have, t h e n , a multilayered m a p p i n g of class o n t h e body a n d of t h e b o d y o n
t h e h o u s e , w h i c h is f u r t h e r c o m p l i c a t e d by t h e c o n j u g a t i o n of w o m e n a n d t h e
people: t h e proletariat, as S u s a n n a Barrows has s h o w n , is consistently f e m i n i z e d
(seen as u n c o n t r o l l a b l e , capricious, uncivilized, closer to n a t u r e a n d t h e body).
Correlatively, proletarian w o m e n are represented as h y p e r f e m a l e , h y p e r n a t u r a l :
m a t t e r c o m p o u n d e d , as it were. So for e x a m p l e t h e G o n c o u r t s ' j o u r n a l relates a n
a n e c d o t e a b o u t a certain Dr. C a m u s w h o , called u p o n to vaccinate s o m e u p p e r -
class y o u n g w o m e n a n d their c h a m b e r m a i d s d u r i n g a smallpox e p i d e m i c , ob-
served t h a t t h e skin of t h e high-society w o m e n felt like p a r c h m e n t , w h i l e t h e n e e -
dle p e n e t r a t e d t h e flesh of t h e m a i d s as if it were " u n e p o m m e q u i jute. O u i , u n e
p o m m e p l e i n e de sue" 5 0 ["an apple d r i p p i n g with juice. Yes, a s u c c u l e n t apple"].

4 7
Peter Stallybrass, "Patriarchal Territories," in Rewriting the Renaissance, ed. Margaret Ferguson,

M a u r e e n Q u i l l i g a n , a n d N a n c y J. V i c k e r s ( C h i c a g o : U n i v e r s i t y o f C h i c a g o P r e s s , 1986), 128, 127.

4 8
See M o n i q u e Eleb-Vidal and A n n e Debarre-Blanchard, Architectures de la vie privee (Brussels: Ar-

chives d'Architecture M o d e r n e , 1989), 253-59.

4 9
E d m o n d and Jules de Goncourt, Prefaces et manifestes litteraires (Paris: C h a r p e n t i e r , 1888), 55.

A m o n g Alain Corbin's always incisive passing c o m m e n t s o n nineteenth-century intersections of poli-

t i c s a n d h y g i e n e is t h e f o l l o w i n g a s t u t e a n a l y s i s o f t h e c l a s s d i s t r i b u t i o n o f o d o r : " L a Strategie alors mise

e n o e u v r e o p e r e r a c l a i r e m e n t le partage e n t r e le b o u r g e o i s desodorise et le p e u p l e infect" [ " T h e strategy

p r a c t i c e d clearly c r e a t e s a split b e t w e e n a d e o d o r i z e d b o u r g e o i s i e a n d a p u t r i d l o w e r class"]. C o r b i n , Le

Miasme et la jonquille: L'odorat et l'imaginaire social, XVIII-XIXe siecles ( P a r i s : F l a m m a r i o n , 1 9 8 6 ) ,

64. O n the grotesque body, see M i k h a i l B a k h t i n , Rabelais and His World, t r a n s . H e l e n e I s w o l s k y
(Cambridge: M I T Press, 1968).
5 0
E d m o n d a n d J u l e s d e G o n c o u r t , journal: Memoires de la vie litteraire, ed. R o b e r t R i c a t t e , 3 vols.
(Paris: Laffont, 1956), 2:721, 21 D e c e m b e r 1876. For an excellent discussion of the metaphorical as-

sociations b e t w e e n w o m e n a n d the proletariat, see S u s a n n a Barrows, Distorting Mirrors: Visions of the

Crowd in Late Nineteenth-Century France ( N e w H a v e n : Yale University Press, 1981).
 THE LEAK IN C L O T I L D E ' S HEAI
T h e society w o m e n , w h o s e p a r c h m e n t l i k e skin evokes writing, surface, a n d t h e 19;
m i n d , are dry, desiccated, associated with t h e m a l e principle, w h i l e t h e m a i d s , '
linked to juiciness, food, a n d matter, i n c a r n a t e fluid f e m a l e depths.
W h e n w e t h e n r e t u r n to Zola's kitchens, t h e e x c r e m e n t a l , digestive, perspira-
tional m e t a p h o r s t h a t often qualify t h e secreted gossip of t h e maids' quarters are
m o r e clearly legible as specifically f e m a l e effluents, particularly o n c e we read
closely t h e s c e n e of Adele's childbirth. W e look in o n Adele (who is p r e g n a n t with
t h e u n w a n t e d child of o n e of t h e bourgeois masters) in t h e throes of d i s c o m f o r t
o n e n i g h t in h e r r o o m . O n l y gradually after various u n f r u i t f u l trips to h e r c h a m -
b e r p o t does she realize that t h e s t o m a c h pains she is having are n o t signs of intes-
tinal t r o u b l e " e s t - c e q u e l l e allait avoir des coliques, m a i n t e n a n t ? " ( 3 : 3 6 7 )
["was she going to be colicky, n o w ? " ] b u t of labor. As t h e s c e n e develops, t h e
birth process c o n t i n u e s to be translated by an intestinal a n d excretory rhetoric t h a t
e c h o e s t h e incessant descriptions of t h e kitchens a n d central courtyard:

D e s e a u x ruisselerent, ses bas f u r e n t trempes. . . . son derriere et son

d e v a n t . . . n ' e t a i e n t plus q u ' u n t r o u par lequel coulait sa vie; et l ' e n f a n t
roula sur le lit, e n t r e ses cuisses, a u m i l i e u d ' u n e m a r e d ' e x c r e m e n t s et de
glaires s a n g u i n o l e n t e s . (3:369-70)

Her water broke, drenched her stockings. . . . all that was left of her bottom and
her belly . . . was a hole through which her life ebbed away; and the child rolled out
onto the bed from between her legs in a morass of excrement and bloody mucus.

T h e u m b i l i c a l cord a n d afterbirth, w h i c h are referred to repeatedly as " u n b o y a u "

["a b o w e l " ] t h e preferred t e r m t h r o u g h o u t t h e novel for t h e pestilential c o u r t -
y a r d a r e deposited in Adele's c h a m b e r p o t . S h e t h e n wraps t h e child in newspa-
per a n d leaves h e r in a n a l l e y o n e m o r e fait divers leaked f r o m t h e d e p t h s of a
dark p o l l u t e d source. Inter urinas et faeces are b o r n n o t only o u r lives b u t o u r
words.
T h i s is n o t t h e only t i m e that writing is directly related to t h e h o r r o r of t h e m a -
ternal body. Earlier in t h e novel t h e c o n c i e r g e rages at t h e visible p r e g n a n c y of t h e
only worker in t h e b u i l d i n g , a b o o t stitcher w h o rents a chambre de bonne. His f u r y
reaches p h a n t a s m a t i c p r o p o r t i o n s with t h e course of t h e pregnancy:

" C e ventre! ce ventre!"

C ' e t a i t ce ventre q u i exasperait M . G o u r d . U n ventre de fille pas
m a r i e e . . . . E t son ventre avait grossi sans m e s u r e , hors de t o u t e
proportion. . . .
" E l l e aurait d u prevenir, n'est-ce pas? o n n e s'introduit pas c h e z les
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
194 gens, avec une affaire pareille cachee sous la peau. . . . Et, regardez,
regardez a u j o u r d ' h u i ! eile ne tente rien pour le contenir, eile le lchel"
(3:2 54; m y emphasis)

"That belly, that belly!"

It was that belly that exasperated Monsieur Gourd. The belly of an unmarried
girl. . . . And her belly had swelled out of bounds, beyond all proportion. . . .
"She ought to have let us know, right? One doesn't room in a house with decent
people with this kind of business h i d d e n under the skin. . . . And lookjust look
at her today! S h e doesn't e v e n try to hold it in, she lets it show!"

T h e h i d d e n c o n t e n t s of this w o m a n ' s body present t h e d i s t u r b i n g e l e m e n t : t h e

possibility of c h a n g e , flux, overflow, t h e probability t h a t inside a n d outside c a n n o t
be m a i n t a i n e d as separate categories. T h e o p e n n e s s of t h e b o o t stitcher's p r e g n a n t
b o d y is e m p h a s i z e d by t h e fact that she is never n a m e d , only referred to as "la pi-
q u e u s e d e bottines," t h e repeated evocation of h e r o c c u p a t i o n as m a k e r of holes
translating h e r o w n p e r m e a b l e n a t u r e . A n d it is this woman's body, this u n s o u n d
c o n t a i n e r , t h a t is h e r e again linked to writing. T h e concierge's anger is directed
precisely at his perceived association of p r e g n a n t belly a n d writing: " U n e m a i s o n
c o m m e la n o t r e a f f i c h e e par u n ventre pared! car il l'affiche, m o n s i e u r . . . !"
(3:254) ["A h o u s e like ours labeled by s u c h a belly! for it does label it, s i r . . . !"].
Pot-Bouille, like t h e a p a r t m e n t b u i l d i n g , is placed u n d e r t h e sign of t h e p r e g n a n t
belly, a n d writing, by i m p l i c a t i o n , is a trace of t h e mother's body. 5 1
W e are led back to t h e maids' o p e n m o u t h s , bodies, a n d w i n d o w s t h e k i t c h e n
of t h e novel, as it w e r e a n d to two unresolved questions originating there. W h y
are t h e maids' m a t e r i a l bodies designated as source of Pot-Bouille? A n d w h a t is t h e
c o n n e c t i o n b e t w e e n t h e d o m e s t i c g e n e r a t i o n of Pot-Bouille and the domestic
f o u n d a t i o n of t h e novel's representation of t h e bourgeoisie? T h e s e are p r o b l e m s of
signification t h a t c a n best be a p p r o a c h e d by c o n s i d e r i n g Pot-Bouille as m y t h , in
Barthes's sense. W h e n w e look at t h e signifying s t r u c t u r e of t h e novel, w e c a n
easily r e c o g n i z e t h e m a i d s in their kitchens as signifier of bourgeois m o r a l turpi-
t u d e . T h i s sign is a m b i g u o u s , however, b e c a u s e t h e e q u a t i o n of d o m e s t i c a b j e c -
tion a n d bourgeois t u r p i t u d e w o u l d n o t be possible if m a i d s a n d masters were
e q u a l . T h e e q u a t i o n u p o n w h i c h t h e sign d e p e n d s works only b e c a u s e t h e r e is, in
t h e i m a g i n a r y of S e c o n d E m p i r e F r a n c e , a radical d i s j u n c t i o n b e t w e e n t h e p e o p l e

51
In " D e la m o r a l i t e d a n s la litterature" as well, Z o l a indicates t h e f e m a l e belly as s o u r c e of naturalist

writing. S p e a k i n g of his critics, h e c o m m e n t s : "Iis se f c h e r o n t , e n v o u s v o y a n t a v e c les filles graves,

s e r i e u x , u n s c a l p e l l a m a i n , f o u i l l a n t l e v e n t r e d e c e s j o l i e s p e r s o n n e s , d o n t ils n e t i e n n e n t connattre

q u e le satin" ( 4 5 : 5 8 6 ) [ " T h e y w o u l d b e c o m e a n g r y u p o n s e e i n g y o u w i t h h o n e s t girls, a scalpel in hand,

serious, burrowing around in the belly of these pretty creatures, for t h e y only w a n t to recognize the

satin"].
 THE LEAK IN C L O T I L D E ' S HEAI
a n d t h e bourgeoisie. In other words, t h e initial sign assimilating t h e two classes 19
also signifies s o m e t h i n g q u i t e different: t h e reassuring survival of t h e class system.
T h e duplicity of this m y t h i t s particular version of t h e "jeu . . . de c a c h e - c a c h e "
["game . . . of hide-and-seek"] that Barthes poses as t h e essence of m y t h l i e s in
its flickering b e t w e e n t h e i m a g e of a shared p o p u l a r / b o u r g e o i s filth a n d t h e i m -
plied distinction b e t w e e n two classes of dirt: t h e maids' " n a t u r a l , " material dirt o n
t h e o n e h a n d , a n d t h e m e t a p h o r i c sullying of t h e bourgeoisie o n t h e other. 5 2
At roughly t h e t i m e Z o l a was writing Pot-Bouille, E u g e n e V i o l l e t - l e - D u c wrote
a strikingly lucid analysis of his century's architectural constructs of class, w h i c h
p r e s e n t a usefully c o n c r e t e a n a l o g u e to t h e novelist's m y t h m a k i n g . D i s t i n g u i s h i n g
t h e aristocratic f r o m t h e d e m o c r a t i c state, h e writes:

D a n s les c h a t e a u x c o m m e dans les hotels, la vie d u puissant etait

decouvert; o n n e trouvait ni etrange ni m a u v a i s q u e les familiers fussent-
i l s d ' u n e classe i n f e r i e u r e eussent leurs entrees partout. C'etait u n e
existence en c o m m u n q u i n e pouvait pas avoir d ' i n c o n v e n i e n t s , parce
qu'il n'y avait pas craindre q u e les petits oubliassent jamais la distance
sociale q u i les separait d u maitre.
II n'en est pas ainsi d a n s u n e societe d e m o c r a t i q u e ; c'est alors par u n e
serie de barrieres materielles q u e le m a i t r e p e u t se soustraire a u x visees et
e m p i e t e m e n t s des inferieurs. 5 3

In chateaux as in mansions, the life of the powerful was open to view: it seemed
neither strange nor undesirable that domestics, even of the lower classes, had access
everywhere. Such a shared existence did not pose a problem because there was no
fear that the lowly would ever forget the social distance that separated them from
the master.
This is not the case in a democratic society; in such a society the master must
have recourse to a series of material barriers in order to remove himself from the
designs and encroachments of his inferiors.

M a n i f e s t physical segregation of t h e lower classes b e c o m e s increasingly necessary

to t h e bourgeoisie after 1789, as rigid m o r a l barriers are eroded. In a paradoxical
sense, t h e n , t h e i m p o s i n g presence of material barriers speaks to t h e d i s a p p e a r a n c e
of m o r e effective if less tangible social barriers. In m u c h t h e s a m e way, Zola's m y t h
reinstates t h e barriers whose e f f a c e m e n t h e fears; t h e bar separating signifier f r o m

52
Roland Barthes, "Le Mythe, a u j o u r d ' h u i , " i n Mythologies (Paris: Seuil, 1957), 203.

" E u g e n e Viollet-le-Duc, "17c entretien," in Entretiens sur I'architecture (Paris: M o r e l , 1863-72);

cited by Eleb-Vidal a n d Debarre-Blanchard, Architectures de la vie privee, 258-59.

LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
196 signified (domestics f r o m masters) in t h e initial sign is t h e trace of this r e i m p o s e d
barrier.
As Viollet-le-Duc's c o m m e n t a r y suggests, t h e sociopolitical c h a n g e s a t t a c h e d to
t h e d e m o c r a t i z a t i o n of F r a n c e b r i n g with t h e m a semiological crisis, w h i c h I lo-
cate at t h e h e a r t of Zola's novel. 5 4 H o w c a n difference be signified in a n age w h e n
traditional f o u n d i n g distinctions n o longer h o l d ? As t h e title of t h e novel m a k e s
a b u n d a n t l y p l a i n , w e have in Pot-Bouille a m e l t i n g pot: a very strong t e n d e n c y to-
ward c o a l e s c e n c e , m i x i n g , promiscuity, a n d flowwhich is to say, t h e loss of clear
distinctions. B u t w e also have, in reaction, an insistent a t t e m p t to reestablish p r i n -
ciples of d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n . W e have seen t h a t this a t t e m p t is responsible for t h e m y t h -
ological s t r u c t u r e of t h e novel; I w a n t to a r g u e t h a t it is also responsible for t h e pe-
riodic outbursts of t h e f e m a l e abject, w h i c h , as we have seen, c o m p o s e t h e novel's
r h y t h m i c s t r u c t u r e a n d are designated as writing source.
T h e regular, repetitive e m p t y i n g of material a n d verbal sewage suggests a ritual
process, a c e r e m o n i a l purging. For this reason I t h i n k a reading of these scenes
n e e d s to e m p h a s i z e process rather t h a n matter: t h e differentiation of i m p u r e f r o m
p u r e rather t h a n t h e simple u n l o a d i n g of filth. If we u n d e r s t a n d dirt as t h e t h r e a t
of heterogeneity, as "a category that has to d o with b o u n d a r i e s , " in Klaus T h e w e l -
eit's words, or, similarly, b o r r o w i n g Kristeva's f o r m u l a t i o n of t h e abject, as "ce q u i
p e r t u r b e u n e identite, u n systeme, u n ordre . . . l'entre-deux, l ' a m b i g u , le m i x t e "
["whatever perturbs identity, system, order . . . t h e i n - b e t w e e n , t h e a m b i g u o u s ,
t h e mixed"], t h e n t h e h i d e o u s n e s s of filth, slime, secretion, decay c a n b e u n d e r -
stood as a r e m i n d e r of t h e fragility of t h e signifying process. 5 5 Dirt, or t h e instability
of b o u n d a r i e s , m i m e s t h e perpetual risk r u n by a symbolic order based o n d i s c r i m -
i n a t i o n a n d difference. 5 6 However, t h e ritualization of dirt as p o l l u t i o n or t h e u n -
clean serves as a symbolic corrective to indistinction: a m a r k i n g off of t h e i m p u r e
t h a t salvages t h e p u r e a n d , m o r e crucially, guarantees t h e m a i n t e n a n c e of differ-
e n c e . Just s u c h a ritual p u r p o s e is served by t h e r h y t h m i c r e t u r n of d o m e s t i c sew-
age in Pot-Bouille: p u r e a n d i m p u r e are sorted o u t in t h e kitchen of t h e novel, a n d
a system of b i n a r y distinctions is traced in t h e b l o o d a n d sweat of t h e m a i d s . T h i s
d e m a r c a t i o n , a kind of Ur-writing that emerges f r o m t h e s h a d o w of semiological

54
T h e r e f l e c t i o n o f a s i g n i f y i n g c r i s i s b y a r c h i t e c t u r e a n d l i t e r a t u r e is d o u b t l e s s n o t f o r t u i t o u s . Philippe

H a m o n has written provocatively a b o u t the complicity between these two disciplines, their n e e d to re-

fer to o n e another, " c o m m e si l ' a r c h i t e c t u r e r e n v o y a i t la l i t t e r a t u r e , en u n e sorte de m i r o i r . . . les

q u e s t i o n s f o n d a m e n t a l e s q u i h a n t e n t c e t t e d e r n i e r e " ["as if a r c h i t e c t u r e a c t e d a s a m i r r o r f o r l i t e r a t u r e ,

reflecting t h e f u n d a m e n t a l q u e s t i o n s that h a u n t t h e latter"]. H a m o n , Expositions: Litterature et archi-

tecture au XIXe siecle (Paris: Coiti, 1989), 29.
55
Klaus Theweleit, Male Fantasies, trans. Stephen C o n w a y , 2 vols. ( M i n n e a p o l i s : U n i v e r s i t y of M i n -

nesota Press, 1987), 1:386; Julia Kristeva, Pouvoirs de l'horreur (Paris: Seuil, 1980), 12.
56
K r i s t e v a , Pouvoirs, 84.
 THE LEAK IN C L O T I L D E ' S H E A i
crisis, underwrites Zola's text in m u c h the same way that it supports his represen- 191
tation of the bourgeoisie. ,
If in both cases the signifying order is preserved by the maid, w h o performs a
kind of semiological l a u n d e r i n g service, o n e is led to c o n c l u d e that she f u n c t i o n s
as a natural figure of difference. But in a rare m o m e n t of self-questioning, Zola's
text paints a n auto-pastiche that u n d e r m i n e s the very concept of nature, and per-
haps of naturalism itself. Let m e t u r n to this painting by way of conclusion.
Fairly early in the novel, M a d a m e Josserand is hosting a tea party whose express
purpose is the marketing of her daughter Berthe. To this e n d , she displays, with
calculated n o n c h a l a n c e , this evidence of o n e of Berthes m a n y talents:

C o m m e par hasard, u n e c o u p e de porcelaine se trouvait sur la table; au

fond, encadree dans la m o n t u r e toute n e u v e de bronze verni, etait peinte
la J e u n e Fille la c r u c h e cassee, en teintes lavees qui a l l a i e n t d u Idas clair
au bleu tendre. Berthe souriait au milieu des eloges. (3:55)

As if by chance, there was a porcelain cup on the table; on the bottom, in a rim of
freshly varnished bronze, was the G i r l w i t h t h e B r o k e n P i t c h e r , painted in washed-
out hues varying from pale lilac to light blue. Berthe was smiling amidst the praise.

M a d a m e Josserand goes on to laud the realism of her daughter's style: "Pour le des-
sin, je le garantis! . . . II n'y a pas u n cheveu e n plus ni e n m o i n s . . . Berthe a
copie ga ici, sur u n e gravure" (3:56) ["As for the drawing, I can guarantee it! . . .
T h e r e is n o t a hair too m a n y or too few . . . Berthe copied it here, f r o m an engrav-
ing"] . T h e m o c k i n g voice of Zola the naturalist is audible in this display of Berthe s
watered-down t e a c u p art, copy of a copy of a copy, three times removed f r o m any
observable m o d e l h o l d i n g a broken vessel.
But if we shift our aesthetic orientation, looking at Berthes venture f r o m a sym-
bolist rather t h a n a realist viewpoint, it c a n n o t be so readily dismissed. For t h e
painting Berthe has chosen to reproduce, Jean-Baptiste Greuze's La Cruche cassee
(the original of w h i c h the Louvre acquired in 1789) is a very apt symbolic self-
portrait of the t h i r d h a n d artist, particularly within the iconographic field of the
novel. Greuze's painting represents a n u b i l e young w o m a n with fresh face a n d
clouded eyes, a shattered earthenware pot slung over her right a r m . W i t h her
h a n d s she clutches against her lower body a b u n c h of pink flowers wrapped in a
raised fold of her dress, a n d the spread of her fingers pressed to her pelvis against
the dress fabric replicates the jagged shape of the gash in her pot. T h i s coy image of
lost virginity is e m p h a s i z e d by a thin stream of water flowing f r o m a f o u n t a i n di-
rectly b e h i n d t h e woman's left a r m .
FIGURE 8 . Jean-BaptisteGreuze.
La C r u c h e cassee.
(Paris, Louvre. PhotoR.M.N.)
 THE LEAK IN C L O T I L D E ' S HEAI
Now, t h e citation of G r e u z e (and, indirectly, of t h e T u c c i a legend) alludes to t h e 19!
u n s o u n d bodies of t h e m a i d s a n d implicates Berthe as potential leaking vessel. H e r *
r e p r o d u c t i o n of La Cruche cassee, replicated o n c e m o r e by h e r m e t o n y m i c c o n -
n e c t i o n to t h e cups of tea she is serving to t h e guests, works as p r o p h e t i c symbol.
Later, after s h e is bartered in m a r r i a g e a n d loses h e r chastity to a lover, t h e story of
h e r adultery, first leaked by t h e m a i d s "au m i l i e u des e p l u c h u r e s et des e a u x
grasses" (3:269) ["amidst t h e vegetable peels a n d t h e kitchen slops"] a n d t h e n
spilled in h e r own tears (3:293), finally p o u r s o u t in words: "Alors Berthe se c o n -
fessa, d'abord en c h e r c h a n t les mots, puis en l a c h a n t t o u t " (3:320) [ " T h e n B e r t h e
confessed, first hestitating, t h e n letting it all p o u r out"]. Berthe has b e c o m e , in h e r
m o t h e r s words, "[une] g r a n d e c r u c h e " (3:344) ["{a} real crackpot"].
Zola's caricature of t h e artist as copiste is, of course, m e a n t to be placed in c o n -
tradistinction to a m o r e kindred c o n c e p t of t h e artist as naturalist, n o d o u b t ex-
e m p l i f i e d by t h e writer in Pot-Bouille w h o observes his neighbors a n d t h e n writes
a n ugly b u t t r u e n o v e l o r better yet, by Z o l a himself. B u t to read Pot-Bouille as a
r e n d e r i n g of n a t u r e is to m a k e t h e s a m e foolish claims for Z o l a as M a d a m e Josse-
r a n d does for Berthe. As Berthe painstakingly copies a r e p r o d u c t i o n of t h e G r e u z e
p a i n t i n g , Z o l a paints his m a i d s s o m a n y cruches casseesonto t h e bourgeoisie.
T h e aesthetic a m b i g u i t y of B e r t h e s art (failed realism or inadvertent symbol-
ism?) reflects t h e a m b i g u i t i e s of Zola's n a t u r a l i s m a n d reveals his aesthetic a m b i v -
a l e n c e as w e l l 5 7 a n a m b i v a l e n c e h e w o u l d t h e m a t i z e a few years later in
" M i g h t Zola's mockery of Greuze's sentimental painting contain an element of denied nostalgia?

T w e n t y years earlier in a letter to C e z a n n e (16 J a n u a r y i860) he admired the painting and expressed a

longing to find the m o d e l a t the s a m e time admitting that there probably was none, thereby echoing

the realist/symbolist split:

Dernierement, j'ai d e c o u v e r t c h e z u n e d e m e s c o n n a i s s a n c e s u n e v i e i l l e g r a v u r e enfumee.

Je la t r o u v a i s d e l i c i e u s e e t je n e m e t o n n a i p a s d e m o n a d m i r a t i o n l o r s q u e je la vis s i g n e e du

n o m de Greuze. C'est u n e j e u n e p a y s a n n e , g r a n d e et d e rare b e a u t e d e formes: o n dirait une

deesse de l'Olympe, m a i s d ' u n e e x p r e s s i o n si s i m p l e e t si g r a c i e u s e q u e s a b e a u t e s e change

presque e n gentillesse. O n n e sait t r o p ce q u e l'on doit le p l u s a d m i r e r , o u d e sa figure mutine,

o u d e ses bras m a g n i f i q u e s ; q u a n d o n les regarde, o n se sent pris d ' u n s e n t i m e n t d e t e n d r e s s e et

d'admiration. . . D ' a i l l e u r s , G r e u z e a t o u j o u r s e t e m o n favori, e t je suis reste l o n g t e m p s devant

c e t t e e a u - f o r t e , m e p r o m e t t a n t d ' a i m e r l ' o r i g i n a l , si u n t e l p o r t r a i t , s a n s d o u t e u n r e v e de

l'auteur, peut e n avoir u n . (Zola, Pot-Bouille, 3:1648, n. 1)

Recently, I discovered a smoky old engraving in the possession of an acquaintance. I found it

delicious and was not surprised by my admiration when I saw that it was signed by Greuze. It is a
young peasant girl, ample and unusually well shaped: one might say an Olympian goddess, but
whose expression is so simple and so gracious that her beauty almost becomes gentleness. It is
hard to know what is most admirableher saucy face, or her magnificent arms; when looking
at them, one is overcome by a feeling of tenderness and admiration. . . . Besides, Greuze has
always been my favorite, and I lingered for a good while before this etching, promising myself
to love the original, if such a portrait, probably a dream of its author, can have one.
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
200 L Oeuvre. There the artist Claude Lantier, who prides himself on painting only
reality, struggles to rationalizeto naturalizehis representation of a female
nude on a boat in the middle of Paris:

Claude s'entetait, donnait des explications mauvaises et violentes, car il

ne voulait pas avouer la vraie raison, une idee lui, si peu claire, qu'il
n'aurait pu la dire avec nettete, le tourment d'un symbolisme secret, ce
vieux regain de romantisme qui lui faisait incarner dans cette nudite la
chair raeme de Paris.58

Claude insisted, offered implausible and violent explanations, because he didn't

want to admit the real reason, an idea he had that was too vague to be expressed
clearly, a secret symbolism that tormented him, a holdover of romanticism that
made him incarnate the very flesh of Paris in this nude body.

Like Claude, Zola is prey to a "secret symbolism" that is responsible for his incar-
nation of the flesh of the bourgeoisie in the nudity of women, a nudity he struggles
to naturalize by referring it to the maids.59
To read Berthes painted cup as a pastiche of Pot-Bouille is to reread Zola's nat-
uralism, to destabilize the bracing role of female abjectness in his representation
of the bourgeoisie. Berthes Cruche cassee suggests that Zola's painting of the
bourgeoisie should be attributed not to nature but to a coherent symbolist vision
the symbolism of a vision that coheres to a certain ideologyand that his natural-
ism should be glossed as a symbolism naturalized by cultural codes.

T H E BODY IN Q U E S T I O N

La Joie de vivre
Nana and Pot-Bouille turn on an omnipresent body that is endlessly deferred and
withdrawn. We have seen that Adele's secret places (which are condensations of
domestic space) are constantly displaced as secretions, and that Nana's private
parts remain quintessentially private. When they are re-presented by Louise in the
childbirth scene of La foie de vivre, they become quite simply parts: detachable,
observable objects. The scene of Louise's labor constitutes one of the rare in-
stances, in Zola, where the female body is completely bared and its secret places

5 8
Zola, L'Oeuvre, in Les Rougon-Macquart, 4:236.
59
T h e citation from L'Oeuvre w a s b r o u g h t to m y attention by Peter Brooks's Body Work: Objects of De-
sire in Modern Fiction ( C a m b r i d g e : H a r v a r d University Press, 1993), 135. See his chapter 5 (12361)

for a m o r e e x t e n d e d c o m m e n t a r y o n Zola's t r e a t m e n t of t h e p r o b l e m of representing the m o d e r n nude.

 THE LEAK IN C L O T I L D E ' S HEAI
exposed. But nudity, like truth, turns out to be a virtual concept, dependent upon 201
its antithesis, cover-up. When the last veil is lifted, when Louise is displayed, "de-
couverte jusqu a la gorge, le ventre lair, les jambes elargies" ["bared to the chest,
belly up, legs spread"], both nudity and hidden truth have become conceptual im-
possibilities: "Cette nudite avait . . . disparu. . . . A la grande clarte brutale, le
mystere troublant sen etait alle de la peau si delicate aux endroits secrets"60 ["Her
nudity had . . . disappeared. . . . In the harsh light, the troubling mystery had
vanished from the delicate, secretive skin"].
Louise's body, fixed under "the harsh light" of Zola's naturalist scrutiny, resem-
bles nothing so much as an entomological specimen splayed under a microscope,
taken in charge by a superseding consciousness. The passage that focuses upon her
body begins: "Louise n etait plus. Elle venait de s'abandonner comme une chose."
["Louise was no longer present. She had just given herself over, like a thing."] It
ends: "Le medecin causait toujours" (3:1095-96) ["The doctor was still talking"].
The intervening description, bounded by these two statements, marks a passage
from Louise's loss of consciousness to the narrative appropriation, via the doctor,
of her immobilized body.61
Her lapse into unconsciousness allows the narrator's discourse to assume her
body more completely and more perceptibly. When she faints, her absence pro-
vides an opening, creates the space for a narrative presence: "Elle restait la, sans
meme un frisson, etalant sa maternite ensanglantee et beante" (3:1096) ["She
stayed that way, without even a shiver, exhibiting her bloody and gaping mater-
nity"]. This beance, this organ gaping like a speechless mouth, constitutes a gap
that the doctor/narrator can fill in with his own words. Here as elsewhere in Zola,
female bodily discourse turns out to be a ventriloquist's discourse. Female speech
is suppressed in order to be expressed as (inarticulate) body language, which is then
translateddubbedby a male narrator. But the source of this projected voice
can be traced through its phantasmatic imagery:

A la grande clarte brutale, le mystere troublant sen etait alle de la peau si

delicate aux endroits secrets, de la toison frisant en petites meches
blondes; et il ne restait que l'humanite douloureuse, l'enfantement dans
le sang et dans l'ordure, faisant craquer le ventre des meres, elargissant
jusqua l'horreur la fente rouge, pareille au coup de hache qui ouvre le
tronc et laisse couler la vie des grands arbres. (3:1096)
6 0
Zola, La foie de vivre, in Les Rougon-Macquart, 3:1096. S u b s e q u e n t references to the novel will be
given parenthetically in t h e text.
61
We find essentially the same structure of mediation here as in the Nana scene, with the doctor's scru-
tiny now replacing the lovers. Both lover and doctor (and the distinction between the two is blurred by
the doctor's name, Cazenove) perform a mise en discours of a mute (and therefore narratable) woman's
form.
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
202 In the harsh light, the troubling mystery had vanished from the delicate secret skin,
from the fleece curling all over in little blond tendrils; and only its suffering
humanity was left, childbirth in blood and ordure, making mothers' bellies split,
spreading the red crack to the point of horror, like an ax blow that splits open the
trunk and lets the life of great trees ebb away.

When the mothers body is stripped and exposed to the harsh light of day, all it
reveals in the presumed place of truth is a widening gash, a gaping, bleeding
wound compared to a slash in an incongruously placed tree trunk. This wound,
legacy of the "felure originaire," of the "premiere lesion," is, for Zola, not only the
figure of female sexuality, but the central, driving image of his writing. It is a figure
at once inspirational and daemonic.
In he Docteur Pascal, in a passage whose language curiously echoes what I have
just cited, Clotilde has this reproach for the doctor/author: "C'est une clarte terri-
ble que ta science jette sur le monde, ton analyse descend dans toutes nos plaies
humaines, pour en etaler l'horreur. Tu dis tout" ["Your science casts a terrible light
on the world, your analysis enters all our human wounds, to expose their horror.
You say all"]. And Pascal replies with his familiar refrain: "Tout dire, ah! oui, pour
tout connaitre et tout guerir" (5:992-93) ["To say all, oh yes! to know all and to
cure all"]. His words take on a peculiar resonance when we recall that for Balzac,
the writer's task was to "montrer la plaie"62 ["to show the wound"]. Zola, whose
doubts about literary identity are matched only by anxieties about sexual identity,
would outdo his precursor: where Balzac set out to show the wound, Zola will heal
it. The implications of such a therapeutic project are double: on the one hand, to
stanch the flow of blood, or to heal female sexuality; on the other, to stanch the
flow of words, or to cure the text.
It is precisely because his textuality is so dependent upon female sexuality that
Zola is caught in a double bind, eager but ultimately unwilling to tell, know, and
cure the wounded and wounding difference. This double bind is the fetishist's di-
lemma, perhaps best expressed by Octave Mannoni's now famous formula: "Je sais
bien . . . mais quand meme" 6 ' ["Of course I know {there is a difference} . . . but
still"]. In Zola's reverse phrasing (in a statement that is once again an attempt to
distinguish himself from Balzac), the mechanism of disavowal is remarkably sim-
ilar: "Balzac dit qu'il veut peindre les hommes, les femmes et les choses. Moi, des
hommes et des femmes, je ne fais qu'un, en admettant cependant les differences
de nature." 64 ["Balzac says he wants to depict men, women, and things. As for me,

6 2
H o n o r e de Balzac, letter to H y p p o l y t e Castille, in Oeuvres completes, ed. Marcel Bouteron and

H e n r i L o n g n o n , 4 0 vols. (Paris: C o n a r d , 1940), 40:642-52.

6 3
Octave M a n n o n i , Clefs pour I'imaginaire ou I'autre scene (Paris: Seuil, 1969), 9 - 3 3 .
6 4
Zola, "Les Differences entre Balzac et m o i , " in Les Rougon-Macquart, 5:1737.
 THE LEAK IN C L O T I L D E ' S HEAI
I consider men and women as one, while acknowledging, however, the differences 203
of nature."] That is to say, "I do not acknowledge difference . . . but still."
Zola's stated ambivalence helps to explain whywith an inseparable mixture of
horror and fascinationhe plants a mutilated tree at the devastated site of Louise's
genitals. For Zola, Louise is both castrated and not castrated. In this way, he covers
or recuperates a loss with a gain that nonetheless marks off (and bears the mark of)
privation: that privation upon which his writing depends.
What is of interest here is less the anatomical figure of loss than the figured loss
of autonomy. When we recall that Louise loses, in rapid succession, bodily mas-
tery, speech, and consciousness, thereby becoming representable, it begins to be
evident that we need a definition of castration that incorporates a shift from the an-
atomical to the symbolic level. In her commentary on one of the classic Freudian
examples of fetishism, the Chinese custom of binding a woman's foot and then
being spellbound by it, Julia Kristeva usefully proposes that we understand castra-
tion as an exclusion indispensable to the constitution of a sociosymbolic order: "le
de -coupage d'une partie de l'ensemble pour que l'ensemble se constitue comme
tel, comme une alliance homogene" 65 ["the cutting off of a part of the whole so
that the whole can be constituted as such, as a homogeneous alliance"]. Just as the
notion of revelation is dependent on secrecy, and nudity, on cover-up, the concept
of coherence must be guaranteed by that of fragmentation, and the concept of
identity by that of difference. But difference turns out to be a devalued same. Rep-
resented as less, woman is nonetheless introduced into the phallic order as its
dregs. However, because she assumes the symbolic burden of the privation that is
in fact imposed on all adherents to the social contract, her sign of lack is eventually
valorized as a supplement: it is fetishized. Women are the refuse of society but also
the guardians of its truths. Such a position, needless to say, hardly spells good news
for women. Icons bear an uncanny resemblance to scapegoats.
Such a reading of the subtle transition from female castration to fetishization,
from lack to plenitude, is especially useful to me at this point because it helps to re-
turn us from the particular clinical close-ups of Louise, Adele, and Nana to Zola's
more general use of anatomical metaphors of textuality. When the specific fetish-
istic images of the veil and the tree are elucidated as signifiers of both lack and se-
crets, they send us back to the founding metaphorthe recurring metaphorof
the felure, both gap and excess, lack become leak. Fetishism, as enacted by Zola,
replicates the felure: the process of inscribing a crack, a fault, a lacuna within the
text and then valorizing it as hidden signified, as signifying source.
It is worth emphasizing that woman can be blazoned as hidden signifier only
when she has been introduced (as negative value) within the phallic order; that is,
only once she has been fetishized. Therefore, when we associate the felure with fe-
6 5
Julia Kristeva, DesChinoises (Paris: des f e m m e s , 1974), 91.
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
204 tishism, we h a v e already implicitly dissociated Zola's t e x t a t least in p a r t f r o m
its ostensibly f e m a l e m e t a p h o r i c a l source. Fetishism, or t h e process of m a k i n g
w o m a n a p p e a r to signify within a m a l e symbolic order, d e p e n d s u p o n a m e t a p h o r -
ical shift f r o m f e m a l e to m a l e anatomy. O r better still, it d e p e n d s u p o n a shifting
between f e m a l e a n d m a l e a n a t o m i c a l figures, a dizzying vacillation that strives to
m a k e d i f f e r e n c e a n incessantly posed, eternally u n d e c i d a b l e q u e s t i o n .
r

HYSTERICIZING HISTORY
The Commune according to Du Camp
Les Convulsions de Paris

Si les Dieux sont partis, la Femme te reste.

FELICIEN ROPS TO E D M O N D P I C A R D , 1878

# A certain strategy manipulated by rightist chroniclers seeking to disarm

the political thrust of the Paris Commune consisted of pathologizing it.1 Here is
Zola: "C'etait . . . une crise de nervosite maladive qui se declarait, une epide-
mique fievre" ["It was . . . the outbreak of a morbid nervous condition, a conta-
gious fever"]. Now Jules Claretie: "Letat de Paris etait encore plus pathologique
que politique. La surexcitation cerebrale des derniers mois eclatait en un immense
acces" ["The state of Paris was more pathological than political. The excessive ce-
rebral agitation of the preceding months burst out in an immense fit"]. In a similar
1
The Paris Commune was a revolutionary government formed by workers in Paris (and several other
cities) in late March 1871, following a series of defeats suffered by the French army at the hands of the
Prussians, the five-month siege of Paris by the Prussians, and an ensuing state of military, economic,
and political chaos. Federal troops repressed the Commune two months later in a week-long massacre
that left some twenty-five thousand mostly working-class insurgents dead. Notable as the first rise to
power of a revolutionary proletariat, the Commune was generally censured by the bourgeoisie. In the
intervening century, it has been appropriated as precursor by a number of leftist and extreme leftist
movements.

205
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
206 b u t m o r e explicit vein, G u y de M a u p a s s a n t n a m e s t h e disease that figures so p r o m -
inently in t h e rhetoric of a n t i - C o m m u n a r d literature: " L a C o m m u n e n'est pas
a u t r e c h o s e q u ' u n e crise d'hysterie de Paris" 2 [ " T h e C o m m u n e is n o t h i n g b u t Paris
in t h e throes of a hysterical attack"].
T h e title of M a x i m e D u C a m p ' s f o u r - v o l u m e diatribe against t h e C o m m u n e ,
Les Convulsions de Paris, forecasts a work c o n g r u e n t with t h e rhetorical c l i m a t e I
have b e e n referring to. T h e imagistic character of D u C a m p ' s title i m m e d i a t e l y
contradicts t h e claims of his i n t r o d u c t i o n to tell only t h e facts in his historical n a r -
rative, w h i c h h e represents as a d o c u m e n t a r y record of selected episodes of t h e
C o m m u n e . 3 I n d e e d , t h e l i m i n a l figuration of political as pathological writes t h e
m e t a p h o r large u p o n t h e body of t h e text, sustains it, suggesting that t h e hysterical
body will be systematically inscribed, in t h e s u b s e q u e n t pages, u p o n t h e body pol-
itic. In o t h e r words, t h e figure in t h e title a n n o u n c e s t h e extension of m e t a p h o r
into allegory.
T h e Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics tells us t h a t "we h a v e allegory
w h e n t h e events of a narrative obviously a n d continuously refer to a n o t h e r s i m u l -
t a n e o u s s t r u c t u r e of events or ideas." Similarly, a c c o r d i n g to N o r t h r o p Frye, a n a r -
rative is allegory w h e n an a u t h o r indicates t h e relationship of images to ideas "ex-
plicitly," " c o n t i n u o u s l y , " a n d "systematically." L e o n a r d Barkan speaks in like
f a s h i o n , a n d m o r e specifically addresses my o w n focus o n t h e allegorical body: "An
extended a n d consistent use of t h e h u m a n body image in a work is allegorical
[when] it p r o d u c e s a continuous line of action parallel to t h e narrative itself." 4 B u t

2
E m i l e Zola, La Debacle, in Les Rougon-Macquart, ed. A r m a n d Lanoux and Henri Mitterand, 5

vols. (Paris: G a l l i m a r d , 1960-67), 5:859. Jules Claretie, Histoire de la revolution de 1870-71 (Paris:

A u x bureaux du journal L'Eclipse, 1872), 636. I o w e the citation f r o m Claretie to Paul Lidsky's infor-

mative Les Ecrivains contre la Commune (Paris: Maspero, 1970), 54. G u y de Maupassant, " U n e

F e m m e , " i n Chroniques, 3 vols. (Paris: 10/18, 1980), 2:112. M a u p a s s a n t satirizes in this article t h e in-

flationary use of the hysteria metaphor.

' M a x i m e D u C a m p , journalist, art critic, novelist, editor, photographer, and inveterate voyager, is

p r o b a b l y best k n o w n today as Flaubert's close friend a n d travel c o m p a n i o n . A l t h o u g h s o m e of his w o r k s

w e r e successful in his o w n t i m e ( L e s Convulsions de Paris went through n i n e editions in twenty-five

years), only his Souvenirs litteraires, a c o m p e n d i u m of often vicious, specious, and extremely miso-

gynistic literary gossip, r e m a i n s in print today. In his y o u t h h e was a n i m p a s s i o n e d R o m a n t i c ; in later

life, h e w a s a n o t o r i o u s conservative. This reputation barred h i m from delivering a funeral oration at

V i c t o r H u g o ' s g r a v e s i t e , e v e n t h o u g h h e w a s d i r e c t o r o f t h e A c a d e m i e f r a n g a i s e a t t h e t i m e , f o r it w a s

feared that a p o p u l a r uprising m i g h t ensue. A n often-linked strain of c o n t e m p t for w o m e n a n d for the

l o w e r c l a s s e s is a c r o s s - g e n e r i c t r a i t o f h i s writing.
4
"Allegory," in Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, ed. Alex P r e m i n g e r (Princeton: Princeton

University Press, 1974), 12; N o r t h r o p Frye, The Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton: Princeton University

Press, 1973), 90; L e o n a r d Barkan, Nature's Work of Art: The Human Body as Image of the World ( N e w

H a v e n : Yale University Press, 1 9 7 5 ^ 4 - 5 , m y emphasis. Angus Fletcher summarizes: " T h e traditional

r h e t o r i c set forth by C i c e r o , Quintilian, a n d t h e R e n a i s s a n c e r h e t o r i c i a n s a s s e r t s t h a t a l l e g o r y is a se-

q u e n c e of s u b m e t a p h o r s w h i c h a m o u n t in aggregate to o n e single, c o n t i n u e d , 'extended' metaphor."

Fletcher, Allegory: The Theory of a Symbolic Mode (Ithaca: C o r n e l l University Press, 1964), 70.
 HYSTERICIZING HISTORY
w h e n w e a p p r o a c h D u C a m p ' s narrative expecting to find t h e title's p r o j e c t e d body 207
casting a l o n g convulsive shadow u p o n t h e disparate events of t h e C o m m u n e , w e
are disappointed. T h e allegorical p r e c o n c e p t i o n s set u p by t h e title are frustrated
by t h e i n c o n s i s t e n t s t r u c t u r e of images t h a t follows.
Les Convulsions de Paris is n o t u n a m b i g u o u s l y a n allegory, if we u n d e r s t a n d
this figure to g e n e r a t e a consistently parallel s t r u c t u r e of ideas, a n d if w e d e f i n e it
in t e r m s of unity, continuity, a n d systematism. Neither, however, c a n it be dis-
missed as simply non-allegory. A l t h o u g h we find h e r e n o sustained discourse of
t h e hysterical b o d y used to represent t h e Paris C o m m u n e , we d o find t h a t t h e
C o m m u n e is consistently conveyed by a n extended body of discourse t h a t m a y
best b e n a m e d hysteria. W h a t I a m suggesting is that D u C a m p ' s text shifts us f r o m
a n u n d e r s t a n d i n g of hysteria as a material body to t h e m o r e f u n d a m e n t a l n o t i o n of
t h e disease as a discourse, in t h e F o u c a u l d i a n sense, t h a t p r o d u c e s this body: m a n -
u f a c t u r e s t h e diagnosis a n d t h e disease.
In t h e gap b e t w e e n title a n d text s o m e t h i n g changes; t h e work a d v a n c e s u n d e r
allegory's b a n n e r to r e a c h us as unraveled fabric, presenting instead t h e scattered
e l e m e n t s of allegory. In t h e anticipated place of an integral image, we find a text,
Penelope-like, u n d o i n g itself even in t h e m a k i n g , u n m a k i n g its representational
weave. D u C a m p ' s perverse u n m e s h i n g of allegoryhis f r a g m e n t i n g of t h e hys-
terical b o d y r e v e a l s m o r e t h a n a seamless allegory ever c o u l d , for it bares hyste-
ria's c o n s t i t u e n t threads a n d exposes its textual-functions.
T h e r e are two related b u t separate points to be e m p h a s i z e d here. First, t h e de-
allegorization of hysteria or disintegration of hysteria's allegorical b o d y reorients
o u r a t t e n t i o n to hysteria's g e n e r a t i o n , t h a t is, to t h e separate strands of t h e dis-
c o u r s e t h a t p r o d u c e s it. S e c o n d , t h e a m b i v a l e n c e betrayed by first positing a n d
t h e n u n d o i n g t h e hysterical body highlights t h e paradox of a figure b o t h necessary
a n d intolerable to t h e text, a figure w h o s e power t h e text endlessly works to i n c o r -
porate yet vigilantly strives to d i s m e m b e r . W h a t follows is an exploration of these
two a v e n u e s o p e n e d by Les Convulsions de Paris, w h i c h lead in t u r n to s o m e re-
flections o n t h e narrative s t r u c t u r e a n d f u n c t i o n of hysteria.

THE TATTERS OF ALLEGORY

Let us look first at t h e r e m n a n t s of hysteria s allegorical body strewn t h r o u g h this

text. T h e title's convulsions, w h i c h initially establish t h e link b e t w e e n politics a n d
pathology, provide a r e c u r r e n t b u t n o n e t h e l e s s i n c o n s i s t e n t m e t a p h o r for t h e
u p h e a v a l s that beset Paris d u r i n g t h e C o m m u n e . W e find t h a t t h e c o n d i t i o n
w h o s e s y m p t o m s are t h e C o m m u n e ' s variously attributed convulsions, spasms,
a n d fits is s u b j e c t to a plethora of diagnoses. D u C a m p ' s Paris of 1871 is m o s t fre-
q u e n t l y afflicted with epileptic seizures of a peculiar hybrid variety. " U n acces
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
208 d'envie f u r i e u s e et d'epilepsie sociale" 5 ["A fit of f u r i o u s envy a n d social epilepsy"]
is a typical e x p l a n a t i o n of events. But epilepsy is n o t a stable diagnosis here; Paris
suffers f r o m a kaleidoscoping s p e c t r u m of available ills. T h e r e is h y d r o c e p h a l u s :
"La F r a n c e a la tete trop grosse, et, c o m m e les hydrocephales, eile est sujette des
acces de f u r e u r m a n i a q u e . La C o m m u n e a ete u n de ces acces" (2:307) ["France
has a h e a d too big for her, a n d , like hydrocephalics, she is subject to fits of m a n i a -
cal furor. T h e C o m m u n e was o n e of those fits"]; k l e p t o m a n i a : "[les C o m m u n a r d s ]
en e t a i e n t . . . arrives u n paroxysme q u i les aveuglait et q u i p o u r r a i t faire croire
qu'ils etaient atteints de c l e p t o m a n i e aigue" ( 4 : 1 4 5 ) [ " { t h e C o m m u n a r d s } were
struck by a paroxysm t h a t b l i n d e d t h e m a n d m a d e it s e e m as if they were victims of
a c u t e k l e p t o m a n i a " ] ; Saint Vitus's d a n c e or chorea: "[Paris est] atteint de la d a n s e
S a i n t - G u y p o l i t i q u e " a n d "cette capitale [est] atteinte de c h o r e e a l c o o l i q u e et
m e u r t r i e r e " (2:214, 3 : 1 2 5) ["{Paris is} afflicted with a political version of S a i n t V i -
tus's d a n c e " a n d "this capital {is} afflicted with alcoholic a n d m u r d e r o u s chorea"];
ataxia: "la civilisation est ataxique; eile p e n c h e g a u c h e , elle va t o m b e r " (4:326)
["civilization is ataxic; it is l e a n i n g to t h e left, it is a b o u t to fall"]; a l c o h o l i s m : t h e
C o m m u n e e m p o w e r s "le r e g i m e d u delirium tremens" (1:85) ["the r e g i m e of deli-
rium tremens"}; a n d , in extremis, death: " L e 25 m a i , la C o m m u n e . . . s'agitait e n -
core et n e vivait plus; mais les derniers spasmes de son agonie f u r e n t terribles"
( 1 : 2 8 7 - 8 8 ) [ " O n t h e 25th of May, t h e C o m m u n e . . . was still stirring b u t was n o
longer alive; yet t h e last spasms of its agony were terrible"].

Still u n a c c o u n t e d for are t h e n u m e r o u s references to c o n v u l s i o n s u n y o k e d f r o m

a c o n t r o l l i n g diagnosis: "ce paroxysme i n c o n s c i e n t " (1:38) ["this u n c o n s c i o u s pa-
roxysm"], " u n acces de folie f u r i e u s e " (2:213) ["a fit of f u r i o u s madness"], "cet
acces de justice p o p u l a i r e " (4:208) ["this fit of p o p u l a r justice"], " u n e des crises les
plus perilleuses" (4:7) ["one of t h e m o s t d a n g e r o u s seizures"], a n d so forth. T h e far-
flung diagnostic points designate a constellation less a m o r p h o u s t h a n o n e m i g h t
expect; t h e internal varieties of D u C a m p ' s c o n v u l s i o n m e t a p h o r are entirely c o n -
sistent w i t h c o n t e m p o r a r y m e d i c a l theories of hereditary d e g e n e r a t i o n . I a m
t h i n k i n g particularly of Jacques Joseph M o r e a u de Tour's "tree of nervosity,"
w h i c h shows hysteria, epilepsy, c h o r e a , a n d c o n v u l s i o n s to be offshoots of t h e
s a m e b r a n c h , close c o u s i n s of prostitutes, c r i m i n a l s , Utopians, a n d b a d citizens,
w h o c a n follow their roots back to alcoholics a n d imbeciles. 6

5
M a x i m e D u C a m p , Les Convulsions de Paris, 4 v o l s . ( P a r i s : H a c h e t t e , 1 8 8 9 ) , i : v i . Les Convulsions
first appeared in 1 8 7 8 - 7 9 . S u b s e q u e n t r e f e r e n c e s t o Les Convulsions will b e to this edition a n d will be

given in the text.

6
J a c q u e s J o s e p h M o r e a u d e T o u r s , La Psychologie morbide ( P a r i s : V i c t o r M a s s o n , 1 8 5 9 ) . Z o l a a d a p t e d
M o r e a u ' s tree as t h e m o d e l for t h e f a m i l y tree of t h e Rougon-Macquart. (See figures 14 a n d 15.) In h e r

fascinating study of c r o w d theory in n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y France, S u s a n n a Barrows m e n t i o n s that crowd

theorists borrowed m o d e l s for a b n o r m a l psychology from medicine. Predictably, then, crowds most

often act like w o m e n or alcoholics; a n d a n e t w o r k of familiar m e t a p h o r s also c o m p a r e s c r o w d behavior

 HYSTERICIZING HISTORY
If convulsiveness is t h e s y m p t o m most obviously (if inaccurately) shared by D u 209
C a m p s diagnoses of t h e C o m m u n e , it is closely shadowed by femininity. For
g r a m m a t i c a l reasons, of course, t h e C o m m u n e is consistently referred to as elle
a n d , by extension, personified as a w o m a n : "La C o m m u n e est bien m a l a d e ; eile n e
tardera pas m o u r i r " (3:239) [ " T h e C o m m u n e is q u i t e ill; it/she will n o t be long in
dying"]. "La C o m m u n e o u b l i e trop volontiers q u e l l e est la fillela fille m i -
n e u r e d u C o m i t e , et elle s e m b l e n e pas s'apercevoir q u e l l e a plus q u e jamais be-
soin des conseils paternels" ( 4 : 9 7 - 9 8 ) [ " T h e C o m m u n e too easily forgets that she
is t h e C o m m i t t e e ' s d a u g h t e r i t s u n d e r a g e d a u g h t e r a n d she seems n o t to n o t i c e
t h a t n o w m o r e t h a n ever she needs paternal guidance"]. B u t g r a m m a t i c a l g e n d e r
a l o n e does n o t explain t h e f e m i n i n e identification of this political body.
T h e C o m m u n e is f e m i n i z e d by association with a cluster of traits t h a t c o n n o t e
woman. W e c a n best locate these w o m a n l y attributes by backtracking, a b a n d o n i n g
t e m p o r a r i l y t h e figurative f e m i n i n e to trace f e m i n i n e presence in Les Convul-
sions. W o m e n are n o t merely o m n i p r e s e n t b u t d o m i n a n t in D u C a m p ' s C o m -
m u n e . T h e y are t h e driving force if n o t t h e ruling power of his narrative. T i m e
a n d again we see t h e m , bloodthirsty m a e n a d s o b e d i e n t to their a n i m a l instincts,
d r u n k with t h e taste of c o m b a t a n d eau-de-vie, speaking coarsely, dressing lewdly,
a n d u n d r e s s i n g f r e e l y s i r e n s a n d sorceresses l u r i n g their m e n f o l k into battle a n d
f r e q u e n t l y p l u n g i n g first into t h e fray. So prevalent is this c o n f i g u r a t i o n of traits
t h a t a l m o s t any of D u C a m p ' s descriptions of t h e Communardes is illustrative:

Trois f e m e l l e s a n i m a i e n t , enfievraient les h o m m e s , e m b r a s s a i e n t les

p o i n t e u r s et faisaient p r e u v e d ' u n e i m p u d e u r q u i n e redoutait pas le grand
jour. Jeunes, enivrees d e bataille et d'eau-de-vie, elles apportaient u n
e l e m e n t d e d e b a u c h e a u m i l i e u de la tuerie. (3:80)

E n sueur, les v e t e m e n t s debrailles, la p o i t r i n e p r e s q u e n u e , [elles]

passaient d ' h o m m e e n h o m m e et parfois criaient: A boire! (3:87)

Three bitches led on the men, kissed the gunners, and displayed an immodesty
that did not try to hide itself. Young, drunk with battle and with eau-de-vie, they
brought an element of debauchery into the bloodshed.

Sweating, indecently covered, their breasts exposed, they went from man to man
and sometimes called out for more drink.

to that of savages, children, animals, the poor, a n d the insane. Barrows, Distorting Mirrors: Visions of
the Crowd in Late Nineteenth-Century France ( N e w Haven: Yale University Press, 1981), 43. D u

C a m p does n o t stray far f r o m w h a t w e m i g h t call " c r o w d discourse."

LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
210 T h e s e a r e n o t d e m u r e , c o m p l i a n t w o m e n , well fitted to a d e f i n e d d o m e s t i c s p a c e
t h a t w o u l d , in t u r n , c o n f i r m t h e o r d e r e d a r r a n g e m e n t of f a m i l y , class, a n d g e n d e r
categories; o n t h e c o n t r a r y , t h e y a r e destroyers of t h e social fabric: " E l l e s a p p r i r e n t
a u x petits e n f a n t s t o u t m a u d i r e , e x c e p t e la C o m m u n e " (2:61) [ " T h e y t a u g h t
y o u n g c h i l d r e n to c u r s e e v e r y t h i n g e x c e p t t h e C o m m u n e " ] . 7
T h e s e a r e w o m e n o u t of p l a c e a t a t i m e w h e n , as S u s a n n a B a r r o w r e m i n d s us,
e v e n a single step c o u l d c o n s t i t u t e transgression: " T o c o n s e r v a t i v e s in t h e late
n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y a n y step, h o w e v e r t r e m u l o u s , away f r o m t h e foyer was d e -
n o u n c e d as a s t a m p e d e t o w a r d a n a r c h y . " 8 T h e s e m o b i l e w o m e n a r e viragos, as D u
C a m p s u c c i n c t l y p u t s it (2:62); w o m e n w h o w o u l d b e m e n :

C e l l e s q u i se d o n n e r e n t la C o m m u n e e t elles f u r e n t n o m b r e u s e s
n'eurent q u ' u n e seule ambitions'elever au-dessus de l ' h o m m e en
e x a g e r a n t ses vices. . . . Elles se d e g u i s e r e n t e n s o l d a t s . . . elles
s ' a r m e r e n t . . . . Elles se g r i s e r e n t a u s a n g verse. (2:6O-6i)9

The women who gave themselves to the Communeand they were numerous
had a single ambition: to rise above man by surpassing him in evil. . . .They
disguised themselves as soldiers . . . they took arms. . . . They got drunk on spilled
blood.

It b e g i n s to b e c l e a r t h a t c e r t a i n traits t h a t w o u l d b e v a l o r i z e d as v i r t u e s in m e n a r e
called vices o n c e w o m e n h a v e displayed t h e m . O n e r e p r e s e n t a t i v e p o r t r a i t c o m -
pletes m y p o i n t :

Je m ' i m a g i n e q u e l l e etait d e s e s p e r e e d ' e t r e f e m m e , o u q u e t o u t a u m o i n s

eile e t v o u l u etre "la f e m m e b a r b e . " . . . D a n s la b r u t a l i t e des o p i n i o n s

7
Michel F o u c a u l t suggests that o n e of t h e ways in w h i c h w o m e n w e r e hystericized in t h e nineteenth

century was to m a k e their bodies coextensive with the social body, family space, and children's lives.

Foucault, La Volonte de savoir (Paris: G a l l i m a r d , 1976), 137. And Barrows reminds us that French

f e m i n i s m took articulate f o r m d u r i n g the F r e n c h revolution, so that a n y manifestation or hint of fem-

inist (or e v e n f e m i n i n e ) activity w a s associated w i t h violent r e v o l u t i o n a n d a n a r c h y . Distorting Mirrors,

47-54-
8
Barrows, Distorting Mirrors, 54. O r again, in the e l o q u e n t w o r d s of L o u i s e M i c h e l , w h o , c o n d e m n e d

and deported for h e r revolutionary activity d u r i n g the C o m m u n e , was one of the very w o m e n D u

C a m p ostensibly was describing: "Peut-etre dans ce beau pays de France, la m o d e d ' a t t r i b u e r u n cas

pathologique t o u t c a r a c t e r e d e f e m m e u n p e u viril est-il c o m p l e t e m e n t e t a b l i e " ["In this fine country of

France, the trend of attributing a n y slightly virile characteristic a w o m a n displays, to a pathological

case, m a y well be completely established"]. L o u i s e M i c h e l , Memoires (Paris: M a s p e r o , 1976), 192.
9
Also: " L e s f e m m e s faisaient effort p o u r s'elever la h a u t e u r d e s h o m m e s ; elles y r e u s s i r e n t ; . . . dans

p l u s d ' u n c a s l a v i c t i m e a u r a i t p u e t r e s a u v e e si l a f e m m e n ' e t a i t i n t e r v e n u e " ( 4 : 1 5 3 ) [ " T h e w o m e n tried

to rise to t h e h e i g h t of t h e m e n ; t h e y s u c c e e d e d ; . . . in m o r e than one case the victim could have been

s a v e d if a w o m a n h a d n ' t intervened"].
 HYSTERICIZING HISTORY
q u e l l e emettait, d a n s la grossierete de son langage, dans sa liberie 211
d'allures, p o u r n e pas dire plus, o n sentait le regret d'etre c o n d a m n e e
porter des jupes: elle n e detestait pas la violence m a s c u l i n e de certains
exercices, et si elle n e pratiquait ni la boxe ni la savate, eile a i m a i t
p r e n d r e u n fleuret et faire des a r m e s . (2:71)

I imagine she was in despair at being a woman, or at the very least that she would
have liked to be "the bearded woman." . . . By the brutality of her opinions, the
coarseness of her language, the freedom of her movementsto say no moreone
sensed that she regretted being condemned to wear a skirt: she did not dislike the
masculine violence of certain activities, and though she practiced neither boxing
nor French boxing, she liked to take a foil and fence.

Yet it is only b e c a u s e these ostensibly m a s c u l i n e w o m e n retain their essential fe-

m a l e n a t u r e (which is to say that w o m a n , like t h e people, is closer to t h e beast) t h a t
t h e y c a n so easily strip off t h e t a m i n g v e n e e r of femininity, r e t u r n to t h e creatural
state D u C a m p attributes to o n e M a r i e M e n a n , a m o n g others: "Elle avait je n e sais
q u o i d e sauvage q u i rappelait l ' e f f a r e m e n t des oiseaux n o c t u r n e s s u b i t e m e n t places
a u soleil. Elle f u t c r u e l l e sans effort, p o u r obeir ses instincts" (3:81) ["She h a d a
certain wildness a b o u t h e r t h a t was r e m i n i s c e n t of t h e agitation of n o c t u r n a l birds
s u d d e n l y p u t in sunlight. S h e was effortlessly cruel, in o b e d i e n c e to h e r instincts"].
T h e m y t h of t h e petroleuses (which D u C a m p perpetuates, all t h e w h i l e d e n y -
ing its veracity) is an inseparable c u r r e n t fed by this pool of atavistic f e m a l e images.
A n e o l o g i s m c o i n e d in 1871 to designate t h e w o m e n of t h e C o m m u n e accused of
setting fire to Paris, petroleuse was n o t always used in its strict (and quite possibly
specious) sense; its n i m b u s often explicitly i n c l u d e d any w o m a n associated with
t h e u p h e a v a l s of 1871 a n d , by m e t a p h o r i c association, implicitly s u r r o u n d e d t h e
m o r e general category of w o m a n w h e n perceived as a threat to existing social a n d
symbolic structures. 1 0 So we find p e t r o l e u m flowing like u n s t a n c h e d blood
t h r o u g h t h e tissue of D u C a m p ' s narrative: "La f u r i e allait t o u jours, n ' e c o u t a i t rien
et e n t r a i n a i t les h o m m e s . U n t e m o i n m ' a dit: 'Elle etait t e l l e m e n t t r e m p e e de pe-
trole, q u e c'est u n m i r a c l e q u e l l e n'ait pas pris f e u ' " (3:84) [ " T h e f u r y kept going,
listening to n o t h i n g a n d leading o n t h e m e n . A n eyewitness told m e : ' S h e was drip-
p i n g with oil; it's a m i r a c l e she didn't c a t c h fire'"].
T h e petroleuses are o n e of m a n y n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y r e i n c a r n a t i o n s of t h e a n -
c i e n t i m a g e of w o m a n as "leaking vessel"unsealed c o n t a i n e r u n a b l e to stop t h e

10
For a n excellent a c c o u n t of t h e w o m e n i n c e n d i a r i e s , s e e E d i t h T h o m a s , Les Petroleuses (Paris: Gal-

limard, 1963). T h o m a s uses t h e t e r m to c o v e r " t o u t e s les f e m m e s q u i o n t ete m e l e e s a u m o u v e m e n t re-

volutionnaire de 1 8 7 1 " ["all w o m e n w h o were involved in the revolutionary m o v e m e n t of 1871"] and

a d d s : " C e n ' e s t n u l l e m e n t p e j o r a t i f " ( 1 3 ) [ " I t is n o t a t a l l pejorative"].

LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
212 prodigious surge of sexual, reproductive, a n d o t h e r assorted body fluids a n d , by
analogy, u n a b l e to m o n i t o r a loose t o n g u e a n d a flow of lies or i n c o h e r e n t sounds:
"Elles tiraient des c o u p s de fusil au hasard, riant, criant, t u t o y a n t tout le m o n d e ,
ignobles voir, plus ignobles e n t e n d r e " (3:80) ["They shot their g u n s r a n d o m l y ,
l a u g h i n g , shrieking, talking familiarly to everyone, vile to see, still m o r e vile to
hear"]. 1 1
T h e u n c h e c k e d flow of p e t r o l e u m issuing f r o m t h e free c i r c u l a t i o n of petro-
leuses t h r o u g h D u C a m p ' s Paris is curiously at odds with his d i s p a r a g e m e n t of
those w h o believe in t h e "legend" of t h e w o m e n incendiaries. T h e a c c u s a t i o n , h e
states, is "fausse. . . . Plus d ' u n e e r r e u r a ete c o m m i s e , et plus d ' u n m a l h e u r f u t
deplorer" ( 2 : 2 8 6 - 8 7 ) ["false. . . . M o r e t h a n o n e error was c o m m i t t e d , a n d m o r e
t h a n o n e tragedy was m o u r n e d " ] . Yet only a p e n stroke away, h e a c c o m m o d a t e s ,
n o n e t h e l e s s , t h e repudiated belief, declaring t h e legend "excusee s i n o n justifiee
par le spectacle q u e l'on avait sous les yeux" (2:286) ["excused if n o t justified by t h e
spectacle before o u r eyes"], a d d i n g that "si la C o m m u n e n'avait b r l e u n e m o i t i e
de Paris, o n n e l'eut jamais c r u e capable d e n brler l a u t r e m o i t i e " (2:287) ["if t h e
C o m m u n e h a d n o t b u r n e d half of Paris, o n e w o u l d never have believed it c a p a b l e
of b u r n i n g t h e o t h e r half"]. It isn't t r u e . . . b u t it could just as well be. T h i s r h e -
torical slippage that preserves t h e belief it pretends to a b a n d o n describes t h e m y t h -
m o n g e r i n g s u b s t r u c t u r e of Les Convulsions, w h i c h everywhere inscribes as figure
t h e beliefs it dismisses as fact. 1 2
W h e n D u C a m p suggests that " o n p o u r r a i t ecrire u n livre curieux: Du role des
femmes pendant la Commune" (2:60) ["one could write a c u r i o u s book: On the role
of women during the Commune"}, we should n o t be fooled by t h e contrary-to-fact
c o n s t r u c t i o n of his proposal. U n d a u n t e d , h e c o n t i n u e s : "Le recit de leurs sottises
devrait tenter le talent d ' u n moraliste ou d ' u n alieniste. Elles avaient l a n c e b i e n
a u t r e c h o s e q u e leur b o n n e t par-dessus les m o u l i n s ; tout le c o s t u m e y passa" (2:60)
[ " T h e n a r r a t i o n of their foolishness should t e m p t t h e talent of a moralist or an
alienist. T h e y t h r e w m u c h m o r e t h a n propriety to t h e winds; all their clothes w e n t
that way"]. D u C a m p has already written t h e " c u r i o u s b o o k " h e is calling for; it is
t h e o n e we h o l d before us, w h i c h implicitly records a discourse o n t h e f e m i n i n e in
t h e C o m m u n e a n d , still m o r e f u n d a m e n t a l l y , p r o d u c e s a discourse o n t h e C o m -
m u n e in the feminine. Les Convulsions de Paris points o u t m u c h m o r e t h a n t h e
role of w o m e n in t h e C o m m u n e ; it d e m o n s t r a t e s (no d o u b t in spite of its a u t h o r )

11
S e e " T h e Sieve of T u c c i a " in M a r i n a Warner's Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female
Form (New York: A t h e n e u m , 1985) and Patricia M e y e r Spacks's Gossip (Chicago: University of Chi-

cago Press, 1986), 39.

12
1 a m referring to t h e s t r u c t u r e of fetishistic t h o u g h t as elaborated by O c t a v e M a n n o n i in "Je sais b i e n ,

mais quand m e m e . . . ," in Clefs pour I'imaginaireou I'autre scene (Paris: Seuil, 1969), 9 - 3 3 .
 La Fertime. emancipee, repandant la tariere sur le mondc,

FIGURE 9 . Eugene Girard. "Emancipated

Woman, spreading light over the world."
(Caricature of a petroleuse.)
(Photo Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.)
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
214 h o w vital is t h e c o n c e p t of w o m a n to n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y narrative structures,
even those t h a t have ostensibly little to d o with her. 1 3
W h e n we t u r n away f r o m t h e explicit representation of w o m e n to look at t h e
m o r e general representation of t h e C o m m u n e , w e find that t h e s t r u c t u r i n g cate-
gories d o n o t c h a n g e : t h e revolutionary events of 1871 are explained by t h e s a m e
r e c u r r e n t cluster of characteristics that d e f i n e femininity. Like w o m e n , t h e C o m -
m u n e is ruled by t h e p r i m o r d i a l a n i m a l instincts, answers to t h e call of an atavistic
wild: "La C o m m u n e . . . a s i m p l e m e n t ete la p r e d o m i n a n c e des instincts sur la
loi" (4:23) [ " T h e C o m m u n e . . . was q u i t e simply t h e p r e d o m i n a n c e of instinct
over law"]. O n c e again we find t h e lower classes a n d w o m e n assimilated, r e d u c e d
to t h e n a t u r a l , t h e instinctual, t h e a n i m a l :

O n allait voir ce q u e p e u t faire u n p e u p l e sans m e s u r e et sans i n s t r u c t i o n ,

lorsqu'il est livre l u i - m e m e et qu'il se laisse d o m i n e r par ses propres
instincts. L'interet de c e u x q u i avaient saisi la direction de ses destinees
etait de le surexciter, de l ' a m e n e r ce paroxysme i n c o n s c i e n t o u l ' h o m m e
redevient la bete feroce naturelle. (1:38)

We were about to see what an unruly and uneducated crowd is capable of, left to
itself and surrendering to its own instincts. It was in the interest of those who had
seized control of these lives to arouse the crowd, to goad it to that point of no return
at which man once again becomes the natural savage beast.

T h e w e b of t h e m e s s p u n a r o u n d f e m a l e sexuality (promiscuity, prostitution, de-

b a u c h e r y , orgies, b a c c h a n a l i a ) r e t u r n s in t h e vocabulary a n d images used to c h a r -
acterize t h e C o m m u n e , w h i c h is consistently referred to as "sabbat," "saturnales,"
" b a c c h a n a l e , " " d e b a u c h e " ["witches' s a b b a t h , " "saturnalia," " b a c c h a n a l i a , " "de-
b a u c h e r y " ] , c o m p a r e d to an orgy, a n d described as u n i n t e r r u p t e d d r u n k e n revelry:
" P e n d a n t d e u x m o i s Paris f u t en proie l'ivresse f u r i e u s e " (1:38) ["For two m o n t h s
Paris was prey to a raging intoxication"].
T h e savage, t h e i n f l a m m a t o r y , a n d t h e orgiastic are t h r e e rhetorical streams that
feed D u C a m p ' s C o m m u n e , epithetically called "cette d e b a u c h e de sang, de pe-
trole et d'eau-de-vie" (3:255) ["that orgy of b l o o d , oil, a n d eau-de-vie"], a n d t h e y
flow freely f r o m a female-associated source ever b r i m m i n g over its b o u n d s . T r a n -
substantiated as b l o o d , oil, a n d wine, t h e f e m a l e bodily secretions surge t h r o u g h
this narrative, n o u r i s h i n g t h e network of images u p o n w h i c h it is c o n s t r u c t e d . A
s u p p l e m e n t a r y conversion t u r n s oil into ink: " C e u x q u i etaient . . . en etat de

" T h i s is, o f c o u r s e , t h e s u b j e c t o f N a o m i Schors persuasive Breaking the Chain: Women, Theory, and
French Realist Fiction ( N e w York: C o l u m b i a University Press, 1985).
F I G U R E 10. Georges Lacombe, Isis. This fin
desiecle (ca. 1893-94) representation of Isis
recalls the iconography of the petroleuse.
She is sculpted in polychrome wood; from her
breasts spurts a blood-!flame-red milk that
ambiguously nourishes/destroys the flowers
and tree trunks over which it pours.
(Paris, Louvre. Photo R.M.N.)
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
216 m a n i e r u n e p l u m e o n t ecrit leur histoire, ils o n t ecrit le m e m o r i a l de la C o m -
m u n e . . . . L e u r encrier aussi est plein d ' h u i l e d e petrole. . . . L e u r prose eclaire
a u t a n t q u e l e u r p e t r o l e " (4:300, 305) [ " T h o s e w h o were c a p a b l e of h a n d l i n g a p e n
wrote their history, t h e y wrote a m e m o r i a l to t h e C o m m u n e . . . . T h e i r inkstand,
is also filled with oil. . . . T h e i r prose is as i n f l a m m a t o r y as their oil"]. By m e t -
o n y m i c c o n v e r s i o n , t h e oil-based ink of t h e C o m m u n a r d s yields a ready flow of
words, fictions, a n d lies: " C e sont des bavardages sans fin. . . . I l s p a r l e n t , ils par-
lent, et l o r s q u ' o n v e u t r e s u m e r l e u r s discours, o n s'apergoit qu'ils n ' o n t rien
dit. . . . Les fables o u les c a l o m n i e s d o n t ils se repaissent sont t o u t e leur science"
(4:27) ["This endless chatter. . . . they talk, talk, talk, a n d w h e n o n e tries to s u m -
m a r i z e their words, it b e c o m e s a p p a r e n t t h a t they have said n o t h i n g . . . . T h e fa-
bles a n d t h e slander they feed o n are their only resource"].
Related to t h e t h e m e of gossip a n d fabrication, if n o t to t h e liquid m e d i u m t h a t
conveys it, is a u b i q u i t o u s motif of p e r f o r m a n c e , spectacle, a n d disguise. T h e
Paris C o m m u n e is pervasively described h e r e by a theatrical p a r a d i g m t h a t in-
cludes s u c h t e r m s as "spectacle, parade, cabaret, m a s c a r a d e , c i r q u e , b o u f f o n -
nerie, b a r a q u e f o r a i n e , m e n a g e r i e , carnaval" ["spectacle, parade, cabaret, m a s -
q u e r a d e , circus, c l o w n i n g , sideshow, zoo, carnival"], a n d its participants are
regularly labeled "acteur, c a b o t i n , f a n t o c h e , acrobate, paillasse, singe" ["actor,
h a m , p u p p e t , acrobat, b u f f o o n , ape"]. T o b e g i n , we c a n read h e r e a n o t h e r version
of t h e role-playing w o m e n we earlier f o u n d , a n d we m i g h t read b o t h versions as a n
effort to derealize t h e C o m m u n e : if all Paris is a stage a n d t h e C o m m u n a r d s are
players, t h e n o n c e t h e c u r t a i n has c o m e d o w n t h e politics of revolt c a n be brack-
eted as a finished p e r f o r m a n c e .
But D u C a m p does n o t merely relegate t h e revolutionary e l e m e n t s to t h e a p o -
litical d o m a i n of theatrical illusion. His t e n d e n c y to evoke a particular e n d of t h e
theatrical s p e c t r u m c i r c u s e s , fairs, m a s q u e r a d e s s h i f t s t h e n o t i o n of represen-
t a t i o n to a m o r e specific focus o n p o p u l a r c u l t u r e , w h i c h , m a g n e t l i k e , draws into
its field s o m e of t h e scattered points we have indicated: t h e orgy (feasting, d r i n k i n g ,
d a n c i n g , singing, sexuality); t h e bestial ( a n i m a l instincts, savagery); t h e a n a r c h i c .
T h e e m e r g e n t c o n s t e l l a t i o n t h e c a r n i v a l e s q u e c a n be s u m m a r i z e d as a world
t u r n e d o n its h e a d , a n inversion of hierarchies of gender, class, race, a n d of social,
legal, a n d linguistic structures. It is an a m p l i f i e d r e n d i t i o n of t h e p a r a d i g m a t i c fig-
u r e of w o m a n dressed as soldier, leading m a n into battle. 1 4
D u C a m p s insistence o n figures of reversal a n d o n t h e systematic transgression
of a u t h o r i t y warrants closer a t t e n t i o n . At t i m e s his evocation of power reversal or
transgression is figurative. It is, for e x a m p l e , s y n e c d o c h i c w h e n h e speaks a b o u t

14
Natalie Z e m o n Davis points out that "the female's position was [traditionally] used to symbolize not

only hierarchical subordination b u t also violence a n d chaos." Davis, " W o m e n o n T o p , " in Society and
Culture in Early Modern France (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1975), 128.
r

HYSTERICIZING HISTORY
t h e C o m m u n a r d s ' flagrant violations of spelling a n d g r a m m a r rules: "La C o m - 217
m u n e s'est t o u j o u r s distinguee par u n m e p r i s h a u t a i n p o u r l'orthographe, la g r a m -
m a i r e et la legalite" [1:45] [ " T h e C o m m u n e has always distinguished itself by a
h a u g h t y disdain for spelling, g r a m m a r , a n d legality"]). A n d it is m e t a p h o r i c w h e n
h e borrows a racist discourse to c o m p a r e t h e C o m m u n e to "ces cours de rois negres
d o n t les voyageurs n o u s o n t c o n t e l'histoire" (2:115) ["those courts of black kings
t h a t travelers have told us about"]. M o r e o f t e n , however, h e explicitly reiterates his
l a m e n t of " t h e world upside down": " O n vole t o u t s i m p l e m e n t et avec desinvol-
t u r e . C'est le m o n d e renverse" (4:137) ["They steal easily a n d offhandedly. T h e
world is t u r n e d upside down"]; " P o u r ces gens, liberie signifie le pouvoir de t o u t
faire sans controle; egalite, participation toutes les jouissances . . . fraternite,
utilisation d e la c o m m u n a u t e a u profit de s o i - m e m e ; c'est le r e n v e r s e m e n t d e la
p r o p o s i t i o n " (4:150) ["For these people, liberty m e a n s t h e power to d o all with n o
c o n t r o l ; equality, participation in all p l e a s u r e s . . . fraternity, use of t h e c o m m u -
nity for personal profit; t h e precept is t u r n e d o n its head"]; "Le pivot d u vieux
m o n d e est fausse; la civilisation . . . p e n c h e g a u c h e , elle va t o m b e r " (4:326)
[ " T h e pivot of t h e old world is warped; civilization is l e a n i n g toward t h e left; it is
going to fall"].

W h a t shall we m a k e of this discourse of carnival surging t h r o u g h D u C a m p ' s

historical c h r o n i c l e ? W e m i g h t start by invoking traditional a n t h r o p o l o g i c a l per-
spectives, w h i c h suggest t h a t c e r e m o n i e s of reversal ultimately clarify a n d rein-
force existing structures of order in a society. 15 D u C a m p ' s rhetorical rites clearly
are staged to a f f i r m existing bourgeois structures; his c o n s t a n t recourse to carnival-
e s q u e images of t u r n a b o u t t o t h e arrogation of power by f e m a l e , i m p o v e r i s h e d ,
intoxicated, u n e d u c a t e d , l i b i d i n o u s e l e m e n t s of t h e p o p u l a c e c o n v e y s anger
a n d disgust a n d is designed to arouse similar s e n t i m e n t s in t h e bourgeois hearts of
his readers. T h e C o m m u n e , t h e n , can b e presented as a m o m e n t a r y a b e r r a t i o n ,
a n i n c u r s i o n of t h e lower into t h e h i g h e r spheres (the territory at stake b e i n g bodily,
social, c u l t u r a l , linguistic, political, a n d e c o n o m i c ) , a n d its repression, a r e t u r n to
t h e " n a t u r a l " order of things. But t h e tissue of Les Convulsions is so t h o r o u g h l y i n -
filtrated by t h e c a r n i v a l e s q u e as to b e virtually inextricable f r o m it. T h e force,
pulse, p l o t i n short, t h e narrative integrity of D u C a m p ' s t e x t d e p e n d entirely
o n t h e repeated expulsion of its carnivalesque O t h e r , so t h a t t h e symbolic c e n t e r of
4
this text constantly recuperates its rejected margins.
Essential to m y a r g u m e n t is Peter Stallybrass a n d Allon W h i t e ' s e l a b o r a t i o n of
c a r n i v a l e s q u e discourse as a d i s p l a c e m e n t of carnival as social practice. 1 6 T h e y

" D a v i s in " W o m e n on Top" and " R e a s o n s of M i s r u l e " in Society and Culture argues that inversion

c o u l d u n d e r m i n e as well as reinforce existing p o w e r structures.

16
Peter Stallybrass a n d Allon W h i t e , The Politics and Poetics of Transgression (Ithaca: Cornell Univer-
sity Press, 1986).
 1

LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
218 outline the gradual repression of the grotesque body of carnival by the emerging
bourgeoisie, from the Renaissance onward, and a concomitant reconstruction of
carnival as "all that which the proper bourgeois must strive not to be in order to
preserve a stable and 'correct' sense of self."17 But the very act of excluding the low,
the vulgar, the disgusting simultaneously reproduces it, includes it, at the level of
the imaginary. As Stallybrass and White aptly put it, "Disgust always bears the im-
print of desire. These low domains, apparently expelled as 'Other,' return as the
object of nostalgia, longing, and fascination." 18
This theory of the symbolic return of the socially repressed begins to explain
what is happening in Les Convulsions de Paris (which I take to be representative of
the nineteenth-century collective imaginary), but I want to amend it on two
counts. First, in Du Camp's text the carnivalesque answers to the name of woman;
that is, woman is the primary symbol of the low, the disorderly, the insubordinate:
the strongest, the most threatening construction of all that arouses disgust and de-
sire.19 Second, at stake in Du Camp's almost obsessive fascination with the carni-
valesque (and most notably, with the carnivalesque spectacle) is not only the issue
of how to represent the Commune, but the problem of how to represent the place
from which one represents the Communeor anything else. In other words, the
emergence, within this account of the Commune, of a persistent lexical, the-
matic, and figurative emphasis on representation and the feminine is perhaps less
significantly a function of Du Camp's perspective on the events of 1871 than it is a
broader-based reflection of his anxiety about the shifting symbolic bases of repre-
sentation. Let us consider this point.

T H E F E M A L E S Y M B O L I C BODY
We have so far examined, in Les Convulsions de Paris, an extended background
narrative, the dispersed discourse of hysteria used to convey historical events. In-
terrupting this narrativepiercing or punctuating it, to use Roland Barthes's con-
cept of punctum, we have a series of points or snags. "Punctum, c'est aussi: piqre,
petit trou, petite tache, petite coupure" ["Punctum is also sting, little hole, spot,
cut"], says Barthes. These are points at which the narrative weave is interrupted by

17
Ibid., 178.
18
Ibid., 191.
19
In " W o m e n on Top," Natalie Z e m o n Davis presents w o m a n as the p r i m e s y m b o l of inversion. Her

analysis of s y m b o l i c structures of early m o d e r n E u r o p e r e m a i n s essentially valid in t h e n i n e t e e n t h cen-

t u r y , w i t h t w o a d d i t i o n a l i m p i n g i n g f a c t o r s : t h e g r a d u a l r i s e o f a n a c t i v i s t f e m i n i s m , w i t h its accompa-

nying threat for e m p o w e r e d m e n , and the gradual destruction, dramatically embodied by the French

revolution, of earlier symbolic bases.

 HYSTERICIZING HISTORY
a detail that arrests our attention, diverts us from the Commune and the frag- 219
mented allegory that represents it.20
I want to close in on three of these details, three examples of what constitutes,
in my reading of Les Convulsions, the punctum of this text. Each focuses on a dif-
ferent mode of representation; they have little, if anything, to tell us about the
Commune, but together they provide crucial insights into Du Camp's representa-
tion of it.

Representing Photography. A discussion of the barricades constructed for t h e de-

fense of Paris turns from fortification to photography: Du Camp relates that the
barricades played an aesthetic as well as a strategic role, for they became backdrops
for Communards eager to bequeath to posterity a soldier's costume and an elabo-
rate military pose:

Cette manie d'avoir son portrait sous travestissement militaire . . . arriva

au paroxysme lorsque vint la Commune. . . .Les vitrines des marchands
de gravures . . . disparaissaient sous les cartes photographiques
representant les membres de la Commune . . . revetus d'uniformes d'urie
fantaisie parfois divertissante. . . . Comme d'infimes acteurs, ils aimaient
se revoir dans les oripeaux de leur role succes. (2:234-35)

This mania for having ones portrait in military disguise . . . reached its height with
the advent of the Commune. . . . The display windows of print sellers . . .
disappeared beneath photographs representing members of the Commune dressed
in uniforms whose outlandishness was sometimes amusing. . . . Like minor actors,
they liked to look back at themselves in the tinsel of their one hit role.

Theatrical vocabulary abounds in Du Camp's descriptions of these "poses mena-

gantes" ["menacing poses"], these "attitudes peu naturelles" (2:234) ["unnatural at-
titudes"]; he represents the representational mode of these photographic sessions as
one of masquerade, role playing, dissembling, make-believe. But he paints the
product of these sessions differently:

Ces photographies ne restaient pas toutes Paris; beaucoup prenaient le

chemin de Versailles, et servirent plus tard faire reconnaitre bien des
2 0
Roland Barthes, La Chambre claire (Paris: G a l l i m a r d , 1980), 49. Barthes proposes what we might

consider to be a viewer-response a p p r o a c h to photography based o n the analysis of two constitutive ele-

m e n t s o r t h e m e s : Studium, w h i c h i s a k i n d o f b r o a d c u l t u r a l i n t e r e s t , a n d punctum, a m u c h more pierc-

ing or poignant order of appeal. Barthes's t e r m s ( w h i c h I interpret liberally) are i n s t r u m e n t a l to m y

reading of D u C a m p , w h o s e t a b l e a u of t h e C o m m u n e elicits a similar bilevel r e s p o n s e f r o m t h e reader.

LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
220 malheureux qui se cachaient. . . . C'est de ce moment qu'on a installe
la Prefecture de police un atelier photographique, qui permet de prendre
le signalement irrecusable des malfaiteurs. (2:235)

These photographs did not all remain in Paris; many took the road to Versailles,
and later served to identify quite a few of the wretches who were in hiding. . . . At
that point, police headquarters installed a photographic service that facilitated the
positive identification of wrongdoers.

If the origin of these photographs was ludic, involving the free play of signifiers
and the unrestricted circulation of signs, the resultpolice identificationis rig-
orously controlling. From costumed poses improvised upon the sandbags to pho-
tography studio installed at police headquarters, the path these pictures take de-
scribes a parallel apposition of spectacular and referential conceptions of
representation. Du Camp's evident glee at the idea of these poseurs being caught
by their own game, held finally accountable to an unchanging identity beneath
the mask, translates his relief at the prospect that all may be right(ed) in the world
of signs; that signs, despite appearances, must ultimately be accountable to a fixed
referent. Masquerade is corrected as identification, theatricality superseded by ref-
erentiality; in the process, however, a gap has been introduced.

Representing Painting. Du Camp's vituperative denunciation of the Commu-

nards' toppling of the Vendome column includes at its material and symbolic cen-
ter a painting of a female nude, which he discusses in equally censorious tones.
The element of transition permitting the nonetheless startling shift from politics to
aesthetics is the artist and Commune activist Gustave Courbet, who purportedly
ordered the destruction of the Vendome column and assuredly painted the nude
in question. A wrath that seems to know no bounds binds the creative and destruc-
tive acts in a puzzling causal relationship. "If he was vile enough to have painted
this, he must have torn down that," runs Du Camp's argument. 21
While it appears that politics is being explained by aesthetics, something quite
different lies unarticulated within Du Camp's argument: one domain can explain
21
T h e m o s t s u c c i n c t e x a m p l e o f t h i s l o g i c u n d e r l y i n g D u C a m p ' s e n t i r e c h a p t e r o n C o u r b e t is t h e f o l -

lowing. W h e n C o u r b e t w a s b r o u g h t to trial for his role in t h e c o l u m n d e s t r u c t i o n , h e e x p l a i n e d his ac-

tion to the judge, according to D u C a m p , in these terms: "J'etais h o n t e u x q u e l'on m o n t r t cela c o m m e

u n e o e u v r e d ' a r t " ["I w a s a s h a m e d t h a t it w a s d i s p l a y e d a s a w o r k o f a r t " ] . T h e p r e s i d e n t o f t h e tribunal

r e s p o n d e d : " A l o r s c ' e s t u n z e l e a r t i s t i q u e q u i v o u s p o u s s a i t ? " [ " S o it w a s a r t i s t i c z e a l t h a t m o v e d you?"]

T o C o u r b e t ' s reply, " T o u t s i m p l e m e n t " [ " Q u i t e simply"], D u C a m p in t u r n responds: " C e 'tout simple-

ment' est le p e n d a n t du portrait de f e m m e dont j'ai p a r l e ; o n doit repondre l'un lorsque l'on a peint

l ' a u t r e " ( 2 : 2 1 1 ) [ " T h i s ' q u i t e s i m p l y ' is t h e e x t e n s i o n o f t h e p o r t r a i t o f a w o m a n I spoke about; one has

to r e s p o n d in that w a y w h e n o n e has painted this"].

r

HYSTERICIZING HISTORY
t h e o t h e r by way of a c o m m o n symbolic structure. D u C a m p ' s ravings take o n a 221
varnish of logic w h e n we look at this structure. H e r e is his representation of C o u r -
bet's painting:

P o u r plaire u n m u s u l m a n q u i payait ses fantaisies au poids de l ' o r . . .

C o u r b e t . . . fit u n portrait de f e m m e difficile decrire. D a n s le c a b i n e t
d e toilette d u p e r s o n n a g e etranger, o n voyait u n petit t a b l e a u c a c h e sous
u n voile vert. L o r s q u e l'on ecartait le voile, o n d e m e u r a i t stupefait
d'apercevoir u n e f e m m e d e g r a n d e u r n a t u r e l l e , vue de face, e m u e et
c o n v u l s e e , r e m a r q u a b l e m e n t p e i n t e , reproduite con amore, ainsi q u e
disent les Italiens, et d o n n a n t le d e r n i e r m o t d u realisme. Mais, par u n
i n c o n c e v a b l e o u b l i , l'artisan q u i avait copie son m o d e l e d'apres n a t u r e ,
avait neglige de representer les pieds, les jambes, les cuisses, le ventre, les
h a n c h e s , la p o i t r i n e , les m a i n s , les bras, les epaules, le c o u et la tete.
L ' h o m m e q u i , p o u r q u e l q u e s ecus, p e u t degrader son m e t i e r j u s q u a
l'abjection, est c a p a b l e de tout. (2:189-90)

To please a Moslem who paid for his fantasies with their weight in gold, . . .
Courbet. . . painted a portrait of a woman that is hard to describe. In the dressing
room of this foreign personage, one could see a small picture hidden under a green
veil. When the veil was drawn aside, one was awestruck by the sight of a life-size
woman, seen from the front, agitated and convulsed, remarkably well painted,
reproduced con amore, as the Italians say, and offering the last word in realism.
But, by some inconceivable oversight, the artist who had copied his model from
nature, had neglected to represent the feet, the legs, the thighs, the belly, the hips,
the chest, the hands, the arms, the shoulders, the neck, and the head.
Aman who could degrade his craft to the point of abjection for a few coins is
capable of anything.

W h a t constitutes for D u C a m p t h e abject h e a r t of this p a i n t i n g is I t h i n k n o t

m e r e l y t h e f e m a l e s e x w h i c h is all that r e m a i n s o n t h e canvas/page after h e so
coyly slashes t h e o t h e r body p a r t s b u t t h e positioning of f e m a l e sexuality at t h e
very core of symbolic systems, be they u n c o v e r e d in aesthetic or political represen-
tations. For t h e p a i n t i n g h e reveals h e r e w i t h o u t n a m i n g it is Courbet's L'Origine
du monde. As t h e title implies, t h e subject of this p a i n t i n g is a symbolic c o n s t r u c -
tion of sexuality a n d m o r e specifically, as L i n d a N o c h l i n has r e m a r k e d , a c o n -
s t r u c t i o n of t h e f e m a l e genitalia as " t h e very source of artistic creation itself." 2 2
W e s h o u l d n o t a s s u m e that t h e signifying structures of this p a i n t i n g r e m a i n c o n -

2 2
Linda Nochlin, "Courbet's L'Origine du monde: T h e Origin without an Original," October 37 (Sum-

mer 1986): 77.

 fNn

FIGURE 11. Gustave Courbet,

L ' O r i g i n e d u m o n d e . (Reproduced with
permission from Robert Fernier, L a V i e e t
l ' o e u v r e d e G u s t a v e C o u r b e t , vol. 2.
Lausanne: Bibliotheque des Arts, 1979.)
 HYSTERICIZING HISTORY
stant when it is embedded within Du Camps narrative. I want to ask what world is 223
being evoked in LOrigine du monde and why it is belatedly created, what brave
new world this painting exemplifies within the narrative frame of Les Convulsions
de Paris. We must reconstruct the Vendome column before attempting an answer.
Constructed as a monument to the triumphs of Napoleon s Grande Armee, the
Vendome column was destroyed because it was a vestige of imperial legend.
Whether we adopt Du Camp's rhetoric of the event as one more instance of a
world turned on its head, Catulle Mendes's perception of it as an attack on "our
victorious, superb fathers," Neil Hertz's psychoanalytic perspective of the toppled
column as castration symbol, or Kristin Ross's Marxist reading of the demolition as
"antihierarchical gesture," the association between column bashing and disman-
tling the reigning symbolic orderthat of patriarchyis evident.23 The causal
link between LOrigine du monde and the felling of the Vendome column now be-
comes clearer. Rather like Victor Hugo's Claude Frollo, gesturing toward the
printed book and then the cathedral, Maxime Du Camp brandishes Courbet's
study of the female genitalia as he turns to the column's demolition, as if to say,
"Ceci tuera cela" ["This will kilhthat"]. "Ceci" is not simply the painting we know
from extratextual evidence to be LOrigine du monde; it is Du Camps verbal rep-
resentation of that painting, in which the body of the woman is not simply supine,
decapitatated, and quadruply amputated, as Courbet had it, but also "emue et
convulsee" ["agitated and convulsed"]. This description is completely supplemen-
tary to the body painted in LOrigine, which shows not a trace of a convulsion; but
it supplies, through a curious chiasmus, the convulsed body announced by the ti-
tle of Les Convulsions de Paris and withheld by its text.
I find in the apparent symbiosis of Du Camp's text and Courbet's painting au-
thorization to superimpose their titles, whose structure is strikingly similar: a place
(Paris, the world) and an event occurring there (an uncontrollable agitation, a be-
ginning): together, fits and starts. Condensed, the titles describe a new order cut-
ting through text and painting, cutting across political and aesthetic domains: a
new Paris, a new creative principle, a fearsome new world whose symbolic center
is mapped upon the core of the female symbolic body. Courbet, as maker and
breaker of symbolic structures (though a more tempered view would present him
as user and abuser of such structures), becomes the scapegoat upon whom Du
Camp vents his rage, his fears, and his discomfort in the throes of symbol regen-
eration. He resists the shift with all his rhetorical might, displacing the convul-

23
D u C a m p , Les Convulsions de Paris, 4:137; Catulle M e n d e s , q u o t e d b y K r i s t i n R o s s i n The Emer-

gence of Social Space: Rimbaud and the Paris Commune (Minneapolis: University of M i n n e s o t a Press,

1 9 8 8 ) , 6 ; N e i l H e r t z , " M e d u s a ' s H e a d : M a l e H y s t e r i a u n d e r P o l i t i c a l P r e s s u r e , " i n End of the Line: Es-

says on Psychoanalysis and the Sublime ( N e w York: C o l u m b i a University Press, 1985), 169-71; Ross,

The Emergence of Social Space, 5.

LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
224 sive f e m a l e body to t h e m a r g i n s of his text a n d dispersing its parts. 2 4 D i s m e m -
b e r e d , however, it reappears everywhere in his text as t h e p h a n t o m figure of t h e
Commune.

Representing Voice. I n c i d e n t a l to D u C a m p ' s a c c o u n t of t h e b u r n i n g of t h e r u e de

Lille is a n excursus o n voice, language, a n d c o m m u n i c a t i o n , a n d an implicit
c o m p a r i s o n of f e m a l e a n d m a l e e m p o w e r m e n t in these areas. First we h e a r t h e
w o m e n ' s response to t h e d e s t r u c t i o n :

D a n s la r u e , c'etait u n indescriptible t u m u l t e q u e d o m i n a i t le cri des

f e m m e s , cri sans paroles, m o d u l a t i o n suraigue i n v o l o n t a i r e m e n t jetee
par l ' e p o u v a n t e et q u i vibrait au-dessus des r u m e u r s , c o m m e u n appel
desespere a u q u e l n u l l e p u i s s a n c e s u r n a t u r e l l e n e repondait. (2:94)

In the street there was an indescribable uproar dominated by women's screams,

wordless screams, high-pitched involuntary cries prompted by terror, which vibrated
over the din like a desperate appeal that no supernatural power answered.

It is perfectly consistent with t h e d o m i n a n t physical p r e s e n c e of w o m e n in this n a r -

ration t h a t t h e representation of f e m a l e voice privileges its m a t e r i a l a s p e c t i n
fact, t h o r o u g h l y excludes t h e spiritual, t h e intellectual, a n d even t h e linguistic.
W o m a n ' s voice is a n involuntary, inarticulate vibration, a wordless cry: p u r e sig-
nifier hopelessly u n m o o r e d f r o m any signifying potential.
T h i s portrayal of w o m a n ' s e a r t h b o u n d tones is all t h e m o r e striking b e c a u s e it is
i m m e d i a t e l y followed by an a n e c d o t e describing t h e discursive virtuosity of a m a n
w h o talks w i t h G o d :

L e pasteur Rouville s'arreta. . . . [II etait] fervent dans sa foi, e l o q u e n t ,

ayant u n e voix h a u t e qui sait d o m i n e r le b r u i t , s a c h a n t par e x p e r i e n c e
qu'il n'est obscurite si p r o f o n d e o u l'on n e puisse faire p e n e t r e r la
l u m i e r e . . . . Seul, en p r e s e n c e d u desastre q u i le m e n a g a i t , il eleva son
meDieu. (2:94-95)

Pastor Rouville stopped. . . . [He was] fervent in his faith, eloquent, with a loud
voice that could dominate the noise, and he knew by experience that no darkness is
so thick that light cannot be made to penetrate it. . . . Alone before the disaster
that threatened him, he raised his soul to God.

2 4
D u C a m p ' s description of C o u r b e t s severed f e m a l e torso repeats the a m p u t a t i n g gesture, as h e enu-

m e r a t e s e a c h of t h e absent parts (2:190).

I

HYSTERICIZING HISTORY
After hearing Pastor Rouvilles eloquent intervention, the attendant federal sol- 225
diers burst into tears and reach out to hug him; the incendiaries spare his house.
"He raised his soul to God," and God evidently answered, whereas woman's des-
perate cry echoes in a spiritual void.
Audible here is an echo of Baudelaire's reflections on the incongruous presence
of women in church: "Quelle conversation peuvent-elles tenir avec Dieu?"
["What can they possibly have to say to God?' ], he asked.25 Du Camp, like Bau-
delaire, echoes an age-old misogynistic discourse that presents femininity and
spirituality as mutually exclusive domains. Although the formless cries reverber-
ating in the rue de Lille are not those of women of the Commune, they are remi-
niscent of the babbling voices of Du Camp's Communardes and consistent with
the gendered rhetoric that represents the Commune, in Les Convulsions de Paris,
as material, sensual, and inarticulate.

Such digressions into photography, painting, and voice should be construed not as
intrusions of external material into the text but rather as extrusions from within, a
clumping or knotting of threads that otherwise weave the text. The punctum of
this textwell illustrated by the three details we have seenis not only what
pierces or snags the narrative tissue, but also, more integrally, its very point.
The chilling ambiguity of the photography anecdote provides an introduction
to a crisis in representation woven into this text. Two polar readings of the photo-
graphed Communards posed upon the barricades permit no honest choice: both
are true. Disguise or identity, disguise and identity: mask and reference overlap.
Clear readings and stable meanings become impossible in a society that has lost its
symbolic bearings. As Lynn Hunt has persuasively argued, all political authority
requires a cultural frame within which to define itself, and every cultural frame
has a center where culture, society, and politics converge. If the cultural frame is
decenteredand this is what happened when the revolution desacralized the
kinga vacuum is created.26 Hunt has shown how, in the decade following the
revolution, republican politics not only sought another representation of authority
(in the form of insignias, seals, statues), but also, more fundamentally, "came to
question the very act of representation itself."27
Du Camp's narrative confronts us with the aftermath of this symbolic decenter-
ing, its long-term indirect effects in all signifying domains. Constructed, like all
the artifacts of its time, upon a symbolic abyss, Les Convulsions de Paris obses-
25
Charles Baudelaire, M o n Coeur mis nu, in Oeuvres completes, ed. C l a u d e Pichois, 2 vols. (Paris:

Gallimard, 1975-76), 1:693.

2 6
Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution (Berkeley: University of California

Press, 1984), 8 7 - 8 8 .
2 7
Ibid., 88.
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
226 sively works its u n s t a b l e f o u n d a t i o n s into t h e texture of its narrative, everywhere
q u e s t i o n i n g t h e possibility of representation b u t able to speak of little else.
In t h e face of t h e void, D u C a m p posits, with considerable a m b i v a l e n c e , LOri-
gine du monde, verbally supplying t h e finishing t o u c h e s to Courbet's work, expos-
ing t h e p a i n t i n g with an energy a n d a t t e n t i o n m a t c h e d only by t h e t e r m s of a b u s e
h e flings at it a n d its creator ("meprisable," " a b j e c t i o n , " "degrader" [ 2 : 1 8 9 - 9 0 ] ) . In
place of t h e c u l t u r a l f r a m e w o r k swept away with t h e old regime, a c u l t u r a l fiction
that J e a n - M a r i e Apostolides has called "l'imaginaire d u corps s y m b o l i q u e d u
roi" 2 8 ["the i m a g i n a r y of t h e king's symbolic body"], D u C a m p intuitively poses
t h e i m a g i n a r y of t h e n e w regime: t h e hystericized body of w o m a n . 2 9 T h i s body,
m a t t e r u n m a s t e r e d in t h e throes of love, birth, illness, a n d d e a t h , is t h e energy
source by w h i c h t h e text is r u n a n d risks b e i n g o v e r r u n . C a l l i n g u p o n itself t h e
wrath of its creator, this body, t h e stuff that allegories are m a d e of, is instead frag-
m e n t e d , scattered to t h e far corners of t h e text, a torn a n d tearing t h i n g . T h e de-
m o n with a forked t o n g u e b e c o m e s a k e e n i n g p h a n t o m .
E v e n in its integral allegorical f o r m a f o r m t h a t is always virtual in D u C a m p ' s
t e x t t h e p o w e r f u l hystericized body is a n e m p o w e r i n g b u t n o t a n e m p o w e r e d
body. 5 0 For power, as E l a i n e Scarry has brilliantly s h o w n , emerges f r o m an inter-
action b e t w e e n physical a n d verbal acts in t h e course of w h i c h t h e body is trans-
f o r m e d into t h e v o i c e . " A n d as we have seen, it is precisely by t h e reverse transfor-
m a t i o n b y silencing t h e f e m a l e voice a n d m a k i n g t h e f e m a l e b o d y "speak"
whatever is p r o j e c t e d o n t o i t t h a t D u C a m p a n d others forge a m o n s t r o u s f e m a l e
force t h a t overpowers w o m e n .

2 8
Jean-Marie Apostolides, Le Roi-machine: Spectacle et politique au temps de Louis XIV (Paris: Mi-

nuit, 1981), 7.
2 9
A t s t a k e h e r e is n o t o n l y t h e d i s e a s e , b u t a m u c h l a r g e r c u l t u r a l f r a m e w o r k o r i m a g i n a r y . See Michel

Foucault's discussion of the hystericization of w o m a n ' s b o d y in La Volonte de savoir, 137; trans. Robert

H u r l e y as The History of Sexuality ( N e w York: V i n t a g e , 1980), 104.

3 0
M a r i n a W a r n e r , discussing a n A m a z o n i m a g e of liberty that e m e r g e d in F r a n c e in t h e first part of the

nineteenth century, remarks: "By harnessing the figure of this o u t l a w . . . t h e Liberty i m a g e brings her

under control. . . . e v e r y s o c i e t y w i l l d e f i n e its o w n ' w i l d ' d i f f e r e n t l y a n d t h e n t r y t o a n n e x it." Warner,

Monuments and Maidens, 292. Jacqueline C a r r o y suggests a n intriguing causal relation b e t w e e n the

trauma of the C o m m u n e and mounting Charcotian (spectacular) hysteria, suggesting that the latter

was necessary to explain a n d defuse the former. Carroy, " U n e F e m m e , des recits et des foules," Revue

internationale de Psychopathologie 41 (1991): 3 2 3 - 3 2 . I find these analyses convincing b u t also w a n t to

argue for a m o r e positive narrative n e e d for the figure of t h e hysteric: inspiration as well as scapegoat,

s h e o f f e r s p a t r i a r c h a l d i s c o u r s e a w a y o u t . B u t , a s I e x p l a i n i n t h e b o d y o f m y t e x t , I d o n o t t h i n k t h i s is

good n e w s for w o m e n .
31
Elaine Scarry, The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World (Oxford: Oxford University

Press, 1985), see especially 4 5 - 5 9 . Speaking about torture, Scarry observes that "even where the tor-

turers d o not p e r m a n e n t l y eliminate the voice t h r o u g h mutilation or murder, they m i m e the work of

p a i n b y t e m p o r a r i l y b r e a k i n g o f f t h e v o i c e , m a k i n g it t h e i r o w n , m a k i n g it s p e a k t h e i r w o r d s , m a k i n g it

c r y o u t w h e n t h e y w a n t it t o c r y , b e s i l e n t w h e n t h e y w a n t its s i l e n c e , t u r n i n g it o n a n d o f f " ( 5 4 ) .
9 V E N U S IN DRAG, OR R E D R E S S I N G
T H E DISCOURSE OF HYSTERIA
Rachilde's Monsieur Venus

J'avais quelques raisons d'originalite, de commodite

aussi, en allant trouver le prefet de police du moment
pour lui demander, le plus simplement du monde,
la permission de m'habiller en homme. . . .line me
restait qua vivre en mauvais gargon et je laissai
derriere moi la robe de la petite oie blanche,
de la demoiselle qui demandait au Jesuite,
son precepteur, le miracle de la . . .transfiguration.'
Le metier de femme de lettres . . . ressemble un peu
celui des actrices toujours obligees la representation.

RACHILDE, POURQUOI JE NE SUIS PAS FEMINISTE

# In his 1889 preface to the second edition of Monsieur Venus, Maurice

Barres describes the novel as "le spectacle d u n e rare perversite" ["the spectacle of
unusual perversity"].1 In 1986, Bram Dijkstra calls Monsieur Venus "a role-
reversal n o v e l . . . an early example of the unthreatening reversal games [charac-
teristic of] . . . the past century."2 In the time separating Barres and Dijkstra,
1
R a c h i l d e , Monsieur Venus (Paris: F l a m m a r i o n , 1 9 7 7 ) , 5; t r a n s . M a d e l e i n e B o y d ( N e w Y o r k : C o v i c i ,

Friede, 1929), 1 9 . S u b s e q u e n t r e f e r e n c e s t o Monsieur Venus will b e given parenthetically in t h e text

and will b e to these editions. B o y d ' s t r a n s l a t i o n is g e n e r a l l y f a i t h f u l t o R a c h i l d e ' s t e x t a n d t o n e , but

tends toward prudishness w h e n Rachilde's prose b e c o m e s purplish. In such cases I have m o d i f i e d the

t r a n s l a t i o n ( a n d h a v e s o i n d i c a t e d ) t o c o r r e s p o n d m o r e c l o s e l y t o t h e o r i g i n a l F r e n c h . T h e r e is a recent

t r a n s l a t i o n o f Monsieur Venus by Liz H e r o n ( L o n d o n : Dedalus, 1992) w h i c h I h a v e n o t yet seen as this

b o o k goes to press.

2
B r a m Dijkstra, Idols of Perversity (Oxford: O x f o r d University Press, 1986), 337. Dijkstra s r e d u c tio n of

Monsieur Venus to a g a m e of sexual inversion represents a traditional treatment of the novel. Several

feminist readings of the novel have astutely s h o w n t h a t t h e t h e m e o f s e x u a l i n v e r s i o n is n o t a mere

game, but implicates (and works to deconstruct) broader categories and symbolic structures. See

Micheline Besnard-Coursodon, " M o n s i e u r V e n u s , M a d a m e A d o n i s : S e x e e t d i s c o u r s , " Litterature 54

227
 1

LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
228 Monsieur Venus loses its shock value: t h e rare spectacle b e c o m e s only a n o t h e r
r o u n d in an i n n o c u o u s series of games. T h i s is n o t terribly surprising; o n e m i g h t
expect t h a t a century's difference w o u l d b r i n g in tow a reading difference. M o r e re-
m a r k a b l e t h a n t h e c h a n g e is t h e c o n t i n u i t y : b o t h appraisals of Rachilde's novel
e m p h a s i z e a t u r n a b o u t . C h a r g e d with "perverting" or "reversing" c o n v e n t i o n , t h e
novel is locked in a s t r u c t u r e w h o s e binarity we know to be d e p e n d e n t o n u n i t a r y
d o m i n a n c e . I w a n t to a r g u e that Monsieur Venus e m b o d i e s m u c h less a reversal
t h a n a dispersal of c o n v e n t i o n a m o r e radical c h a l l e n g e t h a n c a n b e a c c o m m o -
dated by t h e inversion figure.
First a concession: a n y o n e familiar with t h e p l o t o r even attentive to t h e oxy-
m o r o n i c t i t l e o f this novel m i g h t initially be t e m p t e d to read binary logic as its
n a t u r a l order a n d inversion as its p r i m e mover. Monsieur Venus tells of a y o u n g
aristocratic w o m a n , an a m a t e u r artist n a m e d R a o u l e de V e n e r a n d e , w h o m e e t s
Jacques Silvert ((lit Jaja), a y o u n g m a l e fleuriste, or flower-maker, a n d is ravished
by his beauty. S h e sets h i m u p as h e r mistress in an elegantly a p p o i n t e d a p a r t m e n t
a n d outfits h i m in lavish, flowing fabrics. T h e text is p u n c t u a t e d by a series of trysts
f e a t u r i n g cross-dressing, sadomasochistic scenes in w h i c h R a o u l e plays aggressor
to Jacques's v i c t i m , a n d by violent sexual rivalries that circulate a m o n g R a o u l e ,
Jacques, a n d a s u p p o r t i n g cast: h e r soldier suitor a n d his prostitute sister. T h e f o u r
are pitted against e a c h other in kaleidoscoping patterns of h o m o - a n d heterosexual
desire, w h i c h c l i m a x in t h e sacrifice of Jacques to Raoule's jealousy following his
a t t e m p t e d infidelity with t h e soldier. Raoule's final trysts are with d e a t h o r , m o r e
accurately, with its effigy. W e find her, dressed n o w as a w o m a n , n o w as a m a n , in
a s u m p t u o u s b e d c h a m b e r , clasping a wax cast of Jacques's body.
T h i s plot s u m m a r y is indicative of a m a s c u l i n e / f e m i n i n e t u r n a b o u t t h a t affects
clothing, profession, t e m p e r a m e n t , gender p r o n o u n s a n d inflections, social, fi-
n a n c i a l , a n d sexual p o s i t i o n s n o t to m e n t i o n power. M y r e l u c t a n c e to privilege
inversion as t h e master trope of this novel has n o t h i n g to d o with d e n y i n g its oper-
ation; it has everything to d o with r e c o g n i z i n g t h e contexts w i t h i n w h i c h it operates
b o t h extra- a n d i n t r a t e x t u a l l y c o n t e x t s t h a t c o m p l i c a t e a n d destabilize. T h i s
m e a n s c o n s i d e r i n g , o n t h e o n e h a n d , h o w figures of reversal in t h e text are related
to c o n t e m p o r a r y r e a d i n g c o n v e n t i o n s a n d , o n t h e other, h o w they f u n c t i o n w i t h i n
t h e tissue of Rachilde's writing. W e have initial access to b o t h d o m a i n s a n d a
m e a n s of m e d i a t i n g b e t w e e n t h e m i n t h e f o r m of t h e preface I referred to earlier,
written by M a u r i c e Barres five years after t h e novel's original p u b l i c a t i o n .

(May 1984): 121-27; M e l a n i e H a w t h o r n e , " T h e Social C o n s t r u c t i o n of Sexuality in T h r e e Novels by

Rachilde," Michigan Romance Studies 9 (1987): 4959; V e r o n i q u e H u b e r t - M a t t h e w s , "Androgynie et

r e p r e s e n t a t i o n c h e z q u a t r e a u t e u r s d u d i x - n e u v i e m e siecle: Balzac, G a u t i e r , Sand, Rachilde" (Ph.D.

diss., University of Virginia, 1993); D o r o t h y Kelly, Fictional Genders: Role and Representation in
Nineteenth-Century French Narrative (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1989): 143-55.
r

VENUS IN DRAG, OR R E D R E S S I N G THE D I S C O U R S E OF H Y S T E R I A

M u c h like a n author's o w n preface, this o n e is a n i n s t r u m e n t of t h e text: it serves 229
to direct o u r reading. B u t if, like any threshold, it leads inside, it also o p e n s o n t o
t h e outside. It is a m i r r o r held u p to t h e book, b u t a m i r r o r that is always two-sided
a n d t h a t also reflects t h e reading public: its beliefs, its desires, its fears, its patterns
of r e c e p t i o n . I a m suggesting t h a t we read t h e preface to Monsieur Venusmuch
as D o m i n i c k L a C a p r a reads t h e trial of Madame Bovaryas "an index of c o n v e n -
tions or n o r m s of reading in t h e larger p u b l i c . " 3 As Barres takes o n t h e role of de-
fense a t t o r n e y for t h e novel (which was never literally b r o u g h t to trial b u t was
b a n n e d shortly after its 1884 p u b l i c a t i o n in Belgium), his a r g u m e n t , a n t i c i p a t i n g
its a u d i e n c e , is necessarily saturated with fin de siecle c o n v e n t i o n s of interpreta-
t i o n . T h e preface reads t h e novel, b u t it reads d o u b l e . At t h e s a m e t i m e , t h e novel
reads t h e preface. Monsieur Venus may, in fact, best (and only apparently a n a c h -
ronistically) be u n d e r s t o o d as a d e c o n s t r u c t i v e reading of its o w n preface, for it re-
sponds to a n d unsettles t h e ideologically g r o u n d e d c o n v e n t i o n s of interpretation
r e p r o d u c e d by this preface.

T H E PREFACE: CROSSING T H E THRESHOLD

In w h a t follows I situate myself o n t h e unsteady prefatorial threshold b e t w e e n

Monsieur Venus a n d its n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y public, crossing over a n d back in b o t h
directions. M y stance m i m e s t h e o p e n i n g s c e n e of t h e novel, w h i c h places R a o u l e
de V e n e r a n d e in a similarly p r o b l e m a t i c threshold position: "La clef e t a n t sur la
porte, eile entra; mais sur le seuil, u n e o d e u r d e p o m m e s cuisant la prit la gorge
et l'arreta n e t " (23) [ " T h e key was in t h e door, she entered, b u t t h e smell of apples
cooking filled h e r throat a n d stopped h e r short u p o n t h e threshold"] (33). R a o u l e
enters, b u t is stopped short. S h e is o n t h e d o o r s i l l a n d so n o t yet i n s i d e b u t e n -
veloped by t h e o d o r that s u r r o u n d s her. E v e n as this s e n t e n c e draws o u r a t t e n t i o n
to t h e t h r e s h o l d t h e dividing l i n e i t blurs t h e distinction b e t w e e n outside a n d
inside. T h e e v i d e n t p r o b l e m a t i z i n g of spatial borders is c o m p o u n d e d by a n inter-
rogation of o t h e r b o u n d a r i e s : m o s t notably, gender difference, class distinction,
a n d textual limits. E x p e c t i n g that t h e flower-maker M a r i e Silvert will b e a w o m a n ,
R a o u l e asks Jacques, "Est-ce q u e je m e t r o m p e , m o n s i e u r ? " ["Am I mistaken,
M o n s i e u r ? ] , to w h i c h h e replies, "Pour le m o m e n t , M a r i e Silvert, c'est m o i " (24)
["For t h e t i m e b e i n g , I a m M a r i e Silvert"] (34). As she stands at t h e t h r e s h o l d ,
R a o u l e suggests crossing t h e barrier segregating t h e aristocracy f r o m t h e people.
And finally as t h e reader, with R a o u l e , enters t h e text, t h e l i m i n a l status of t h e
o p e n i n g lines is obscured by a sign of extratextual i n t r u s i o n into t h e text. T h i s
quite m a t e r i a l sign ( M a r i e Silvert, fleuriste, dessinateur [23] [Marie Silvert, flower-

5
Dominick LaCapra, "Madame Bovary" on Trial (Ithaca: C o r n e l ] University Press, 1982), 16.
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
230 maker, designer] [33]), rendered in t h e text by italics, is t h e i n a u g u r a l i n s t a n c e of a
practice t h a t will gradually b e c o m e pervasive. T h e italics signal a discourse t h a t is
b o t h inside a n d outside t h e text: a discourse w h o s e m e r e p r e s e n c e speaks its assim-
ilation yet w h o s e typographic difference marks a foreign p r o v e n a n c e . I will c o m e
back to this.
Barres in his preface a d m i t s n o s u c h z o n e of shadow, n o s u c h t h r e s h o l d site of
f u s i o n a n d c o n f u s i o n . H e quite simply offers a privileged m e a n s of access to Ra-
childe. I d o n o t m e a n to use t h e w o m a n h e r e in place of h e r work, a l t h o u g h o n e
c o u l d say t h a t it is precisely s u c h a m e t o n y m i c slide, albeit reversed, t h a t regulates
Barres's a p p r o a c h to a novel that is for h i m i r r e v o c a b l y a n d s a l a c i o u s l y c o n -
flated with t h e w o m a n w h o wrote it. " R a c h i l d e n'a g u e r e fait q u e se r a c o n t e r soi-
m e m e , " says Barres; " S o n livre n'est q u ' u n p r o l o n g e m e n t de sa vie" (14, 17)
["Rachilde has d o n e n o t h i n g b u t tell h e r o w n story"; " H e r book is t h e p r o l o n g a t i o n
of h e r life"] (22, 24). His i n t r o d u c t i o n to t h e novel quickly b e c o m e s t h e e x h i b i t i o n
of a c h i l d - w o m a n w h o s e rather equivocal wares h e is trying to sell. H e p r o m i s e s
t h a t t h e r e a d i n g of Monsieur Venus will c l i m a x in "[une] e m o t i o n v i o l e n t e " (5)
w h o s e force builds f r o m t h e following traits ascribed to its a u t h o r : h e r y o u t h , h e r
i n n o c e n c e , h e r i g n o r a n c e , h e r perversity, h e r hysteria.
Barres creates a w o m a n - t e x t whose appeal is based o n t h e s u p e r i m p o s i t i o n of
t h r e e p h a n t a s m a t i c faces of w o m a n : t h e hysteric, t h e w h o r e , a n d t h e p o l y m o r -
p h o u s l y perverted n y m p h e t . R a c h i l d e , "cette fievreuse" (13) ["that feverish y o u n g
w o m a n " ] (21), writes a novel t h a t Barres m o r e specifically attributes to " u n e des
plus singulieres d e f o r m a t i o n s de l ' a m o u r qu'ait p u p r o d u i r e la m a l a d i e d u siecle
d a n s l a m e d ' u n e j e u n e f e m m e " (14) ["one of t h e m o s t extraordinary d e f o r m i t i e s
of love w h i c h t h e maladie du siecle has p r o d u c e d in t h e soul of a y o u n g w o m a n " ]
(22). H e otherwise identifies h e r novel as a psychological s y m p t o m (20; 27). But it
is t h e i m a g e of R a c h i l d e as seductive girlchild t h a t is most a l l u r i n g to Barres. T h i s
G a l l i c H u m b e r t H u m b e r t reflects at length a n d with evident relish o n "les j e u n e s
filles [ q u i ] . . . sont g o u v e r n e e s u n i q u e m e n t par l'instinct, e t a n t d e p e t i t s a n i m a u x
sournois, egoi'stes et ardents" (14) ["young girls {who} are governed only by their in-
stincts, b e i n g small a n i m a l s , tricky, selfish, a n d passionate"] (22). H e savors every
r e f e r e n c e to R a c h i l d e s excessive i g n o r a n c e (the epistemological reinforced by t h e
sexual), a n d h e takes particular delight in identifying i n n o c e n c e as paradoxical
source of h e r rather m o r e k n o w i n g novel, m a r v e l i n g at "ce vice savant e c l a t a n t
d a n s le reve d ' u n e vierge" (6) ["the r e f i n e m e n t s of vice, b u r s t i n g f r o m t h e d r e a m s
of a virgin"] (20).

Barres's persistent e m p h a s i s o n Rachilde's paired i g n o r a n c e a n d i n n o c e n c e fi-

nally calls a t t e n t i o n to itself, letting us suppose that knowledge's v a c u u m is m o r e
precisely an e v a c u a t i o n of knowledge: process rather t h a n essence. T h e c a l c u l a t e d
p r o d u c t i o n of w h a t we m i g h t call an " i g n o r a n c e e f f e c t " a salable i m a g e of sen-
 V E N U S IN DRAG, OR R E D R E S S I N G THE D I S C O U R S E OF H Y S T E R I A
sual a n d intellectual d e p r i v a t i o n m e r i t s f u r t h e r scrutiny, less in t r i b u t e to Barress 231
insistence t h a n in r e c o g n i t i o n of t h e m a r k e t i n g strategies in w h i c h it is g r o u n d e d . 4
In his effort to p r o m o t e Monsieur Venus, to explain why t h e novel is a master-
piece, 5 Barres repeatedly invokes Rachilde's t e n d e r age a n d sex: " C e q u i est t o u t
fait delicat d a n s la perversite de ce livre, c'est qu'il a ete ecrit par u n e j e u n e fille d e
vingt ans. L e m e r v e i l l e u x chef-d'oeuvre!" ( 5 - 6 ) [ " T h e nicety of t h e perverseness
of this book lies in t h e fact t h a t it was written by a y o u n g girl of twenty. A m a r v e l -
lous masterpiece!"] ( 1 9 - 2 0 ) . T h e repeated references to h e r puerility, chastity, a n d
w h o l e s o m e u p b r i n g i n g signify sexual purity, w h i c h is in t u r n t h e signifier of igno-
rance: R a c h i l d e has "des yeux q u i ignorent t o u t " a n d T i g n o r a n c e d ' u n e vierge" (6,
16) ["eyes w h i c h ignore everything" a n d "the i g n o r a n c e of a virgin"] (20, 24). T h e
degree to w h i c h sexual i n e x p e r i e n c e (itself already a specious a s s u m p t i o n ) is g e n -
eralized as i g n o r a n c e tout court is surprising; m o r e c u r i o u s is t h e c o n c l u s i o n t h a t
Rachilde's ( p r e s u m e d ) i n n o c e n c e disqualifies h e r intellectual capacity to write
Monsieur Venus. "Certes," t h e prefacer assures us, "la petite fille q u i redigeait ce
m e r v e i l l e u x Monsieur Venus n'avait pas t o u t e cette e s t h e t i q u e d a n s la tete. .
S i m p l e m e n t eile avait de m a u v a i s instincts" (13) ["Of course t h e little girl w h o
w r o t e this m a r v e l l o u s Monsieur Venus did n o t have s u c h aesthetics . . . in h e r
h e a d . . . . S h e simply h a d bad instincts"] (21). H e elaborates: " R a c h i l d e , vingt
ans, p o u r ecrire u n livre q u i fait rever u n p e u t o u t le m o n d e , n'a g u e r e reflechi; eile
a ecrit t o u t a u trot d e sa p l u m e , suivant son instinct" (14) ["At twenty R a c h i l d e
wrote a book w h i c h a m a z e d everybody, a n d wrote it with scarcely any reflection;
she w r o t e easily, following h e r instincts"] (22).

T h e logical extension of Barress a r g u m e n t is t h a t M o n s i e u r V e n u s , a novel b o r n

of t h e c o u p l i n g of i n n o c e n c e a n d i g n o r a n c e , s h o u l d have s p o n t a n e o u s l y aborted;
i n n o c e n c e a n d its i n c e s t u o u s bedfellow, i g n o r a n c e , s h o u l d breed only t h e blank
page. B u t b y i n t e r v e n t i o n of t h e n e w g o d h e a d , p a t h o l o g y t h e m a r r i a g e of f e m -
i n i n e i n n o c e n c e a n d i g n o r a n c e e n g e n d e r s (by i m m a c u l a t e c o n c e p t i o n ) vicious
knowledge.
T h e lesson Barres teaches is that Monsieur Venus, a novel t h a t draws f r o m his
p e n s u c h adjectives as " a b o m i n a b l e , canaille, i m p u r " ( 5 - 2 0 , passim) ["daring,
vulgar, i m p u r e " ] ( 1 9 - 2 7 , passim), is written n o t with t h e h e a d b u t with t h e (fe-
m a l e ) instincts. In order to write h e r k n o w i n g novel, R a c h i l d e h a d n o n e e d to
k n o w (to u n d e r s t a n d or to h a v e experienced) w h a t she wrote; she simply gave free
rein to h e r nerves, u n l e a s h e d h e r instincts a n d feelings: "Pour les ecrivains d e cet

4
S e e E v e Sedgwick's i l l u m i n a t i n g c o m m e n t s o n t h e reification of i n n o c e n c e (as e x e m p l i f i e d by Dide-

rot's La Religieuse) in "Privilege of U n k n o w i n g , " Genders 1 (Spring 1988): 102-24

5
In an 1888 letter to R a c h i l d e , reproduced in the F l a m m a r i o n e d i t i o n o f Monsieur Venus, Maurice

B a r r e s e x p r e s s e s h i s d e s i r e t o w r i t e " v i n g t b e l l e s p a g e s 0C1 j ' e x p l i q u e r a i s c o m m e n t e t e n q u o i c e l i v r e l

e s t u n c h e f d ' o e u v r e " ( 9 ) [ " t w e n t y b e a u t i f u l p a g e s , e x p l a i n i n g h o w a n d w h y it is a m a s t e r p i e c e " ] (17).

LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
232 ordre, le r o m a n n'est q u ' u n m o y e n d e m a n i f e s t e r des s e n t i m e n t s q u e l'ordinaire d e
la vie les oblige r e f r e n e r " (17) ["To s u c h writers, t h e novel is only a m e a n s of ex-
pressing t h a t e m o t i o n w h i c h t h e h u m d r u m of life obliges o n e to repress, or at least
to conceal"] ( 2 4 - 2 5 ) . Barres is invoking a kind of "blood knowledge" of vice, a
" n a t u r a l viciousness" carried by t h e f e m a l e of t h e species.
W e n e e d n o t waste t i m e p o n d e r i n g t h e inconsistencies evident in this portrait of
t h e y o u n g w o m a n artist as cretin. T h e c o n t r a d i c t i o n s i n h e r e n t in Barress presen-
tation of Monsieur Venus as virginal fantasy o n t h e o n e h a n d a n d , o n t h e other,
sordid " a u t o b i o g r a p h i c de la plus etrange des j e u n e s f e m m e s " (20) ["autobiography
of t h e m o s t peculiar of y o u n g w o m e n " ] ( 2 7 - 2 8 ) c a n n o t be rationally resolved; t h e y
c a n only b e u n d e r s t o o d as inscriptions of t h e m o r e global n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y dis-
c o u r s e a b o u t sex t h a t M i c h e l F o u c a u l t calls "sexuality." 6 Barress c o m m e n t s o n
R a c h i l d e (on t h e novel as w o m a n ) constitute a virtual m a p p i n g of t h e power/
knowledge a p p a r a t u s F o u c a u l t calls t h e "hystericization of t h e f e m a l e body": a
t h r e e - p r o n g e d strategy by w h i c h w o m a n ' s body is e q u a t e d with sexuality, a p p r o p r i -
ated by pathology, a n d identified with t h e social body (which I take to m e a n lan-
guage, a m o n g o t h e r things). Barress perceptions a b o u t Monsieur Venus have little
to d o with t h e novel a n d m u c h to d o with t h e grid h e imposes u p o n it, a grid al-
ready in place that organizes his reading. As L e o Bersani has observed in r e f e r e n c e
to a n o t h e r p h a n t a s m a t i c context (the representation of A I D S ) , " T h e messages
m o s t likely to r e a c h their destination are messages already t h e r e . " 7
Barress r e a d i n g strategy, by analogy to w h a t F o u c a u l t calls a " p o w e r / k n o w l e d g e
strategy," c a n b e described as t h e hystericization of t h e textual body: t h e preface
reads t h e text by applying to it a grid w h o s e essential c o m p o n e n t s are, as w e h a v e
seen, hypersexuality, pathology, a n d bourgeois family values. W e m i g h t suppose
t h a t t h e preface was i n t e n d e d to trigger a parallel reading strategy in its p u b l i c . B u t
t h e very p r o d u c t i o n of this preface is e v i d e n c e that s u c h a strategy was already in
place a n d did n o t n e e d to be deliberately activated. In a sense, t h e n , this t h r e s h o l d
text is self-effacing. As it w o u l d m a r k off t h e c o n t o u r s of t h e text, it shades into in-
d i s t i n c t i o n , b l u r r i n g t h e b o r d e r b e c o m i n g t h e b l u r r e d b o r d e r b e t w e e n reader
a n d text. As it w o u l d g u i d e t h e reader to t h e text, it c a n n o t h e l p b u t reveal that t h e
reader is already in t h e text a n d t h e text preinscribed in t h e reader.
T h e c o n f l a t i o n of a text's writing a n d its reception, t h e collapsing of limits be-
t w e e n i n n e r a n d o u t e r textual space, t h e i m p l o s i o n of t h e extratextual into t h e text:
these are t h e o c c u l t forces of Barress preface t h a t R a c h i l d e takes o n as h e r subject.
Monsieur Venus is a b o u t t h e m a l e c o l o n i z a t i o n of f e m a l e textuality a n d of w o m a n
as textuality: it is a novel t h a t parodies its own reception, writes t h e intrusive reader
into its text. T h i s i n t e r n a l i z a t i o n of a predicted r e s p o n s e R a c h i l d e ' s q u i t e literal
i n s p i r a t i o n i s n o w h e r e clearer t h a n in h e r liberal use of italics.
6
Michel Foucault, La Volonte de savoir (Paris: G a l l i m a r d , 1976), 137.
7
L e o Bersani, "Is t h e R e c t u m a G r a v e ? " October 4 3 ( W i n t e r 1987): 210.
 VENUS IN DRAG, OR R E D R E S S I N G THE D I S C O U R S E OF H Y S T E R I A

T Y P I N G D I F F E R E N C E : T H E USE O F ITALICS

T h e italicizing of words a n d p h r a s e s a practice t h a t appears o n t h e first page a n d

t h e n with g a t h e r i n g force as t h e novel a d v a n c e s t y p o g r a p h i c a l l y f o r m a l i z e s t h e
foreignness of a discourse whose source is given as external to t h e text. 8 S u r g i n g
forth in t h e midst of a text d o m i n a t e d by r o m a n type, italic characters i n t r o d u c e
n o t only a different discourse, b u t also t h e very idea of differentiation, t h e splitting
off t h a t creates difference. 9 W i t h i n t h e italicized discourse, a n d d o m i n a t i n g it, is a
subdiscourse o n gender, itself t h e p a r a d i g m a t i c m a r k e r of difference: roughly half
t h e italicized f o r m s represent gender p r o n o u n s , gender-inflected n o u n s , a d j e c -
tives, verbs, a n d gender-specific terms (such as Mile, neveu, maitresse).
T h e g e n d e r i n g of italics presents a mise en abyme of t h e p r o d u c t i o n of differ-
ence: a d e m a r c a t i o n of d e m a r c a t i o n w h o s e overemphasis u n d e r m i n e s t h e possi-
bility of ever telling w h a t t h e difference is. W h e n Jacques is designated by t h e ital-
icized p r o n o u n il or R a o u l e by t h e n o u n femme (70, 71), t h e italics call into
q u e s t i o n t h e linguistic c o d e or c o n v e n t i o n t h a t assigns gender. B u t w h e n , alter-
natively, Jacques is referred to by an italicized f e m i n i n e p r o n o u n {eile, la [92]) or
w h e n R a o u l e s discourse is m a r k e d by italicized m a s c u l i n e inflections (" 'Je suis ja-
loux,' rugit-elle" [99] ["'I a m a jealous fellow,' she roared"] [100; trans, modified]),
t h e italics b e c o m e part of a multilayered cross-dressing m o r e difficult to interpret.
W h a t is b e i n g c h a l l e n g e d in t h e latter e x a m p l e s is n o t so m u c h c o n v e n t i o n as t h e
text's interrogation of c o n v e n t i o n . T h e italicization of f o r m s t h a t m i g h t otherwise
a p p e a r to be offered as inverted revisions of linguistic c o n v e n t i o n s suggests t h e re-
jection of a simple reversal m e c h a n i s m . W h a t is at stake is less any particular sign
or signs t h a n t h e process of referentiality, especially as based o n a sexually deter-
m i n a b l e n o t i o n of difference. In t h e italicized m o m e n t at w h i c h t h e il of Jacques
is recoded as elle, t h e r e is a flicker of uncertainty, a s h a d o w cast o n t h e apparently
t r a n s p a r e n t c o n n e c t i o n linking gender with people a n d language. T h e d e m a r c a -
tion of t h e text's re-markings of gender alienates t h e narrative voice, destabilizes its
authority, suggesting a f u n d a m e n t a l indistinguishability of self a n d other, inside
a n d outside, originality a n d citation, sincerity a n d irony.

S u c h a n interrogation of differentiation pervades t h e use of italics in Monsieur

Venus, even w h e n g e n d e r is n o t specifically at issue. W e c a n divide Rachilde's use
of italics into categories ranging f r o m m o s t to least distanced or differentiated f r o m
t h e narrative voice, a l t h o u g h we find t h a t t h e text ultimately reveals these divisions
to be illusory. I t u r n first to t h e most c o n v e n t i o n a l , m o s t e n c o d e d f o r m of italics,
8
Italics appear, o n t h e average, a b o u t every third page in t h e F l a m m a r i o n edition; in the central section

of t h e novel t h e y o c c u r m o r e frequently (approximately every page, often with m u l t i p l e a p p e a r a n c e s on

a page).

' C l a u d e Duchet's excellent study of Flaubert's use of italics h a s e n r i c h e d m y understanding of Ra-

childe. See Duchet, "Signifiance et insignifiance: L e discours italique d a n s Madame Bovary," in La

Production du sens chez Flaubert, ed. C l a u d i n e G o t h o t - M e r s c h (Paris: 10/18, 1975), 365.
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
234 w h i c h q u i t e clearly separates "foreign" discursive e l e m e n t s f r o m t h e narrative dis-
course proper, as w h e n , for e x a m p l e , R a c h i l d e offers t h e book title Les exploits de
la Brinvilliers (75), t h e sign Marie Silvert, fleuriste, dessinateur (23), or t h e Angli-
cism high-life (110). In e a c h of these cases t h e italics label as O t h e r a citation f r o m
a n easily identifiable code. A d d i t i o n a l e x a m p l e s , however, r a n g e a l o n g a gradient
a c c o r d i n g to w h i c h t h e origin of t h e italicized words or citation loses specificity
a n d , eventually, distance f r o m t h e text.
T h e next m o s t differentiated category of italics in Monsieur Venus explicitly at-
tributes its origin to a specific code: " T a n t e Elisabeth n e t a i t pas sans savoir q u e son
neveu, c o m m e elle appelait s o u v e n t R a o u l e . . ." (42); " M a r i e . . . etait b i e n per-
s u a d e e m a i n t e n a n t q u e cette folle . . . leur reviendrait plus sage, plus protectrice,
plus cossue e n f i n , selon son expression f a u b o u r i e n n e " (61); "Ayant u n e idee fort
vague d e la haute, selon l'expression si s o u v e n t repetee de sa soeur . . ."(112); " O n
s ' i m a g i n a i t . . . l'individu complet d o n t p a r l e n t les recits f a b u l e u x des b r a h m a n e s "
(171) ["Aunt E l i z a b e t h did n o t k n o w t h a t her nephew, as she o f t e n called
R a o u l e . . ." (50); " M a r i e . . . was firmly c o n v i n c e d n o w t h a t t h e crazy w o m a n
. . . w o u l d c o m e back . . . c a l m e r a n d m o r e g e n e r o u s , m o r e in the money, as she
c r u d e l y expressed it" (66); " S i n c e h e h a d a very vague idea of t h e life of t h e upper
crust, as his sister o f t e n called t h e m " (112); " T h e y s e e m e d to b e t h a t complete in-
10
dividual spoken of in t h e f a b u l o u s tales of Brahmins"] (166). In o n e of two inter-
m e d i a t e cases, t h e source of t h e italicized discourse is explicitly attributed b u t is
a n o n y m o u s ("cette virilite d ' u n e h e u r e q u ' o n appelle la fatuite" [102] ["that
e p h e m e r a l virility called vanity"] [103]), w h i l e in t h e other, conversely, t h e s o u r c e
is p a r t i c u l a r i z e d b u t only indirectly ("II [Raittolbe] se c o n t e n t a d o n e d e reveler
R a o u l e la situation exacte . . . [et] avoua q u e , p o u r calmer l ' h u m e u r d a n g e r e u s e
de M i l e Silvert, il avait c r u necessaire de ceder sa fantaisie. . . . II t e r m i n a i t e n
d e p l o r a n t Yacces de vivacite d o n t Jacques avait ete v i c t i m e " [138] ["He c o n t e n t e d
h i m s e l f by revealing to R a o u l e t h e exact location . . . h e acknowledged t h a t , in or-
der to mollify M a d e m o i s e l l e Silvert s d a n g e r o u s t e m p e r , h e h a d t h o u g h t it neces-
sary to yield to h e r fancy for h i m . . . . H e e n d e d by regretting t h e anger of w h i c h
Jacques h a d b e e n t h e victim"] [ 136]). In this latter e x a m p l e , t h e use of indirect dis-
course lets us identify t h e i m p l i e d source of t h e italics.

At t h e vaguest, least differentiated e n d of t h e s p e c t r u m , t h e discursive source is

n e i t h e r specified nor, except for t h e italics, is it even labeled as O t h e r . W h e n , for
instance, we read " o n l'avait fait si fille d a n s les endroits les plus secrets de son etre,
q u e la folie d u vice p r e n a i t les proportions d u tetanos!" (220) ["they h a d m a d e h i m
such a whore in t h e d e p t h s of his b e i n g , that t h e m a d n e s s of vice took t h e p r o p o r -
tions of tetanus!"] ( 2 i i ; t r a n s . modified), o r w h e n we are told t h a t "Raittolbe, b i e n
10
1 h a v e a d d e d italics w h e r e m i s s i n g in Boyd's translation a n d will c o n t i n u e to d o so in s u b s e q u e n t ci-

tations. I have modified the translations f r o m Boyd's pages 66 a n d 112.

 VENUS IN DRAG, OR R E D R E S S I N G THE D I S C O U R S E OF H Y S T E R I A
qu'il e t ete jusque-la u n h o n n e t e h o m m e , avait le siecle" (97) ["Although h e h a d 235
always b e e n a g e n t l e m a n till t h e n , Raittolbe had caught the century"] (98; trans.
m o d i f i e d ) , t h e r e is n o m a r k of reference; we m u s t ourselves supply a s u b j e c t a n d
verb of a t t r i b u t i o n , however vague: an implicit " c o m m e o n dit" t h a t labels t h e ital-
icized e l e m e n t s as citation a n d refers t h e m to t h e a n o n y m o u s pool of social dis-
course. T h i s least differentiated use of italics, m a r k e d only typographically, works
as m u c h to assimilate t h e italicized portions of t h e text to t h e narrative discourse as
to alienate t h e m f r o m it. A link o n a discursive c h a i n stretching f r o m t h e extratex-
tual to t h e text itself, n o n s p e c i f i c italics are as akin to nonitalicized f o r m s of cita-
tion as they are to other, m o r e deictic uses of italics.
W h e n we read that Raittolbe "avait le siecle," we intuitively refer t h e italicized
words to a collective voice, n o t only because n o specified voice can be h e a r d , b u t
b e c a u s e in t h e expression "avoir le siecle" ["to c a t c h t h e century"] we r e c o g n i z e
R a c h i l d e s variant of "la m a l a d i e d u siecle" ["the disease of o u r times"], a e u p h e -
m i s m for hysteria, a n d t h e fin de siecle's cliche self-diagnosis (a c l i c h e repeatedly
r e p r o d u c e d by Barres in his preface). R a c h i l d e 's reissued f o r m of t h e e u p h e m i s m
ironizes it. Stylistically fractured a n d typographically reset, h e r variant points o u t
t h e exaggerated linkage of history a n d disease by pathologizing t h e era.
B u t irony is n o t p r o d u c e d h e r e by italics a l o n e . Italics serve merely to h e i g h t e n
t h e distancing effect t h a t is otherwise present everywhere in t h e novel. T h i s partic-
ular case, in w h i c h italics are used to e m p h a s i z e t h e ironic repetition of a n idee re-
que, slides a l m o s t i m p e r c e p t i b l y into a tissue of similarly ironized, t h o u g h u n i t a l -
icized, c o m m o n p l a c e s a b o u t hysteria, sexuality, masculinity, femininity, a n d art.
As w e see t h e text integrate its italicized O t h e r (offering n o designation of discur-
sive source) a n d , conversely, as we hear t h e narrative voice speak in O t h e r (not al-
ways italicized) t o n g u e s , it b e c o m e s a p p a r e n t that t h e entire novel is a caricatural
citation of fin d e siecle stereotypes. In other w o r d s w o r d s I paraphrase f r o m s o m e
c o m m e n t s Ross C h a m b e r s has m a d e a b o u t Madame Bovaryif this text is indis-
t i n g u i s h a b l e f r o m its social matrix, a c o m p e t e n t reader m u s t p u t t h e entire novel
in q u o t e s a n d engage in a s e n t e n c e - b y - s e n t e n c e ironic reading. 1 1
B u t R a c h i l d e is n o t F l a u b e r t . W h y t h e n attribute to h e r t h e awareness of a F l a u -
bert rather t h a n that of a Bouvard or a P e c u c h e t ? W h a t if h e r relentless repetition
of t h e social discourse of h e r t i m e is n o t a sign of resistance b u t of c o m p l i a n c e ?
W h y a s s u m e R a c h i l d e is society's gadfly rather t h a n its scribe? T h e s e are extremely
sticky q u e s t i o n s that I c a n n o t definitively resolve, partly b e c a u s e I t h i n k it likely

1
' " D a n s la m e s u r e 011. . . le t e x t e n e se d i s t i n g u e p a s d e sa m a t i e r e s o c i a l e , le l e c t e u r d e v r a e t r e capable

de 'mettre des guillemets' au roman entier, e t d e m a i n t e n i r p h r a s e p a r p h r a s e u n e l e c t u r e i r o n i q u e . "

Ross Chambers, Melancolie et opposition: Les debuts du modernisme en France ( P a r i s : C o r t i , 1 9 8 7 ) ,
192. C h a m b e r s goes on to suggest that such a reading ("une lecture simplement ironique") is

insufficient.
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
236 that t h e y d o n o t h a v e either/or answers. W i t h o u t ruling o u t complicity, however, I
w a n t to m a k e a provisional a r g u m e n t for contestation: for a series of f o r m a l strate-
gies t h a t w h e n b r o u g h t to bear u p o n citation create a n ironic field t h a t u l t i m a t e l y
t u r n s repetition into difference. O p e r a t i n g singly or, m o r e o f t e n , in c o m b i n a t i o n ,
these strategies i n c l u d e b u t extend b e y o n d italicization, e m b r a c i n g o t h e r attrib-
uted f o r m s of q u o t a t i o n (direct a n d indirect) as well as t h e stylistic alteration, ex-
aggeration, reversal, a n d sheer a c c u m u l a t i o n of cliche l o c u t i o n s or topoi.
As w e explore t h e citational s t r u c t u r e of Monsieur Venus, t h e f u n c t i o n i n g of t h e
strategic m e c h a n i s m s t h a t b o t h s h a p e a n d r e - f o r m it begins to e m e r g e . In a d d i t i o n ,
t h e discourse c i t e d t h e social d i s c o u r s e m o r e specifically reveals its identity as
t h e discourse of hystericization, a n d we h e a r in R a c h i l d e s citations f r o m it strong
e c h o e s of t h e preface by M a u r i c e Barres that w o u l d b e written five years later. For
purely organizational purposes, m y discussion of this discourse is divided into t h e
following categories: g e n d e r (gender/power roles a n d gender reversal); s c i e n c e
(clinical hysteria a n d heredity); a n d t h e s e m i o t i c body. T h e s e rubrics c o r r e s p o n d to
s o m e w h a t arbitrary divisions of a n essentially c o n t i n u o u s discourse; in fact, t h e
categories overlap at m a n y points.

THE DISCOURSE OF GENDER

T h r e a d e d t h r o u g h t h e novel are a series of gender-related topoi only too f a m i l i a r to

readers of n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y novels. T h e /Zeunsfe-turned-courtesan Jacques Sil-
vert is a citation of a n idee regue t h a t equates t h e o c c u p a t i o n of flower-making with
loose m o r a l s a n d prostitution. 1 2 Jacques's rides t h r o u g h t h e Bois with R a o u l e de
V e n e r a n d e also repeat a c o n v e n t i o n , l'heure du Bois, w h o s e f o r m u l a e are also
closely a d h e r e d to: Jacques, t h e b e a u t i f u l lower-class consort, discreetly h i d d e n in
t h e back of t h e carriage so as to see w i t h o u t b e i n g seen, is given a n i n t r o d u c t i o n to
society by R a o u l e , w h o points o u t t h e principal players o n that stage a n d r e c o u n t s
w h a t goes o n b e h i n d t h e scenes. E v e n his i n d o l e n t , submissive pose is a citation:
"II resta c o u c h e a u f o n d de la voiture, t o u t pres d'elle, la tete a b a n d o n n e e sur son
e p a u l e , r e p e t a n t d e ces betises adorables q u i r e n d a i e n t sa b e a u t e plus p r o v o c a n t e
e n c o r e " ( 1 0 9 - 1 0 ) ["He stayed close to h e r in t h e carriage, lying d o w n with his h e a d
u p o n h e r shoulder, repeating sweet n o t h i n g s w h i c h r e n d e r e d his b e a u t y still m o r e
provocative"] (109; trans, modified). Jacques's fearful i n t u i t i o n , in t h e face of t h e

12
S e e , f o r e x a m p l e , t h e d i s c u s s i o n s i n E m i l e Z o l a ' s L'Assommoir about the inappropriateness of the oc-

cupation for a y o u n g girl, at t h e point at w h i c h the area of Nana's apprenticeship is b e i n g decided.

(Zola, L'Assommoir, in Les Rougon-Macquart, ed. A r m a n d Lanoux and Henri Mitterand, 5 vols.

[Paris: G a l l i m a r d , 1960-67], 2:681-82.) N a n a does b e c o m e a flower-maker, and the sequel to her

story, r e c o u n t e d in t h e r e m a i n i n g pages of LAssommoir a n d then in Nana, supports her family's pre-

diction and her century's received wisdom.

r

V E N U S IN DRAG, OR R E D R E S S I N G THE D I S C O U R S E OF H Y S T E R I A
m o n e y e d , w e l l - b o r n travelers of t h e Bois, t h a t h e will o n e day be a b a n d o n e d w h e n 237
his rieh, aristocratic lover takes a spouse f r o m a m o n g h e r o w n , is also a citation
f r o m a f a m i l i a r gender c o d e that d i c h o t o m i z e s mistress a n d wife: " A h ! disait-il
s o u v e n t , se serrant c o n t r e eile avec effroi, t u te marieras, u n jour, et tu m e quit-
teras!" (110) [" 'Ah!' h e used to say, c u d d l i n g u p to her, f r i g h t e n e d , ' s o m e day you'll
m a r r y a n d you'll leave m e ! ' " ] (110).
In t h e p r e c e d i n g examples, it is of far greater i m p o r t a n c e that we recognize, in
Rachilde's discourse, citations f r o m a d o m i n a n t g e n d e r c o d e t h a n that w e insist
u p o n t h e fact t h a t in h e r versions of t h e code, t h e c o n v e n t i o n a l g e n d e r positions
are reversed. G e n d e r inversion in these a n d m a n y o t h e r cases is a strategic t e c h -
n i q u e used to e m p h a s i z e , by defamiliarizing, t h e c o n v e n t i o n s t h a t are i n v e r t e d
c o n v e n t i o n s that m i g h t otherwise pass as natural.
E v e n s u c h a p r e l i m i n a r y review of inverted citation in Monsieur Venus should
suggest t h a t reversal is n o t , as has b e e n c l a i m e d , t h e d o m i n a n t figure in this novel;
only o n e a m o n g a n u m b e r of ironizing strategies, it is, like t h e others I consider,
s u b o r d i n a t e to t h e r e g i m e of repetition. Precisely, if paradoxically, b e c a u s e rever-
sal is in t h e service of repetition (it serves, alongside its c o m p a n i o n strategies, to as-
sure a dizzying proliferation of repetitions), it gains a subversive power rather t h a n
r e m a i n i n g a m e r e d e p e n d e n t (thus conservative) f o r m of social discourse.
Reversal plays a d o u b l e role in this novel, for it is n o t only a f o r m a l strategy bear-
ing u p o n citation b u t itself a citation as well, o n e m o r e cliche m o b i l i z e d f r o m t h e
fin d e siecle reserve. M a r i o Praz has long since d e m o n s t r a t e d t h a t r e v e r s a l m o r e
precisely, g e n d e r reversalis a literary c o m m o n p l a c e that pervades t h e n i n e -
t e e n t h century, r e t u r n i n g in e v e r - c h a n g i n g garb. 1 5 In passing, we s h o u l d invoke
t h e f e m i n i z e d r o m a n t i c h e r o , t h e a n d r o g y n e , t h e f e m m e fatale; m o r e specifically
(but n o t exhaustively) we m i g h t m e n t i o n R e n e , M a d e m o i s e l l e d e M a u p i n , Sera-
p h i t a / S e r a p h i t s , M a t h i l d e de la M o l e , E m m a Bovary, Foedora, La Z a m b i n e l l a .
So w h e n R a c h i l d e puts Jacques into a w o m a n ' s nightgown (73) or gives h i m
r o u n d e d thighs t h a t "effagait leur sexe" (55) ["make his sex uncertain"] (61), w h e n
she equips R a o u l e with " u n e p a n o p l i e d ' a r m e s de tous genres et d e tous pays" (36)
["weapons of all kinds a n d of all countries"] (45) a n d repeatedly dresses h e r in m a l e
garb, t h e c o m m a n d i n g m o d e is citation a n d n o t reversal. In o t h e r words, w e m u s t
t h i n k of g e n d e r reversal primarily as a u n i t , as a c o m p o u n d c o n v e n t i o n cited by
R a c h i l d e . A d m i t t e d l y t h e distinction b e t w e e n Rachilde's use of gender reversal,
o n t h e o n e h a n d , in complicity with c o n v e n t i o n a n d , o n t h e other, as a d e f a m i l -
iarizing strategy is n o t always clear-cut. W h e n , for e x a m p l e , R a o u l e imperiously
cries to Jacques, "Suis-je le m a i t r e , o u i o u n o n " (103) ["Am I master, yes or no?"]
(104) or w h e n she w a r n s h i m , " T u dois t'apercevoir. . . q u e , de n o u s deux, l e p l u s
13
M a r i o Praz, The Romantic Agony, trans. A n g u s Davidson (1933; reprint, Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1970).
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
238 h o m m e c'est t o u j o u r s m o i " (99) ["You m u s t feel . . . t h a t I a m t h e better m a n of
t h e two!"] (100), t h e effect of t h e gender/power inversion c l i c h e is a m b i g u o u s .
" M a s t e r " a n d " m a n " could h e r e be u n d e r s t o o d as n o m i n a l power shifters, as m e t -
a p h o r s shifting power f r o m m a n to w o m a n w i t h o u t , however, c h a n g i n g t h e p h a l -
l o c e n t r i c power base. O r they could be u n d e r s t o o d as subversions of g e n d e r c o n -
v e n t i o n s , if w e e m p h a s i z e t h e fact that a c o n v e n t i o n a l identification of power with
( m a s c u l i n e ) g e n d e r is b e i n g cited in a different voice; by r e g e n d e r i n g t h e citing
voice, t h e c o n v e n t i o n by w h i c h mastery a n d masculinity are c o n c e p t u a l i z e d to-
gether is d e n a t u r a l i z e d . W e c a n n o t choose.
W e m i g h t i m a g i n e Monsieur Venus organized along two principal axes: t h e axis
of citation a n d t h e axis of f o r m a l strategies. T h e p o i n t at w h i c h t h e two axes inter-
sect is reversal. At this site of c o n v e r g e n c e , reversal folds over u p o n itself (that is,
u p o n gender reversal), doubles, b e c o m e s s o m e t h i n g akin to a d o u b l e negative. Al-
t h o u g h in theory we w o u l d expect gender reversal reversed to yield a positive
v a l u e a c o n f i r m a t i o n of c o n v e n t i o n i n effect, this d o u b l i n g is a n alert: it u n -
settles a n d c o n f u s e s t h e reader, h i g h l i g h t i n g a n d destabilizing t h e cited discourse
of gender. E x a m p l e s a b o u n d ; t h e following are particularly clear.
R a o u l e , in full m a l e attire a n d acting t h e role of a m a n s e d u c i n g his virgin bride,
is m a k i n g love to Jacques. At t h e h e i g h t of passion, however, she bares h e r breasts
("pour m i e u x sentir les b a t t e m e n t s de c o e u r d e Jacques" [198] ["to feel t h e b e a t i n g
of Jacques' h e a r t better"] [192]) a n d destroys t h e fiction, reverses t h e citation of
g e n d e r reversal: " ' R a o u l e , ' s'ecria Jacques, la face c o n v u l s e e . . . ' R a o u l e , tu n'es
d o n e pas u n h o m m e ? tu n e p e u x d o n e pas etre u n h o m m e ? ' . . . E t le sanglot des
illusions detruites, p o u r t o u j o u r s m o r t e s , m o n t a de ses flancs sa gorge" (198)
[" ' R a o u l e , aren't you a m a n ? C a n ' t you be a m a n ? ' A n d t h e sob of lost illusion, for-
ever d e a d , c a m e f r o m t h e i n n e r m o s t part of his being"] (192). T h i s is a case of
double-cross-dressing: Jacques is betrayed w h e n R a o u l e in drag r e t u r n s to a f e m a l e
identity, a n d t h e reader's expectations are tricked w h e n Raoule's u n d r e s s i n g re-
dresses t h e gender reversal cliche. L a n g u a g e , moreover, c h a n g e s g e n d e r in this
novel as easily as R a o u l e a n d Jacques c h a n g e clothes. In t h e q u o t a t i o n " 'Je suis ja-
loux\' rugit-elle affolee" (99), t h e f e m a l e speaker (Raoule) adopts a m a s c u l i n e -
inflected adjective, only to revert to a f e m a l e identity, exposed (like Raoule's
breasts) in t h e f e m i n i n e p r o n o u n a n d t h e following f e m i n i n e - i n f l e c t e d adjective. 1 4
T h e a c c u m u l a t i o n of s u c h g r a m m a t i c a l h e r m a p h r o d i t e s is disconcerting; Raoule's
suitor Raittolbe m i g h t be speaking for t h e reader w h e n h e pleads: " T c h o n s de

14
Examples of fluid sexual identity a b o u n d . W h e n , for instance, Jacques is c o m p a r e d to the Venus

C a l l i p y g o u s h i s b o d y f e m i n i z e d h i s v i r i l i t y ( p h a l l i c i t y ) is i m m e d i a t e l y e m p h a s i z e d ( 5 5 ; 6 1 ) . A n d in

another incident, Jacques enters Raittolbe's a p a r t m e n t dressed in drag; later R a o u l e enters dressed in

drag; finally b o t h leave together in regular attire, to t h e great c o n f u s i o n of t h e valet d e c h a m b r e (217;

208).
r

V E N U S IN DRAG, OR R E D R E S S I N G THE D I S C O U R S E OF H Y S T E R I A
n o u s e n t e n d r e ! . . . A d o p t o n s il ou eile, afin q u e je n e p e r d e pas le p e u de b o n sens 239
q u i m e reste" (91) ["Let us c o m e to a n u n d e r s t a n d i n g ! . . . Let s stick to either he or
she so t h a t I w o n ' t lose t h e few shreds of c o m m o n sense I have left"] ( 9 2 - 9 3 ) . 1 5
R a c h i l d e s a p p r o p r i a t i o n of gender c o n v e n t i o n s c o n t i n u e s , t h e irony b u i l d i n g as
c o m m o n p l a c e s of g e n d e r slide into stereotypes of hysteria, passing by way of
cliches a b o u t femininity. C h i d e d by Raittolbe for rearranging a p l a n n e d m e e t i n g ,
R a o u l e cites all t h e c o m m o n p l a c e e x p l a n a t i o n s before h e has t h e o p p o r t u n i t y to
propose a n y o n e of t h e m : " ' R i e n n e doit vous e t o n n e r , p u i s q u e je suis f e m m e , ' re-
p o n d i t R a o u l e riant d ' u n rire nerveux. 'Je fais t o u t le c o n t r a i r e de ce q u e j'ai
p r o m i s . Q u o i d e plus n a t u r e l ? ' "(81) [" 'As I a m a w o m a n n o t h i n g o u g h t to astonish
y o u , ' R a o u l e a n s w e r e d , l a u g h i n g nervously. 'I d o t h e opposite of w h a t I p r o m i s e d .
W h a t c a n b e m o r e n a t u r a l t h a n that?"'] (83). Implicit in this o v e r d e t e r m i n e d re-
sponse is a string of cliches a b o u t f e m i n i n i t y : w o m a n does n o t c o n f o r m to reason,
w o m a n is u n p r e d i c t a b l e , w o m a n is m o b i l e a n d capricious, w o m a n is n a t u r a l ,
w o m a n is prisoner of h e r nerves. It is t h e stockpiling of citation, t h e o v e r d e t e r m i -
n a t i o n , t h a t is h e r e responsible for t h e ironic texture.
Raoule's p r e s e n c e in t h e novel, t h e c o h e r e n c e (such as it is) of h e r character, is
d u e to t h e expansion a n d d e v e l o p m e n t of this citational network. E v e r y w h e r e w e
h e a r repeated t h e litany of c l i c h e characteristics (animal-like, sneaky, a r d e n t , per-
verse, instinctual, nervous, pathological) that structured Barres's discourse o n
w o m e n . R a o u l e , d u b b e d "la nerveuse" (33), is aroused by Jacques's beauty: " M i l e
de V e n e r a n d e recula j u s q u ' a u lit; ses m a i n s nerveuses se crisperent d a n s les draps;
eile grondait c o m m e g r o n d e n t les pantheres" (55) [ " M a d e m o i s e l l e d e V e n e r a n d e
w e n t back to t h e bed; h e r n e r v o u s h a n d s c l u t c h e d t h e sheets; she was roaring, as
p a n t h e r s roar"] (61). Hysteria rears its lustful h e a d , a n d Barres's a r d e n t beast is
roused o n c e m o r e . O r again: " R a o u l e se leva; u n t r e m b l e m e n t n e r v e u x la secouait
t o u t e n t i e r e " (29) ["Raoule arose, a n e r v o u s t r e m o r shook h e r all over"] (39).
Jacques is o n c e again t h e agent provocateur. W h e n R a o u l e lingers in his small,
poorly ventilated a p a r t m e n t , h e r n e r v o u s c o n d i t i o n is aggravated: "Ses nerfs se sur-
excitaient d a n s l ' a t m o s p h e r e e m p u a n t i e de la m a n s a r d e " (31) ["Her nerves were
over-excited by t h e suffocating a t m o s p h e r e of t h e garret"] (40). T h i s passage
s h o u l d be read in t h e context of n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y treatises o n hysteria, w h i c h
typically w a r n of just s u c h p e r n i c i o u s effects of fetid odors a n d noxious air. W e
m a y t h e r e f o r e take Raoule's n e r v o u s response to close air as o u r i n t r o d u c t i o n to a
series of citations that let us h e a r t h e clinical along with t h e p o p u l a r discourse of
hysteria.

15
O n the generally accepted idea that truth and sexual identity are intimately b o u n d , see M i c h e l Fou-

caults lapidary introduction to the English translation of H e r c u l i n e Barbin's Herculine Barbin: Being
the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth-Century French Hermaphrodite, trans. Richard

McDougall, ed. M i c h e l F o u c a u l t ( N e w York: P a n t h e o n , 1980): vii-xvii.

LITERARY H I S T O R I E S

THE DISCOURSE OF SCIENCE

T h e r e are i n t e r m i t t e n t e c h o e s in Monsieur Venus of t h e m o s t r e c e n t clinical c a n t

a b o u t t h e disease. A l t h o u g h I w a n t to reiterate, in passing, t h a t it is impossible to
isolate scientific f r o m p o p u l a r discourses, given their c o m m o n ideological b e d -
rock, I c a n n o n e t h e l e s s indicate u n m i s t a k a b l e citations of t h e teachings of C h a r -
cot a n d his g r o u p at t h e Salpetriere. R a o u l e in h e r c o u p e a b a n d o n s herself to a
state of n e r v o u s exhilaration: "la tete en arriere, le corsage gonfle, les bras crispes,
avec d e t e m p s a u t r e u n soupir de lassitude" (34) ["her h e a d t h r o w n back, h e r
breasts h e a v i n g , h e r a r m s clasped. F r o m t i m e to t i m e she gave a sigh of fatigue"]
(43). T h i s pose r e p r o d u c e s an arc de cercle or t h e s p a s m o d i c m u s c l e c o n t r a c t u r e
k n o w n as opisthotonos: t h e bowed-back body position C h a r c o t m a d e f a m o u s w h e n
h e standardized t h e hysterical attack, o r g a n i z i n g it into f o u r largely invariable
phases t h a t h e t h e n subdivided into attitudes a n d m o v e m e n t s . T h e arc de cercle
was located in t h e second m a j o r p h a s e , k n o w n as "la p e r i o d e d e grands m o u v e -
m e n t s o u de c l o w n i s m e . " T h e o p i s t h o t o n u s associated with hysteria bears a
m a r k e d r e s e m b l a n c e to t h e attitude of a body in t h e throes of passion. As B r a m
Dijkstra has recently p o i n t e d o u t , this convulsive w o m a n ( w h o m h e designates by
t h e u n f o r t u n a t e epithet " T h e N y m p h with t h e Broken Back") b e c o m e s a fin d e sie-
d e topos of painting. 1 6

R a c h i l d e cites t h e Salpetriere o n c e again in a rather l o n g - w i n d e d p a r a p h r a s e of

"retrospective m e d i c i n e , " t h e practice, widely indulged in by t h e C h a r c o t circle,
of r e i n t e r p r e t i n g history a n d art of t h e past (usually representations of d a e m o n i c
possessions) a c c o r d i n g to c u r r e n t m e d i c a l tenets: t h a t is, r e c u p e r a t i n g t h e spiritual
in t h e n a m e of t h e s c i e n t i f i c specifically, in t h e n a m e of t h e hysteric. 1 7 R a c h i l d e
borrows t h e discourse of retrospective m e d i c i n e a n d uses it periphrastically to a n -
n o u n c e h e r h e r o i n e s capricious decision to m a r r y that p l e b e i a n o b j e c t of h e r de-
sire, Jacques Silvert: " R a o u l e , folle c o m m e les possedees d u M o y e n Age q u i
avaient le d e m o n e n elles et n'agissaient plus d e leur propre a u t o r i t e " (176)
["Raoule, as m a d as those people of t h e m i d d l e ages w h o were possessed of devils
a n d were n o longer reponsible for their actions"] (170). T o t h e ears of any initie of
t h e period, "folle c o m m e les possedees d u M o y e n Age" i m m e d i a t e l y translates as
"hysterical." T h e extension of t h e m o r e q u o t i d i a n epithet into a n u n w i e l d y peri-

16
D i j k s t r a , Idols, 101.
17
Jan Goldstein has brilliantly s h o w n the anti-clerical political underpinnings of this teleological ven-

ture. Goldstein, Console and Classify: The French Psychiatric Profession in the Nineteenth Century
( C a m b r i d g e : C a m b r i d g e University Press, 1987), 371. As Goldstein points out, a l t h o u g h "retrospective

m e d i c i n e " (so d u b b e d by E m i l e Littre in 1869) w a s a n e w label, t h e p r a c t i c e w a s n o t entirely n e w , hav-

ing b e e n used in passing in support of the m o n o m a n i a diagnosis earlier in t h e century; however, only

a m o n g the C h a r c o t group did retrospective medicine b e c o m e "an intensively cultivated genre" (Gold-

stein, 370, n. 159).

FIGURE 12. "Arc de cercle."
(Published in D. M. Bourneville and P. Regnard,
I c o n o g r a p h i e p h o t o g r a p h i q u e d e la S a l p e t r i e r e 3, 1879-80;

photoB.I.M., Universite Rene Descartes, Paris.)

LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
242 phrasis flaunts its citational nature; t h e phrase appears to be b o r r o w e d , o u t of
place, d r a w n f r o m a n o t h e r ( m o r e specialized) discursive register.
T h i s o t h e r registerthe m e d i c a l discourse of h y s t e r i a m a k e s o n e explicit, di-
rectly q u o t e d foray into Monsieur Venus. N e a r t h e b e g i n n i n g of t h e novel, R a -
childe, like any qualified clinical practitioner of t h e era, supplies t h e etiology of
Raoule's malady:

U n jour, R a o u l e , c o u r a n t les m a n s a r d e s de l'htel, d e c o u v r i t u n livre; eile

lut, au hasard. Ses yeux r e n c o n t r e r e n t u n e gravure, ils se baisserent, m a i s
eile e m p o r t a le livre . . . Vers ce t e m p s , u n e revolution s'opera d a n s la
j e u n e fille. Sa p h y s i o n o m i e s'altera, sa parole devint breve, ses p r u n e l l e s
d a r d e r e n t la fievre, elle pleura et eile rit tout la fois. [Sa tante], i n q u i e t e ,
c r a i g n a n t u n e m a l a d i e serieuse, appela les m e d e c i n s . (39-40)

One day, Raoule, rummaging in the garrets of the mansion, discovered a book
which she read by chance. She saw an engraving, and turned away, but she took the
book with her. . . . About that time there was a change in Raoule. Her expression
altered, her words became brief, her eyes became feverish, she laughed and cried at
the same time. [Her aunt] grew uneasy and, fearing a serious illness, called the
doctors. (48)

Like E m m a before her, R a o u l e catches novelsickness. T h e cause morale as well as

t h e s y m p t o m s of h e r hysteria follow t h e textbook pattern, c o n f o r m i n g to t h e spirit
of Tissot's m u c h - p a r a p h r a s e d w a r n i n g that novel reading in adolescent girls w o u l d
invariably lead to hysteria several years later. 1 8 T h e doctor's prognosis a n d r e c o m -
m e n d a t i o n for t r e a t m e n t also c o m p l y with decades of professional a n d folk wis-
d o m , w h i c h finds hysterics, n y m p h o m a n i a c s , a n d whores closely related. Al-
t h o u g h t h e C h a r c o t circle officially d e n i e d t h e c o m m o n p l a c e association b e t w e e n
hysteria a n d lust, their p r e a c h i n g s often implicitly corroborated t h e age-old c o m -
parison. 1 9 Raoule's doctor, however, says a l o u d a n d in caricatural t e r m s w h a t his
real-world Salpetriere c o n f r e r e s for t h e m o s t part dared only whisper:

U n cas special. . . . Q u e l q u e s a n n e e s e n c o r e , et cette jolie c r e a t u r e q u e

vous cherissez trop, m o n avis, a u r a , sans les a i m e r jamais, c o n n u a u t a n t

18
For a n elaboration of t h e novel's role in hysteria, see C h a p t e r 3.
19
Sigmund Freud, writing of his t i m e spent studying at the Salpetriere, reports Charcot's sotto voce

c o m m e n t o n t h e e t i o l o g y o f h y s t e r i a : " I t is a l w a y s t h e g e n i t a l t h i n g . . .always. . .always. . .always."

T h i s s t a t e m e n t is, o f c o u r s e , a flagrant c o n t r a d i c t i o n of his official position o n the matter. Freud, " O n

the History of t h e Psycho-Analytic M o v e m e n t , " in The Standard Edition of the Complete Works of Sig-
mund Freud, trans. J a m e s Strachey, A n n a Freud, Alix Strachey, a n d Alan Tyson, ed. J a m e s Strachey,

2 4 vols. ( L o n d o n : H o g a r t h , 1953-74), 14:1-66, 14.

 1

LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
244 d ' h o m m e s qu'il y a de grains au rosaire de sa tante. Pas de m i l i e u ! O u
n o n n e , o u m o n s t r e ! L e sein de D i e u ou celui de la volupte! II vaudrait
peut-etre mieux l'enfermer dans u n couvent, puisque nous enfermons'les
hysteriques la Salpetriere! (40-41)

A very special case. A few years more, and that pretty creature whom you love too
much, I think, will, without ever loving them, have known as many men as there
are beads on her aunt's rosary. No happy medium! Either a nun or a monster! God's
bosom or passions! It would, perhaps, be better to put her in a convent, since we
put hysterical women in the Salpetriere! (49)

T h e r e is a d o u b l e postulation at work here: w h i l e h e is e q u a t i n g hysteria a n d fe-

m a l e eroticism, t h e doctor is also c o m p a r i n g hysteria to n u n h o o d . If, as h e sug-
gests, religious life is a s u b l i m a t e d b u t parallel f o r m of f e m a l e eccentricity, t h e n
t h e opposition of hysteric a n d n u n yields to a c o n v e r g e n c e . W h i l e t h e d o c t o r pre-
scribes t h e c o n v e n t a n d chastity, T a n t e Elisabeth's confessor, representing t h e
o t h e r side of t h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y debate, suggests t h e " t r u e " (and truly atavis-
tic) remedy: " M a r i e z - l a ! " (40) ["Marry her."] (49). T h e two sides of t h e d e b a t e are
clearly invoked h e r e . O n t h e o n e h a n d , hysteria is causally related to lubricity;
therefore, prostitutes are m o r e a n d n u n s less inclined to t h e a i l m e n t t h a n are o t h e r
w o m e n : chastity is a p r o p h y l a c t i c or cure. O n t h e other h a n d , hysteria is causally
related to sexual c o n t i n e n c e ; therefore, n u n s are m o r e a n d prostitutes less i n c l i n e d
to t h e m a l a d y t h a n are o t h e r w o m e n : sex is t h e best m e d i c i n e . T h e juxtaposition of
these c o n f l i c t i n g theories is m u t u a l l y corrosive.
Hystericizing discourse is m o s t explicitly demystified, however, in a s e n t e n c e of
a m b i g u o u s origin. W e find Raoule's soldier suitor, Raittolbe, frustrated by h e r at-
t e n t i o n s to t h e y o u n g fleuriste, " j u r a n t qu'il n e reviendrait jamais c h e z cette hyste-
rique, car, selon ses idees, on ne pouvait qu'etre hysterique des quon ne suivait pas
la loi commune" (65) ["swearing to h i m s e l f that h e w o u l d never c o m e back to t h a t
hysterical w o m a n . In his opinion anyone who did not follow ordinary rules must be
hysterical"} (70; m y emphasis). T h o u g h t h e f o r m this phrase takes is t h a t of indirect
discourse, t h e speaker is t h e narrator's p u p p e t ; t h e c o n c e p t t h a t hysteria is d e f i n e d
by individuality, t h u s by marginality, d e m o n s t r a t e s a lucidity, a self-consciousness
t h a t w e k n o w to b e b e y o n d Raittolbe ( h e is n o t a strong e n o u g h vessel for this
t h o u g h t ) . A gaping disproportion yawns b e t w e e n t h e expressed idea t h a t hysteria
m a y h a v e as m u c h to d o with diagnosis as with s y m p t o m s a n d Raittolbe s capacity
to have ( m u c h less express) s u c h a n idea; this space is i n h a b i t e d by narrative c o n -
sciousness a l o n e .
Rachilde's novel records n o t only stereotypical hysteria, b u t also its inscription
w i t h i n t h e larger discourse of pathological genealogy. T h e p r e s e n t a t i o n of R a -
 V E N U S IN DRAG, OR R E D R E S S I N G THE D I S C O U R S E OF H Y S T E R I A
c h i l d e s hysteric follows t h e s a m e protocol as any clinical "presentation des m a - 245
lades" of t h e period, w h i c h begins to describe t h e patient by r e c o n s t r u c t i n g a d e -
generative genealogy, a pathological heredity to w h i c h his or h e r c o n d i t i o n c a n b e
ascribed. It is n o t u n u s u a l to find, in t h e section called Observations t h a t appears
in m o s t treatises, a c c o u n t s s u c h as t h e following:

M e r e h y s t e r i q u e sans attaques; pere m a l a d i f , a t t a q u e de gastralgie depuis

vingt-cinq ans. U n frere b i e n portant, u n a u t r e frere gastralgique, u n e
soeur h y s t e r i q u e avec attaques. 2 0

Pere, . . . sobre, sujet des cephalalgies; il est en c o n v a l e s c e n c e d u n e

pleuresie. [Son pere aurait eu u n e paralysie. A u c u n a u t r e a c c i d e n t
n e r v e u x d a n s la famille. ] Mere . . . b i e n portante; e t a n t j e u n e , elle a e u
des migraines. . . . [Pere, . . . il faisait des exces d e boisson. M e r e ,
b o n n e sante.] 2 1

S o n p e r e . . . est alcoolique. Sa m e r e , m o r t e t u b e r c u l e u s e , a eu des

attaques d'hysterie. E n f i n , Ton trouve d a n s sa f a m i l l e u n e g r a n d ' m e r e
m a t e r n e l l e e n c o r e hysterique, b i e n q u e l l e ait atteint 1 age de 82 ans, et
deux tantes m a t e r n e l l e s toutes d e u x atteintes d'hysterie. Voil des
a n t e c e d e n t s d ' u n e i m p o r t a n c e capitale, q u a t r e hysteriques et u n
a l c o o l i q u e d a n s la m e m e famille! 2 2

Mother is hysterical without attacks; father is sickly, has suffered from gastralgia for
the past twenty-five years. There is a healthy brother, another gastralgie brother, a
hysterical sister with attacks.

F a t h e r , . . . sober, prone to cephalalgia; convalescing from pleurisy. [His father

probably was paralyzed. N o other nervous disorder in the family.] Mother
healthy . . . had m i g r a i n e s when young. . . . [ F a t h e r . . . excessive drinking
Mother, good health.]

His father. . . is an alcoholic. His mother, dead from tuberculosis, had hysterical
attacks. Finally, his family reveals a maternal grandmother who was also
hysterical, although she lived to eighty-two, and two maternal aunts who were
hysterical as well. Such antecedents are of capital importance, four hysterics and
an alcoholic in the same family'.

2 0
P. B r i q u e t , Traite clinique et therapeutique de l'hysterie (Paris: Bailliere, 1859), 56.
21
Desire-Magloire B o u r n e v i l l e a n d P. R e g n a r d , Iconographie photographique de la Salpetriere (Paris:

Progres Medical, 1878), 124. T h e brackets appear in Bourneville a n d Regnard's text.

22
Jean-Martin Charcot, LHysterie, ed. E. Trillat (Toulouse: Privat, 1971), 178.
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
246 As C h a r c o t astutely noted (and fervently believed), "La fatalite a n t i q u e [est] a u -
j o u r d ' h u i r e m p l a c e e par la fatalite hereditaire" 2 3 [ " T h e fatality of a n t i q u i t y is re-
placed today by t h e fatality of heredity"]. Heredity b e c o m e s destiny in t h e late
n i n e t e e n t h century, a n d t h e b r a n c h e s of t h e arbre genealogique twist a n d t u r n , for
t h e family tree d o u b l e s as a tree of d e g e n e r a t i o n .
Jacques Joseph M o r e a u de Tours's "tree of nervosity," w h o s e b r a n c h e s graphi-
cally represent hysteria, epilepsy, prostitution, a l c o h o l i s m , a n d c r i m i n a l i t y as
closely related p h e n o m e n a , is o n e of t h e best m a p p i n g s t h e fin de siecle has left us
of its p h a n t a s m s . Evil has clearly m e t a m o r p h o s e d as pathology in M o r e a u s s c h e -
m a t i c r e n d e r i n g of t h e generational transmission of vice. M o r e a u ' s tree c a n b e
s u p p l e m e n t e d by two o t h e r essential artifacts: Benedicte A u g u s t e Morel's m y t h of
d e g e n e r a t i o n a n d Jules Dejerine's genealogical tables. M o r e l postulates t h e i n h e r -
itance, over t h e course of f o u r generations, of a carefully predicted, evolving series
of a b n o r m a l i t i e s originating in t h e f o u n d i n g g e n e r a t i o n s exposure to intoxicating
agents (alcohol, p o o r diet, crowded living conditions, etc.). D e j e r i n e ' s seventy
"tableaux genealogiques" trace t h e c o n g e n i t a l sources of different f o r m s of m a r -
ginality ("heredite d u m e u r t r e , " "heredite de la folie," "heredite d e la d e b a u c h e "
["inherited m u r d e r / m a d n e s s / d e b a u c h e r y " ] t o n a m e a small sampling). 2 4 All of
these m y t h s were, of course, taken u p a n d elaborated by Z o l a , w h o personified
every leaf o n t h e tree of d e g e n e r a t i o n in his five-generation Kougon-Macquart
cycle.
R a c h i l d e repeats h e r lessons well, a n d she has t h e m indirectly repeated by
R a o u l e , w h o , child of t h e times, shields h e r m a d n e s s b e h i n d t h e following "expli-
cation lucide": " S o n pere avait ete u n de ces d e b a u c h e s epuises q u e les oeuvres d u
m a r q u i s de Sade f o n t rougir, mais p o u r u n e a u t r e raison q u e celle de la p u d e u r . Sa
m e r e . . . avait e u les plus naturels et les plus f o u g u e u x appetits" (39) ["Her f a t h e r
h a d b e e n o n e of those w o r n - o u t d e b a u c h e s w h o b l u s h at t h e work of t h e M a r q u i s
de Sade, b u t n o t f r o m prudery. H e r m o t h e r . . . h a d had t h e m o s t n a t u r a l a n d vi-
o l e n t of appetites"] ( 4 7 - 4 8 ) . 2 5 Jacques, too, can d o n o t h i n g b u t play o u t t h e fate
dealt h i m by his heredity: "Jacques etait le fils d ' u n ivrogne et d ' u n e catin. S o n
h o n n e u r n e savait q u e p l e u r e r " (58) ["He was t h e son of a d r u n k a r d a n d of a w h o r e .
His h o n o r c o u l d only weep"] (64; trans, modified). Like R a o u l e , h e is aware t h a t

23
Ibid., lesson entitled "Hysterie et d e g e n e r e s c e n c e c h e z l ' h o m m e , " 143.
2 4
Jacques Joseph M o r e a u de Tours, La Psychologie morbide (Paris: V i c t o r M a s s o n , 1859); Benedicte

Auguste Morel, Traite des degenerescences (Paris: Bailliere, 1857); Jules D e j e r i n e , LHeredite dans les
maladies du systeme nerveux (Paris: Asselin & H o u z e a u , 1 8 8 6 ) . T h e r e is a g o o d g e n e r a l a c c o u n t o f the

work of M o r e a u , M o r e l , a n d o t h e r s i n G e o r g e F r e d e r i c k D r i n k a ' s The Birth of Neurosis ( N e w York: Si-

m o n and Schuster, 1984).

2 5
I t is w o r t h e m p h a s i z i n g t h a t t h e s i n s o f h e r p a r e n t s a r e o f f e r e d b y t h e c h i l d R a o u l e t o h e r t e a c h e r s in

e x p l a n a t i o n of h e r o w n vices; R a c h i l d e s text thereby reflects (ironically or not) h o w t h o r o u g h l y theories

of heredity were m e s h e d into the social fabric.

FIGURE 14. Tree of nervosity.
(Published in J. J. M o r e a u de Tours, La Psychologie

m o r b i d e d a n s ses r a p p o r t s a v e c la p h i l o s o p h i c de

l'histoire, 1859; photo B.I.M., Universite Rene

Descartes, Paris.)
 V E N U S IN DRAG, OR R E D R E S S I N G THE D I S C O U R S E OF H Y S T E R I A
his fate is indelibly inscribed in his b l o o d , a n d h e accepts as inevitable t h e c o n s a n - 249
guinity of vice, w h i c h h e holds wholly responsible for his leaving R a o u l e s e m -
brace to offer h i m s e l f to h e r suitor: " E n s u i t e , rien n'etait de sa faute! . . . La pros-
t i t u t i o n , c'est u n e m a l a d i e ! T o u s l'avaient e u e dans sa famille: sa m e r e , sa soeur;
est-ce qu'il p o u v a i t lutter c o n t r e son propre sang?" (220) ["And it was n o t his fault!
. . . Prostitution is a disease! T h e y all h a d h a d it in his family: his m o t h e r , his sis-
ter; c o u l d h e struggle against his o w n blood?"] (211). U s i n g R a o u l e a n d Jacques as
m o u t h p i e c e , R a c h i l d e is q u o t i n g t h e substance, if n o t t h e letter, of two lines f r o m
t h e Oresteia (Les Erinnyes, 2 . 5 ) a citation that C h a r c o t facetiously placed in t h e
m o u t h s of two of his m o r e pitiable hysterics, " d e u x m a l h e u r e u s e s creatures . . .
des degeneres, des desequilibres, des faibles i n t e l l e c t u e l l e m e n t et m o r a l e m e n t "
["two sad creatures . . . degenerates, u n b a l a n c e d creatures, intellectually a n d
morally feeble"]:

Q u ' a v o n s - n o u s fait, o Z e u s , p o u r cette destinee?

N o s peres o n t failli: mais n o u s q u ' a v o n s - n o u s fait? 2 6

What have we done, oh Zeus, to deserve this fate?

Our fathers failed: but what have we done?

T h e citation, twice r e m o v e d f r o m its source w h e n it appears in Monsieur Venus, is

f u r t h e r distanced by Rachilde's c o u c h i n g it in indirect a n d free indirect discourse;
n o t attributable to any specific voice, it appears a n d reappears in h e r text as t h e
voice of repetition: cliche, idee reque, betise.
W e have so far considered, t h r o u g h Rachilde's m i m i c r y of t h e m , only those to-
poi (gender a n d power, t h e clinic a n d heredity) t h r o u g h w h i c h hysteria's discourse
wields its m a r g i n a l i z i n g , d i s e m p o w e r i n g effect. Rachilde's m a n i p u l a t i o n of a final
(and only artificially separate) topos, w h i c h I call t h e semiotic body, traces t h e pro-
cess w h e r e b y t h e disabling of t h e hystericized body paradoxically b e c o m e s a n e n -
a b l i n g force for t h e discourse t h a t p r o d u c e s it.

THE DISCOURSE OF THE SEMIOTIC BODY

A reversal m e c h a n i s m is o n c e again in o p e r a t i o n h e r e , for t h e body at stake in this

text is n o t , as is c o n v e n t i o n a l l y t h e case, f e m a l e ; it is t h e s o m e t i m e s transvestite b u t
n o n e t h e l e s s decidedly m a l e body of Raoule's mistress, Jacques. Clearly, t h e focus
of hystericizing discourse is partitioned in this novel. R a o u l e receives t h e label of
hysteric, a l o n g with t h e nervosity, t h e capriciousness, t h e lubricity t h a t fall u n d e r

26
Charcot, "Hysterie et degenerescence chez l'homme" in L'Hysterie, 142.
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
250 it ( a l t h o u g h o n e m i g h t a r g u e that t h e hysteria effect, w h o s e c o n t a g i o n w e well
know, spreads to Jacques as well over t h e course of t h e novel). Jacques's share is less
notably hysteria (in t h e clinical sense) t h a n hystericization, or t h e a u r a created by
hysteria's discourse: t h e r e d u c t i o n of t h e person to t h e body a n d of t h e b o d y to its
sexuality, t h e p a t h o l o g i z i n g of this sexuality, a n d its conversion into a s e m i o t i c
force.
At this p o i n t t h e m e d i c a l a n d linguistic m e a n i n g s of semiotics overlap: t h a t
b r a n c h of m e d i c i n e w h o s e p u r p o s e is to interpret bodily signs or s y m p t o m s is h a r -
nessed by a sociolinguistic system that finds larger cultural m e a n i n g s in s u c h
s y m p t o m s . Jacques's body traverses a s e m i o t i c s p e c t r u m in this novel, alternately
b e c o m i n g a p o e m , a text, a p a i n t i n g , a sculpture: in short, a s e m i o t i c object to be
read, d e c i p h e r e d , interpreted, viewed, written, p a i n t e d , a n d m o l d e d . Before we
t u r n to specific e x a m p l e s of this aesthetic apotheosis, it m a y be u s e f u l to recall
briefly b o t h t h e b r o a d tradition w i t h i n w h i c h w o m e n in t h e n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y are
identified with texts a n d o t h e r objets d'art a n d t h e narrower, h y p e r b o l i c version of
this tradition, w h i c h t u r n s hysterics into mystics or poets a n d their bodies into in-
scriptions of their oeuvre.
W h e n Balzac's D u c h e s s e de Langeais dies, a victim of h e r passion, h e r grieving
lover M o n t r i v e a u is advised by a f r i e n d to t h i n k of h e r as n o m o r e t h a n a book read
in c h i l d h o o d , a n d M o n t r i v e a u concurs: " O u i , . . . car ce n'est plus q u ' u n p o e m e "
["Yes, . . . for all she is n o w is a p o e m " ] . In Prosper M e r i m e e ' s La Veniis d'llle, a
b r o n z e b u t otherwise u n c a n n i l y lifelike V e n u s is given to t h e n a r r a t o r as a n exer-
cise in reading: h e m u s t n o t only interpret t h e words engraved o n h e r pedestal a n d
t h e inscription o n h e r a r m , b u t also give m e a n i n g to t h e marks o n h e r b o d y a n d de-
c i p h e r t h e c h a r a c t e r traits i m p r i n t e d o n h e r face ("dedain, ironie, c r u a u t e se li-
saient sur ce visage" ["disdain, irony, cruelty c o u l d be read all over this face"]).
A n d in Zola's L'Oeuvre, C h r i s t i n e Lantier, t h e m o d e l for h e r h u s b a n d ' s master-
piece, is sacrificed for h e r own painted image; w o m a n is replaced by man's repre-
sentation of her. 2 7
T h e s e excerpts f r o m a century's archives begin to r e c o n s t r u c t a certain aesthetic
e c o n o m y in w h i c h f e m a l e bodies are stifled into textuality, s m u d g e d into p a i n t i n g ,
or, in t h e catchall phrase used by S a n d r a M . G i l b e r t a n d S u s a n G u b a r , "killed into
art." 2 8 T h e particular reliance of realist fiction o n t h e b i n d i n g of f e m a l e energy has
b e e n elegantly analyzed by N a o m i Schor, w h o suggests t h a t t h e f e m i n o c e n t r i s m of

2 7
H o n o r e de Balzac, La Duchesse de Langeais, in La Comedie humaine, ed. Pierre-Georges Castex,

i2vols. (Paris: G a l l i m a r d , 1 9 7 6 - 8 1 ) , 5 : 1 0 3 7 ; P r o s p e r M e r i m e e , L aVenusd'Ille, in Carmen et autres

nouvelles, 2 vols. (Paris: Livre d e P o c h e , 1 9 8 3 ) , 2 : 8 9 ; Z o l a , L'Oeuvre, in Les Rougon-Macquart, vol. 4.
2 8
Sandra M . Gilbert and Susan Gubar, The Madwoman in the Attic ( N e w Haven: Yale University

Press, 1979), 17.

 V E N U S IN DRAG, OR R E D R E S S I N G THE D I S C O U R S E OF HYSTERIA
t h e n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y novel can be attributed to this necessary relationship be- 251
t w e e n representation a n d w o m a n . 2 9
If t h e hysteric isas doctors a n d novelists alike consistently represent h e r a
hyperbolic w o m a n , f e m m e plus q u e les autres f e m m e s , " 3 0 t h e n we c a n extend
S c h o r s a r g u m e n t to cover t h e disproportionate place of hysteria in t h e late
n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y novel: t h a t is, to explain this novel's d e p e n d e n c e o n t h e hyster-
ic's i n c a p a c i t a t i o n . W e have already explored t h e fin de siecle (clinical a n d fic-
tional) text's a p p r o p r i a t i o n of t h e hysterics m u t e or inarticulate body, w h i c h is
t h e n pressed into service as a vehicle for any m e a n i n g t h e c o l o n i z i n g text seeks to
express. Jules Claretie's Les Amours d'un interne provides t h e m o s t concise, m o s t
literal illustration of this process. Let us briefly recall t h e s c e n e in w h i c h t h e hys-
teric M a t h i l d e lies u n c o n s c i o u s at t h e Salpetriere, s u r r o u n d e d by y o u n g interns
w h o are observing their t e a c h e r w h i l e h e traces letters o n h e r bare skin with his fin-
gernail. T h e doctor's t o u c h leaves a raised, weltlike inscription o n t h e w o m a n ' s
flesh, like a mystic's stigmata, a n d this text, impressed like a b r a n d o n h e r body, re-
m a i n s legible for h o u r s , e a r n i n g h e r t h e title "papier lettres vivant" 3 1 ["living writ-
ing paper"]. T h i s appellation bears witness to a n instant of textual lucidity, for it is
an i m p l i c i t a d m i s s i o n r e v e a l i n g t h e u n d e r s i d e of t h e w o m a n - a s - a r t topos that
M a t h i l d e is n o t , after all, herself a text b u t only t h e blank page u p o n w h i c h t h e
m a l e doctor can write any message h e chooses. H e r body is being used as "a m e -
d i u m of c o m m u n i c a t i o n b e t w e e n m e n , " phrasing I borrow f r o m A n t h o n y W i l -
den's discussion of c r i m e s of violence perpetrated by m e n o n w o m e n ' s bodies.
R a t h e r t h a n speaking, M a t h i l d e (again, in Wilden's terms, via L a c a n ) is "being
spoken." 3 2
Rachilde's sustained citation of this topos t h r o u g h o u t h e r novel is charged with
a certain shock value; t h e reversal of c o n v e n t i o n , whereby a male body is a p p r o -
priated as textual surface by a female creative force, defamiliarizes t h e c o n v e n -
tional power r e l a t i o n s h i p a n d t h u s puts it into question. T h e semiotic c o n v e r s i o n
of Jacques's body originally takes poetic f o r m . T h e poetry m u s t , however, be re-
placed w i t h i n t h e context of its writing in order for t h e c l i c h e to e m e r g e fully. T h e
situation is as follows. R a o u l e s s p u r n e d suitor Raittolbe takes advantage of h e r ab-
s e n c e to accost Jacques. T h e interview ends badly: R a i t t o l b e o s t e n s i b l y provoked
by Jacques a n d R a o u l e s perverse r e l a t i o n s h i p b r u t a l l y beats Jacques. But t h e r e is

2 9
N a o m i Schor, Breaking the Chain: Women, Theory, and French Realist Fiction ( N e w York: C o l u m -
bia University Press, 1985), 144.

3 0
Charles Richet, "Les Demoniaques d'aujourd'hui," Revue des deux mondes 37 (15 January 1880):
346.

31
Jules Claretie, Les Amours d'un interne (Paris: D e n t u , 1881), 312.
32
Anthony Wilden, "In the Penal Colony: T h e Body as t h e D i s c o u r s e of t h e O t h e r , " Semiotica 54
(1985): 40, 77.
 1

LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
252 a strong suggestion t h a t t h e attack is p r o m p t e d m o r e by t h e soldier's repressed desire
for Jacques t h a n by a desire for revenge. 3 3 Following this i n c i d e n t , f e a r f u l of
Raoule's anger, Raittolbe sends h e r a letter in w h i c h h e attempts to justify t h e beat-
ing as t h e o u t c o m e of a q u a r r e l . Jacques, o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , takes n o steps to c o m -
m u n i c a t e his version of t h e story to R a o u l e :

Jacques n'ignorait pas l'adresse de R a o u l e , m a i s la p e n s e e de se p l a i n d r e

n e lui vint pas. . . . Jacques, d o n t le corps etait u n p o e m e , savait q u e ce
p o e m e serait t o u j o u r s lu avec plus d'attention q u e la lettre d ' u n vulgaire
ecrivain c o m m e lui. (139)

Jacques knew Raoule's address, but he never thought of complaining. . . . Jacques,

whose body was a poem, knew that his poem would always be read more attentively
than any letter from such a vulgar writer as he. (136-37)

His b o d y stands in for t h e epistle h e doesn't send; his body is t h e message. Let us
r e m e m b e r t h a t t h e textualization of Jacques's body, however b r e a t h t a k i n g this
body m a y b e in itself, is Raittolbe's doing. Jacques's flesh is legible only o n c e it is
m a r k e d , "zebree de h a u t e n bas de longues cicatrices bleutres" (142) ["streaked
f r o m t o p to b o t t o m with long, bluish scars"] (140; trans, modified). 3 4 H e is Rait-
tolbe's text, a n d o n c e R a o u l e has d e c i p h e r e d t h e inscription, she finds t h e message
u n a m b i g u o u s : " R a o u l e , g e n o u x , c o m p t a i t les traces brutales. . . . 'Assez,' rugit
R a o u l e . . . 'cet h o m m e t'a vu! C e l a m e suffit, je d e v i n e le reste. . . . II f a u t q u e
j'efface c h a q u e cicatrice sous m e s levres o u je te reverrai t o u j o u r s n u d e v a n t l u i ' "
( 1 4 3 - 4 4 ) ["Raoule, o n h e r knees, was c o u n t i n g t h e brutal marks. . . . 'That's
e n o u g h , ' roared R a o u l e . . . ' t h a t m a n saw you! That's e n o u g h for m e ! I c a n guess
t h e rest. . . . I m u s t r u b o u t every scar with m y lips, or I shall always see you naked

55
"[Raittolbe] s ' e m p a r a d u bras d e J a c q u e s . C e l u i - c i e u t u n r a p i d e m o u v e m e n t d e r e c u l et sa manche

flottante s ' e c a r t a n t , R a i t t o l b e s e n t i t la c h a i r n a c r e e s o u s ses doigts. . . . R a i t t o l b e . . . s a u t a s u r la mau-

d i t e c r e a t u r e d o n t la r o b e d e v e l o u r s l u i s e m b l a i t p r e s e n t les t e n e b r e s d ' u n a b i m e . . . . 'Ah! tu sauras

ce q u e c'est q u ' u n vrai m a l e , c a n a i l l e ! ' . . . h u r l a i t R a i t t o l b e , s a i s i p a r u n e c o l e r e a v e u g l e d o n t il n e s ' e x -

p l i q u a i t p e u t - e t r e p a s b i e n la v i o l e n c e " ( 1 3 3 - 3 4 ) [ " { R a i t t o l b e } s e i z e d J a c q u e s ' s a r m . T h e latter shrank

b a c k a n d as his b i l l o w i n g sleeve left his a r m b a r e , R a i t t o l b e felt t h e m o t h e r - o f - p e a r l skin b e n e a t h his fin-

gers. . . .Raittolbe. . . j u m p e d u p o n the d a m n a b l e creature w h o s e velvet g o w n appeared to h i m now

like t h e darkness of a n abyss. . . . ' N o w y o u k n o w w h a t a r e a l m a n is l i k e , s c o u n d r e l ! ' R a i t t o l b e howled,

seized by a blind anger w h o s e violence h e could not understand"] (131-32; trans, modified).
34
E a r l i e r i n t h e n o v e l , R a o u l e is m o v e d t o i n v o k e p o e t r y w h e n s h e first catches sight of Jacques's nude

b o d y : " P o e m e e f f r a y a n t d e la n u d i t e h u m a i n e , t'ai-je d o n e e n f i n c o m p r i s , m o i q u i t r e m b l e p o u r la p r e -

m i e r e f o i s e n e s s a y a n t d e t e l i r e a v e c d e s y e u x b l a s t s " ( 5 5) [ " T h e t e r r i b l e p o e t r y o f h u m a n n u d i t y , I u n -

d e r s t a n d it a t last. I w h o t r e m b l e f o r t h e first t i m e i n t r y i n g t o r e a d it w i t h b l a s e e y e s " ] ( 6 1 ) . It is s i g n i f i -

c a n t t h a t t h e p o e m , a t t h i s p r e l i m i n a r y p o i n t , is m o r e g e n e r a l l y o n e o f h u m a n n u d i t y a n d t h a t Raoule

is still s t r u g g l i n g t o r e a d t h e m e s s a g e , w h i c h b e c o m e s l e g i b l e o n l y o n c e R a i t t o l b e m a r k s t h e exquisite

writing surface.
r

V E N U S IN DRAG, OR R E D R E S S I N G THE D I S C O U R S E OF H Y S T E R I A
before h i m ' " ( 1 4 0 - 4 2 ) . As Raoule's lips give way to tooth a n d nail, t h e work of era- 253
sure is a c c o m p l i s h e d by violent superscription, by t h e layering of scar over scar,
trace u p o n bloody trace. Jacques b e c o m e s a palimpsest. In a n d of himself n e i t h e r
p o e t n o r p o e m , artist or painting, h e is instead a periodically reinscribed tablet or
canvas passed back a n d forth in a n o n g o i n g conversation b e t w e e n R a o u l e a n d
R a i t t o l b e . " "Jacques," says R a o u l e , rather astutely, " n e s t plus q u ' u n e plaie, c'est
n o t r e o e u v r e " (156) ["Jacques is only a w o u n d ; h e is o u r work of art"] (153; trans,
modified).
A r m e d with these words a n d o u r knowledge that R a o u l e is an artist w h o paints
n u d e s , we m i g h t speculate, albeit fancifully, that Jacques is o n e of t h e m p e r h a p s
even t h e o n e she has h a n g i n g in h e r b e d r o o m : " u n e a c a d e m i e m a s c u l i n e n'ayant
a u c u n e espece d ' o m b r e le long des h a n c h e s " (37) ["a m a l e n u d e , with n o s h a d i n g
a l o n g t h e thighs"] (46; trans, modified). W e leave t h e realm of s p e c u l a t i o n , h o w -
ever, at t h e e n d of t h e novel, for Raoule's aesthetic m e t a p h o r is explicitly realized
w h e n she has Jacques q u i t e literally "killed into art." F i n i s h e d off in a d u e l a n d re-
p r o d u c e d as a wax m a n n e q u i n , "statue de cire," Jacques is n o longer m e r e o e u v r e
b u t chef-d'oeuvre: " C e m a n n e q u i n , chef-d'oeuvre d ' a n a t o m i e , a ete f a b r i q u e par
u n A l l e m a n d " (228) ["This wax figure, an anatomical masterpiece, was fabricated
by a G e r m a n " ] (217; m y e m p h a s i s t h r o u g h o u t ; trans, modified).
So t h e novel e n d s n o t , however, w i t h o u t previously having a l l u d e d to
Raoule's part in a collaboration with t h e G e r m a n a r t i s t - c u m - t e c h n i c i a n responsi-
ble for Jacques's w a x e n image:

L e soir d e ce jour f u n e b r e , [Raoule] se p e n c h a i t sur le l i t . . . et, a r m e e

d ' u n e p i n c e e n vermeil, d u n m a r t e a u r e c o u v e r t d e velours e t d ' u n ciseau
en argent massif, se livrait u n travail tres m i n u t i e u x . . . Par instants,
elle essuyait ses doigts effiles avec u n m o u c h o i r de dentelle. ( 2 2 4 - 2 5)

On the evening ofthat mournful day, [Raoule] bent over the bed. . . and, armed
with silver pincers, a velvet-covered hammer and a silver scalpel, engaged in a
very delicate task. . . . Occasionally she dried her tapering fingers with a lace
handkerchief. ^2 2 ^

T h e allusion is clarified w h e n Jacques's effigy is described:

" A l t h o u g h J a c q u e s dabbles in painting, his artistic pretensions are dismissed. Raoule evaluates o n e of

his paintings: " u n p a y s a g e s a n s air, o u rageusement cinq ou six m o u t o n s a n k y l o s e s p a i s s a i e n t d u vert

t e n d r e , a v e c u n tel respect des lois d e la perspective, q u e , p a r voie d ' e m p r u n t , deux d'entre eux parais-

s a i e n t p o s s e d e r c i n q pattes" (30) ["a h e a v y l a n d s c a p e , w h e r e five o r six stiff s h e e p w e r e g r a z i n g o n a field

of p a l e g r e e n , w i t h so little regard for t h e laws of p e r s p e c t i v e that, b e t w e e n t h e m , t w o a p p e a r e d to have

five legs"] (39). A n o t h e r c h a r a c t e r , t h e artist M a r t i n D u r a n d , o f f e r s a n a p p r a i s a l t h a t is m o r e d i r e c t but

n o m o r e positive: "il n'a p a s u n e o m b r e d e t a l e n t " ( 1 6 3 ) [ " h e h a s n o t g o t t h e slightest t r a c e of talent"]

LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
254 u n m a n n e q u i n de cire revetu d ' u n e p i d e r m e de c a o u t c h o u c t r a n s p a r e n t .
Les c h e v e u x roux, les cils blonds, le d u v e t d'or de la p o i t r i n e sont naturels;
les dents q u i o r n e n t la b o u c h e , les ongles des m a i n s et des pieds o n t ete
a r r a c h e s u n cadavre. (227)

a wax figure covered with transparent rubber. The red hair, the fair eyelashes, the
gold hair of the chest are natural; the teeth which are in the mouth, and the nails on
the hands and feet have been torn from a corpse. (216)

P u t t i n g aside for t h e m o m e n t t h e grotesquely spectacular n a t u r e of this repre-

s e n t a t i o n , I w a n t to consider it m o r e specifically as a spectacle of cliche: Rachilde's
final, paroxysmic p e r f o r m a n c e of a dizzying array of citations f r o m t h e fin d e sie-
d e doxa. For w h i l e we recognize t h a t Jacques's d e a t h a n d aesthetic r e i n c a r n a t i o n
cite a m y r i a d of n i n e t e e t h - c e n t u r y h e r o i n e s "killed into art," t h e r e p r o d u c t i o n of
his body is n o t cast of any single e l e m e n t : it is a collage of citations as well as of m a -
terial parts.

THE SPECTACLE OF CLICHE

Jacques's i m m o r t a l i z a t i o n in t h e f o r m of a wax statue is a very specific q u o t a t i o n ; its

source is t h e atelier de moulage together with t h e musee des moulages at t h e C h a r -
cot Salpetriere. T h e r e , in t h e m i d 1870s, C h a r c o t i n a u g u r a t e d t h e practice of cast-
ing in wax t h e c o n v u l s e d or otherwise distorted bodies of his patients. T h i s t e c h -
n i q u e o n e a m o n g m a n y that w o u l d gradually aestheticize p a t h o l o g y s e r v e d n o
particular m e d i c a l p u r p o s e ( C h a r c o t , after all, relied u p o n living d e m o n s t r a t i o n s
for his lectures a n d his own e x p e r i m e n t a t i o n ) ; it served essentially to create m u -
s e u m pieces, to preserve pathology as an art f o r m . 3 6
Jacques's wax d o u b l e is a rather special copy of t h e Salpetriere castings, h o w -
ever, for it c o m e s e q u i p p e d with " u n ressort, dispose l'interieur des flancs, [qui]
c o r r e s p o n d la b o u c h e et l ' a n i m e " (228) ["a spring h i d d e n inside t h e thighs {that}
c o n n e c t s with t h e m o u t h a n d gives it life"] (217; trans, modified). B e c a u s e t h e pre-
c e d i n g s e n t e n c e tells us t h a t R a o u l e (in a l t e r n a t i n g m a l e a n d f e m a l e attire) visits
t h e statue at night, e m b r a c i n g it, kissing it u p o n t h e lips, we c a n a s s u m e t h a t t h e r e
is a r e f e r e n c e h e r e to n e c r o p h i l i a , w h o s e f o r t u n e in t h e late n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y
hardly n e e d s to b e elaborated.

36
For a n a c c o u n t of t h e specific practice of sculpting or casting at t h e Salpetriere, see Georges Didi-

H u b e r m a n , Invention de l'hysterie: Charcot et l'iconographie photographique de la Salpetriere (Paris:

a n
Macula, 1982), 3 3 - 3 4 and 122-24; d Jules Claretie's novelized recounting of the same in Les

Amours d'un interne, 1 1 2 , 2 2 2 . D i d i - H u b e r m a n ' s e n t i r e b o o k is a b r i l l i a n t a c c o u n t o f a n d r e f l e c t i o n on

the t r a n s f o r m a t i o n of hysteria into spectacle at t h e Salpetriere.

FIGURE 16. Top: Photograph of a patient
from one of Charcot's clinical dossiers.
Bottom: Wax cast of same patient.
(Reproduced with permission of Bibliotheque
Charcot, La Salpetriere, Paris)
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
256 Following this d e c a d e n t t a b l e a u , t h e novel's b l a n d last s e n t e n c e s e e m s anticli-
m a c t i c : " C e m a n n e q u i n . . . a e t e f a b r i q u e par u n A l l e m a n d " (228) ["This wax fig-
u r e . . . was fabricated by a G e r m a n " ] (217; trans, modified). T h e c o n c l u s i o n ap-
pears at best d i s a p p o i n t i n g a n d at worst irrelevant. W h e n we recall, however, t h a t
t h e g h o u l i s h " m a s t e r p i e c e of a n a t o m y " is in fact a collaborative effort, a n d w h e n
w e t h e n look m o r e closely at t h e collaborators, w h a t e m e r g e s is t h e c o n j u g a t i o n of
two cliches. T h e c o o p e r a t i o n of R a o u l e a n d t h e G e r m a n presents us with a p h a n -
t a s m a t i c fin de siecle alliance of s u p e r w o m a n a n d superpower: a sex a n d a n a t i o n
e a c h grown too knowledgeable, too strong, too c o m p e t i t i v e , too t h r e a t e n i n g . W e
recall that t h e C o m m u n e f u e l e d t h e already highly i n f l a m m a b l e n i n e t e e n t h -
c e n t u r y i m a g i n a t i o n with t h e i n c e n d i a r y i m a g e of t h e petroleuse. T h e literal (if
p e r h a p s m y t h i c ) i m a g e of w o m e n r e p u t e d to have set fire to m u c h of Paris d u r i n g
t h e C o m m u n e rapidly spread to i n c l u d e any a n d all w o m e n involved in t h e revo-
l u t i o n a r y m o v e m e n t of 1871, a n d eventually i n c l u d e d as well any w o m e n per-
ceived as b e i n g o u t of their place, o u t of (male) control, in c o m p e t i t i o n with m e n ,
a n d o f t e n , symptomatically, in trousers.' 7 T h i s i m a g e of a f e m a l e m e n a c e , of
w o m e n as destroyersliteral c u t t h r o a t c o m p e t i t o r s of m e n w a s f u r t h e r inflated
over t h e c o u r s e of t h e next two decades by t h e passage of t h e C a m i l l e See Law of
1880, w h i c h provided for s t a t e - f u n d e d secondary e d u c a t i o n for w o m e n , a n d t h e
passage in 1884 of m o r e liberal divorce laws, w h i c h allowed w o m e n to initiate di-
vorce proceedings. Already b e g i n n i n g to take s h a p e in t h e 1880s was t h e m y t h i c
specter t h e 1890s w o u l d call t h e femme nouvelle, the overeducated, overambitious
w o m a n w h o inverted gender roles a n d dislocated bourgeois values. 3 8

T h e equally t h r e a t e n i n g stereotype of t h e G e r m a n c a n also be traced back to t h e

s a m e p e r i o d , for t h e C o m m u n e was, of course, roughly c o n t e m p o r a n e o u s with
t h e Siege of Paris a n d t h e F r e n c h defeat in t h e F r a n c o - P r u s s i a n war. T h i s h u m i l i -
a t i n g defeat was generally interpreted as proof t h a t F r a n c e h a d d e c l i n e d militarily
in t h e n i n e t e e n t h c e n t u r y b e c a u s e she h a d allowed G e r m a n y to outstrip h e r sci-
entifically a n d industrially. G e r m a n y e m e r g e d f r o m this period perceived n o t only
as t h e e n e m y b u t also as a t h r e a t e n i n g s u p e r t e c h n o l o g i c a l force. 3 9
By c o n d e n s a t i o n , t h e petroleuses a n d t h e besiegers of Paris b e c o m e t h e joint
forces that " u n m a n n e d " France. T h e two p h a n t a s m a t i c O t h e r s t h a t converge his-
torically a n d mythically in 1871 c o n t i n u e to h a u n t t h e F r e n c h i m a g i n a t i o n in t a n -
d e m a d e c a d e later, their respective roles virtually u n c h a n g e d : t h e G e r m a n fabri-
cates t h e m a n n e q u i n t h a t is, supplies t h e necessary t e c h n i c a l knowledge a n d

5 7
For an extended analysis of the role of the petroleuses in the nineteenth-century imaginary, see

Chapter 8.
38
See Claire Goldberg Moses, French Feminism in the Nineteenth Century (Albany: State University of

N e w York Press, 1984).

3 9
See Goldstein, Console and Classify, 348.
 VENUS IN DRAG, OR R E D R E S S I N G T H E D I S C O U R S E OF H Y S T E R I A
skillwhile R a o u l e , t h e trouser-wearing, c o r p s e - m u t i l a t i n g m a e n a d , is responsi- 257
40
ble for t h e grisly detail work. T h e lifelike m a n n e q u i n they create, a c o m b i n e d
marvel of t e c h n o l o g y a n d art, d e m a n d s a closer look. O u r glance, however, n e e d
n o t b e excessively p e n e t r a t i n g in order to reveal that t h e "chef-d'oeuvre d ' a n a t o -
m i e , " i m a g e of a n a t o m i c a l perfection, is in fact a body in pieces. For we know t h a t
t h e vision of ideal w h o l e n e s s is c o n s t r u c t e d by s u p p l e m e n t i n g t h e wax i m a g e with
m y r i a d f r a g m e n t s of t h e body it represents. T h e plucked hairs, t h e teeth a n d nails
torn f r o m Jacques's corpse c o m p l e t e t h e representation, b u t in so doing, they de-
c o m p o s e it. E v e n as they p r o d u c e an effect of hyperrealism, these body r e m n a n t s
d e c o n s t r u c t t h e very c o n c e p t of m i m e t i c realism by destroying t h e integrity of t h e
referent, flaunting by their m e r e presence t h e fragmentary, defective status of t h e
real.
R a c h i l d e insists, in o t h e r words, that t h e statue can be n o m o r e t h a n its separate
p a r t s n o greater a n d n o m o r e c o h e r e n t t h a n t h e bits a n d pieces of t h e social dis-
c o u r s e t h a t p r o d u c e s it ( a m o n g w h i c h is t h e fiction of its creation by R a o u l e a n d
t h e G e r m a n ) . N e i t h e r b o d y snippets n o r discursive f r a g m e n t s c a n be r e c u p e r a t e d
in t h e n a m e of m i m e t i c realism b e c a u s e t h e realist aesthetic is m e r e l y a n o t h e r ci-
tation writ large o n this body a n d contradicted by its finer features. A m o n g these,
t h e f i n e hairs R a o u l e plucks f r o m Jacques's cadaver are of particular (if u n e x p e c t e d )
relevance to t h e fate of realism's cliches. Now, if we very schematically posit t h e
d e f i n i n g characteristics of traditional realism as totalization a n d t h e detail (the first
a c c o m p l i s h e d by m e a n s of t h e second) a n d if we also accept that t h e process
w h e r e b y t h e realist detail is totalized or idealized is often fetishistic in n a t u r e (an
a b s e n t referential p l e n i t u d e is artificially replaced), t h e n we m i g h t read a good deal
b e t w e e n t h e hairs reaffixed to t h e wax body 41 W e m i g h t recall b e i n g s h o w n R a o u l e
a r m e d with silver tweezers ("armee d ' u n e p i n c e en v e r m e i l " [224; m y emphasis])
e n g a g e d in a very detailed task ("un travail tres m i n u t i e u x " [225]). W e m i g h t t h e n
b e t e m p t e d to describe this labor of p l u c k i n g a n d later reattaching hairs as fetish-
istic in t h e e x t r e m e .
E x c e p t for two qualifying factors. First, t h e fetish (etymologically related to t h e
factitious) is by d e f i n i t i o n a n artificial ( t h o u g h n o t necessarily inorganic) supple-
m e n t to t h e real, w h e r e a s h e r e we have t h e real s u p p l e m e n t i n g art. S e c o n d , t h e fe-
tish, as figured in traditional a n a t o m i c a l t e r m s , is a phallic substitute w h o s e effect,
in m o r e abstract t e r m s , is o n e of essentialization, c e n t r a l i z a t i o n , fixation, and

4 0
T h e rising G e r m a n a n d declining F r e n c h birthrate in the years after 1870 was cause for great anxiety

in France, as w a s G e r m a n industrial e x p a n s i o n , often cited as a n e x p l a n a t i o n for the F r e n c h d e f e a t in

1870. See D e b o r a L. Silverman's chapter f o u r in Art Nouveau in Fin-de-siecle France: Politics, Psychol-
ogy, and Style (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989) for a n informative a c c o u n t of the m e n -

ace posed to the bourgeois family by the femme nouvelle.

4 1
For a fascinating analysis of interconnections between realism and the detail, see N a o m i Schor's

Reading in Detail ( N e w York: M e t h u e n , 1987), w h i c h informs m y reading of Monsieur Venus.

LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
258 unity. But in R a c h i l d e s version, w h e r e w h a t is at stake is replacing "les c h e v e u x
roux, les cils b l o n d s , le d u v e t d'or d e la p o i t r i n e " (227) ["the red hair, t h e fair eye-
lashes, t h e gold hair of t h e chest"] (216), t h e r e is, quite to t h e contrary, a sense of
r a n d o m n e s s , dispersal, d i s p l a c e m e n t , a n d plurality: a scatter effect peculiarly e m -
phasized f r o m t h e b e g i n n i n g of t h e novel w h e n R a o u l e first takes n o t e of Jacques's
hirsuteness: "II e n avait p a r t o u t " (55) ["He h a d curls everywhere"] (61). T h e r e is, in
t h e e m p h a t i c a n d sustained a t t e n t i o n paid to every f o r m a n d site of m a l e hair, a n
a p p a r e n t defetishizing of t h e p h a l l u s a n d a r e i n v e s t m e n t in a m o r e general erotics
of t h e b o d y a r e i n v e s t m e n t similar in its erotic detailing to a fetish b u t t h a t I hes-
itate to call fetishistic precisely b e c a u s e it is general, m o b i l e , a n d diffuse.
A c h a l l e n g e to m y a r g u m e n t for defetishizing this body arises, however, in t h e
f o r m of t h a t c u r i o u s detail of t h e statue that I m e n t i o n e d previously: " u n ressort,
dispose l'interieur des flancs" (228). H o w are we to read this "spring" b e t w e e n t h e
legs of t h e statue? Is it a m e t a p h o r w h o s e p u r p o s e is to insist t h a t t h e m a n n e q u i n is
a n a t o m i c a l l y correct? O r is it a sign t h a t t h e m a n n e q u i n has b e e n a n a t o m i c a l l y
c o r r e c t e d h e n c e a p r o s t h e s i s i n o t h e r words, a fetish? T o c o m p l i c a t e matters, I
s h o u l d add t h a t a n explicit d i s p l a c e m e n t f r o m hair to p h a l l u s takes place m u c h
earlier in this novel w h e n , i m m e d i a t e l y following t h e observation o n t h e o m -
n i p r e s e n c e of Jacques's curls ("il en avait partout"), we are told "il se serait t r o m p e ,
par e x e m p l e , e n j u r a n t q u e cela seul t e m o i g n a i t de sa virilite" (55) ["he w o u l d h a v e
b e e n m i s t a k e n , it is t r u e , if h e h a d sworn that they were t h e only proof of his viril-
ity"] (61). T h i s initial d i s p l a c e m e n t sets a p r e c e d e n t t h a t reopens t h e possibility
t h o u g h n o t t h e c e r t a i n t y o f fetishism: t h a t is, of a phallic r e c u p e r a t i o n of all t h e
dispersed tufts, strands, a n d lashes. Perhaps they are only displaced.
B u t does it really m a t t e r w h e t h e r t h e odd e m p h a s i s in Monsieur Venus o n hair
a n d h a i r transplants constitutes a fetish or not? O r is t h e issue u n n e c e s s a r y a n d u n -
d e c i d a b l e a m a t t e r of splitting hairs, as it w e r e a distraction f r o m t h e larger is-
sues of representation a n d cliche? O n l y apparently. T h e p r e m i s e u n d e r l y i n g m y
exploration of this area t h u s far, w h i c h I w o u l d like to address m o r e explicitly now,
is t h a t t h e statue, " m a s t e r p i e c e of a n a t o m y , " s h o u l d also be read as t h e a n a t o m y of
representation a c c o r d i n g to R a c h i l d e . At stake in o u r r e a d i n g of t h e m a n n e q u i n ' s
a n a t o m y is o u r interpretation of t h e representational aesthetic i n f o r m i n g Mon-
sieur Venus a n d , therefore, t h e way we read this text.
If we o p t for a nonfetishistic representation of t h e statue, as I t e n d to, w e read
b o d y a n d text as d e c e n t e r e d a n d detotalized, a collage of corporeal r e m n a n t s or ci-
tational f r a g m e n t s . T h e text, in this case, presents n o c o h e r i n g vision or overarch-
ing m e a n i n g : it simply repeats, s o m e t i m e s to breaking p o i n t , t h e tired images of its
day. Jacques, w h o in life is a repository of cliche, a representation of fin d e siecle
stereotypes, b e c o m e s in d e a t h (which is to say, in art) a copy of a copy, a represen-
tation of h i m s e l f as representation: t h e self-referential body of c l i c h e o r , in
r

V E N U S IN DRAG, OR R E D R E S S I N G THE D I S C O U R S E OF H Y S T E R I A
short, R a c h i l d e s parrot. (After all, says t h e narrator of Un Coeur simple, " T o u s les 259
42
p e r r o q u e t s s'appellent J a c q u o t " ["All parrots are called Jacquot"]. T h e statue, in
o t h e r words, is a s i m u l a c r u m : an avatar of t h e m a n n e q u i n s called simulacra43 that
in Caesar's t i m e h e l d victims to be b u r n e d in h o n o r of t h e gods. It is n o m e r e copy,
b u t a representation based o n absence, m i m e t i c void, referential sacrifice. If we
view t h e statue as s i m u l a c r u m , we are, of course, substituting, for t h e d e c o n -
structed realist aesthetic, a o n c e iconoclastic perspective long since recuperated as
m o d e r n i s t aesthetic.
If, o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , we c h o o s e to read a fetishized version of Monsieur Venus
t h e novel b e c o m e s a story of perversion, a story a b o u t pathology, or, as Barres sees
it, a perverted, pathological narrative. In short, t h e citations are read for their se-
m a n t i c c o n t e n t rather t h a n their cliche emptiness; irony is u n r e a d ; ideology is
t r a n s p a r e n t . Bodily f r a g m e n t s a n d discursive shards are idealized, in this case,
reinstated in a n interpretive w h o l e , a n d recuperated by a m i m e t i c vision.
T h e p r o b l e m these two alternatives pose for m e is that all t h e w h i l e I a d o p t t h e
first, I c a n n o t dismiss t h e s e c o n d , largely b e c a u s e it is inscribed as a possibility in
t h e very u n c e r t a i n t y of Rachilde's text. O n t h e m i c r o c o s m i c level, R a c h i l d e pro-
d u c e s c o n s u m m a t e a m b i g u i t y by presenting a defetishized i m a g e of t h e m a n n e -
quin's body a l o n g with t h e possibility of refetishizing i t a n d a m b i g u i t y is, of
course, t h e very stuff of fetishist d r e a m s . O n t h e m a c r o c o s m i c level, I find over-
w h e l m i n g irony in t h e novel's c l i c h e s t r u c t u r e a n d read R a c h i l d e as iconoclastic, a
breaker (or at least a batterer) of t h e verbal icons of h e r c u l t u r e . At t h e s a m e t i m e ,
I r e c o g n i z e ironic repetition as repetition n o n e t h e l e s s a n d find ironic m i m i c r y a n d
c o m p l i a n t p e r f o r m a n c e n o t always distinguishable. A n d I h a v e before m e , irrevo-
cably present in t h e republished edition of t h e novel, t h e preface by M a u r i c e
Barres, e v i d e n c e t h a t Monsieur Venus c a n also be read as a maker, or at least an af-
firmer, of t h e s a m e icons I see d e n t e d or cracked. F u r t h e r m o r e , we c a n n o t avoid
r e a d i n g text a n d preface together, n o t only in t h e antagonistic sense I suggested
previously (the novel as d e c o n s t r u c t i v e reading of its preface), b u t also as c o m p l i c -
itous: R a c h i l d e , after all, accepted Barres's offer to i n t r o d u c e h e r novel, a n d we c a n
only a s s u m e she read his text a n d approved it before p u b l i c a t i o n . T h e book, in
o t h e r words, is a package, a n d it is wrapped to sellto cater, paradoxically, to t h e
reigning ideology against w h i c h I have argued Rachilde's irony is directed.

T h e two original alternatives, o n c e e x a m i n e d , suggest a plethora of interpreta-

tions. Let m e briefly evoke a sampling. (1) R a c h i l d e is using ironic repetition to de-
4 2
"[Le p e r r o q u e t ] etait p l a c e a u p r e s d e la porte, et p l u s i e u r s s e t o n n a i e n t qu'il n e r e p o n d a i t p a s a u n o m

d e J a c q u o t , p u i s q u e t o u s les p e r r o q u e t s s'appellent J a c q u o t " [ " { T h e parrot} w a s p u t n e x t to t h e door, and

several p e o p l e w e r e s u r p r i s e d t h a t h e d i d n ' t a n s w e r to t h e n a m e of J a c q u o t b e c a u s e all parrots a r e called

Jacquot"]. Gustave Flaubert, Un Coeur simple, f r o m Trais Contes, in Oeuvres completes, ed. JeanBru-

neau and Bernard Masson, 2 vols. (Paris: Seuil, 1964), 2:174.

4 3
1 o w e this i n f o r m a t i o n to D i d i - H u b e r m a n , Invention de l'hysterie, 267.
LITERARY H I S T O R I E S
260 construct the ideology I have called hystericization. Her text (and her irony) are
appropriated by Barres; the irony changes sides. (2) Again, assume Rachilde is us-
ing repetition ironically; consider now, however, that the addition of the preface
only accentuates Rachildes irony by illustrating its target. (3) Assume instead that
Rachilde is a compliant performer of the passwords and bywords of her time; she
gratefully accepts Barres's sincere offer to champion her novel. (4) As in the pre-
vious case, assume that Rachilde is a compliant consumer of the doxa but consider
now that Barres's gratefully received preface ironizes the novel he appears to be
championing. (5) Continuing to posit Rachilde's compliance, let us consider the
possibility that the confrontation of Rachilde's nonironic novel and Barres's non-
ironic preface results nonetheless in a textual irony. (6) The reader chooses any of
the above interpretations and consequently falls victim to a textual irony.
If we decide to refuse irony, we risk becoming irony's dupe. But if we make any
specific irony our choice, we refuse the mobile irony that inhabits the text and risk
the same fate. How, then, do we settle this dilemma? I don't think we do; I don't
think we can. I persist in my ironic reading of Monsieur Venus, all the while ad-
mitting that the irony of irony is its inclusion of naive repetition. Speaking for
irony, I find myself in the somewhat bewildering position of speaking as a fetishist:
"Je sais bien . . . mais quand meme" 44 ["I k n o w . . . but all the same"]. If it is true,
as Nathaniel Wing has suggested, that irony "serves as an alibi for a fetish," 45 then
we might conceive of the ironist as the fetishist's apprentice, reaching out for all
readers, ensnaring them in a tangle of ambiguity, uncertainty, and indecision from
which there is no escape. Irony quite possibly makes fetishists of us all.

4 4
T h i s is O c t a v e M a n n o n i ' s f o r m u l a t i o n o f t h e s t r u c t u r e o f t h e f e t i s h a n d , m o r e g e n e r a l l y , o f f e t i s h i s t i c

t h i n k i n g . B r i e f l y e l a b o r a t e d : t h e f e t i s h i s t k n o w s t h a t a n o l d c h e r i s h e d b e l i e f is f a l s e b u t n o n e t h e l e s s . . .

( c o n t i n u e s t o b e l i e v e i t ) . T h e nonetheless i s n o t a r t i c u l a t e d : i t is t h e f e t i s h . M a n n o n i , "Je sais b i e n , mais

q u a n d m e m e . . . ," in Clefs pour l'imaginaire ou lautre scene (Paris: Seuil, 1969), 9 - 3 3 . T h e exis-

tence of a perplexing p a m p h l e t by Rachilde, Pourqoui je ne suis pas feministe (Paris: E d i t i o n s d e France,

1 9 2 8 ) , o n l y f o r t i f i e s t h e i r o n y o f Monsieur Venus. D e s p i t e t h e title a n d t h e blatantly m i s o g y n i s t i c pro-

nouncements s p r i n k l e d t h r o u g h o u t t h i s t e x t , t h e p o l i t i c s o f its a u t h o r d e f y d e f i n i t i o n . T h e narrative

voice, p r o n e to contradiction, evasiveness, ambiguity, and paradox, m a y or m a y n o t b e ironic at any

given m o m e n t . Chameleonlike, Rachilde's narrator can never be located behind the rapid succession

of rhetorical disguises s h e l i k e t h e a c t r e s s / w o m a n of letters of this chapter's e p i g r a p h t a k e s on. In

h e r e x c e l l e n t intellectual b i o g r a p h y (in progress) of R a c h i l d e , "Rachilde's P a r o x y s m s of Chastity," M e -

lanie H a w t h o r n e helps to reinterpret as writing strategies s o m e of the p a r a d o x e s of b o t h Rachilde's pol-

itics a n d h e r style.

4 5
Nathaniel Wing, The Limits of Narrative (Cambridge: C a m b r i d g e University Press, 1986), 77.
r

PQSTCRIPT
Speculations on Dracula, Frankenstein,
and Rachilde's Monster

Rachilde's narrative and mine come to a halt before the exhibit of Jacques's wax ef-
figy. Last in a series of textually posed bodies, his is given more precisely in repose,
an ironic citation of the archetypically female semiotic body but also a shadow of
his former self. For if earlier in Monsieur Venus, Jacques's living body was com-
pared to an epistolary poem of desire passed between two other charactersa
poem explicitly offered in lieu of a letter1it is now simply a dead letter. Adorned
with the tooth-and-nail detailing we recognize as Raoule's signet, sheathed in rub-
ber, and consigned to a walled-in chamber, Jacques's body is signed, sealed, and
withdrawn from circulation. Cast in waxa seal on the letter of fleshthe statue
1
" J a c q u e s n ' i g n o r a i t p a s l'adresse d e R a o u l e , m a i s la p e n s e e d e se p l a i n d r e n e lui vint pas. . . .Jacques,

d o n t le corps etait u n p o e m e , savait q u e c e p o e m e serait t o u j o u r s l u a v e c p l u s d ' a t t e n t i o n q u e la lettre

d ' u n vulgaire ecrivain c o m m e lui" ["Jacques k n e w Raoule's address, but h e never t h o u g h t of complain-

ing. . . . Jacques, w h o s e b o d y was a p o e m , k n e w that his p o e m w o u l d always b e read m o r e attentively

than any letter f r o m such a vulgar writer as he"]. Rachilde, Monsieur Venus (Paris: Flammarion,

!977)> 139; trans. M a d e l e i n e B o y d ( N e w York: C o v i c i , Friede, 1929), 136-37. Subsequent references

will b e to these editions a n d will b e given parenthetically in t h e text.

261
POSTSCRIPT
262 lies in apposition to the "living writing paper" of Mathildes dermographic body
with which I opened this book, and provides the space for a postscript.
Finished with assorted applique bits torn from Jacques's corpse, the partly
molded, partly patchworked statue invites an equivocal message. For Raoule is the
modern Frankenstein, and Jacques is her monster. Unlike Mary Shelley's crea-
ture, who was the product of fragments scavenged from disparate graves and char-
nel houses, Rachilde's creation, reconstituted from his own cadaver, is ostensibly a
self-made man. But the allusion to reflexivity and, by extension, to the autono-
mous, self-enclosed modern individualwhat constitutes the modernity of this
Frankensteinian modeldoes not dispel its monstrousness: that quality belonging
to any creature, object, activity, or thought that cannot be classified, that com-
bines categories, and crosses conceptual borders. The lifelike mannequin mixes
the synthetic and the organic, technology and art, death and life, says that no
boundary can assure their distinction. And its organic appliques, tantamount to
exposed sutures on the rubber surface, suggest that the whole could become un-
stitched, fall into constituent pieces. These monstrous parts, as I suggested earlier,
are analogous to the citational composition of Monsieur Venus. They are the bits
and pieces of stereotype: the Other's discourse that is worked into the text and
whose demarcating italics, like so many dissolved sutures, have been mostly lost or
absorbed.
It is perhaps inevitable that the influence of a text that everywhere evokes the
problematic of liminality should infiltrate my own text, where I now find, in the
form of the monstrous, the insistent return of the grotesquea term I applied ear-
lier to the statue but bracketed for the sake of pursuing another line of thought.
Monster is a preferred t e r m in Monsieur Venus. It appears ( s o m e t i m e s in t h e a d j e c -
tival form monstrueux/se) twelve times in the novel and refers to Jacques, to the
passion that joins him with Raoule, and to Raoulein descending order of fre-
quency.2 Curiously, all the designations of monstrosity figure before Jacques's apo-
theosis. The apparent displacement of the "monster" label does not merely indi-
cate that the monstrosity of his final hybrid form goes without saying. More
significantly, it suggests that what is most monstrous in this novelits inexorable
fluidity, its disregard for boundaries, its dissolution of distinctionsexceeds its fi-
nal representation by the statue. The monstrous, given its associations with mobil-
ity, can only be representedfixed as allegoryin the form of the statue and,
therefore, attenuated or arrested there.
From the first page of the novel, where Rachilde situates Raoule on an apart-
ment thresholda line partitioning space but in context also separating genders,
social classes, reader and writer, literary text and social text, original and cita-
tionshe begins also to undermine the work of differentiation that a threshold os-
2
1 have not included in m y count n u m e r o u s allusions to monsters or monstrosity that do not use the

term, such as demon, maudite creature, grotesque, a n d so on.

 S P E C U L A T I O N S ON DRACULA, F R A N K E N S T E I N , AND R A C H I L D E ' S M O N S T E R
tensibly p e r f o r m s . T h e subversiveness of Monsieur Venus is e m b o d i e d by t h e pro- 263
t e a n f o r m s of Jacques a n d R a o u l e a n d by t h e mobility of desire t h e y everywhere
p u t into p l a y a m u t a b i l i t y a n d mobility w h o s e e r o d i n g of sexual, gender, a n d
class distinctions inevitably sweeps away t h e f o u n d a t i o n s of binary t h i n k i n g a n d of
m e a n i n g as w e k n o w it. W i t h Jacques's d e a t h , wax r e i n c a r n a t i o n , a n d i m m o b i l i -
zation in a r u b b e r sheath w i t h i n a walled c h a m b e r , t h e r e is at least a gesture toward
r e c o n t a i n i n g transgressive forces. Dressed ("revetu" [227]) only in t r a n s p a r e n t r u b -
ber, his virility cast in relief, Jacques as statue defies sexual indeterminacy. 3 B u t if
t h e transgressive e l e m e n t s of this novel are n o t diffused t h r o u g h o u t t h e final tab-
l e a u as t h e y are in t h e rest of t h e novel, n e i t h e r are they dispelled: rather, they are
c o n c e n t r a t e d in t h e l i f e - a n d - d e a t h indistinction of a dead m a n r e i n c a r n a t e d as a
r u b b e r doll, a n i n a n i m a t e object artificially a n i m a t e d ("un ressort . . . l ' a n i m e "
[228]) so t h a t d e a t h a n d life are n o longer separate provinces.
F i n e , says m y reader. W e are growing used to geographical flux. S h i f t i n g
b o u n d a r i e s are a sign of o u r times. W e c a n redraw t h e lines. B u t has hysteria b e e n
wiped off t h e m a p ? A n d I m u s t in response ask t h e reader's i n d u l g e n c e , ask for a
m o m e n t s p a t i e n c e so t h a t I c a n m o v e even f u r t h e r afield in order to r e t u r n to m y
p o i n t . As t h e good doctor Van Heising, h e r o of a n o t h e r book of t h e u n d e a d , re-
m i n d s us, "In this, t h e quickest way h o m e is t h e longest way, so y o u r proverb say." 4
I q u o t e V a n H e i s i n g advisedly, n o t only b e c a u s e his words are apt a n d his spatial
m e t a p h o r fitting, n o r only b e c a u s e h e makes his p o i n t in a n appropriately hybrid
f u s i n g of D u t c h a n d E n g l i s h , n o r only b e c a u s e m y citation of his citation repro-
d u c e s t h a t b l u r r i n g of sources I have b e e n speaking a b o u t . I t u r n to Van H e i s i n g
also b e c a u s e h e is a h u n t e r of m o n s t e r s m o r e precisely, a v a m p i r e s l a y e r a n d
b e c a u s e h e leads t h e g r o u p that stalks a n d traps t h e m o n s t e r I have n o t yet discussed
b u t w h o has b e e n lurking b e h i n d m u c h of w h a t I have said. T h i s m o n s t e r is of
c o u r s e D r a c u l a . H e finds his way into hysterias narrative by a n indirect textual
p a t h t h a t crosses different eras a n d different m e d i a , a n d h e enters by way of " T h e
N e w Blood C u l t u r e , " a New York Times c o m m e n t a r y by Frank R i c h p r o m p t e d by
t h e late 1992 release of Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's "Dracula."5
As R i c h reads it, Coppola's film is a b o u t A I D S a n d , m o r e specifically, a b o u t t h e

3
In the original 1884 edition, however, the sentence that I a m glossing here f r o m the 1889 edition was

e x t e n d e d , s o t h a t it r e a d : " U n r e s s o r t d i s p o s e l ' i n t e r i e u r d e s flancs, c o r r e s p o n d la b o u c h e et l'anime,

en meme temps qu'il fait s'ecarter les cuisses." Rachilde, Monsieur Venus: Roman materialiste (Brussels:

Auguste Brancart, 1884), 228. ["A s p r i n g h i d d e n i n s i d e t h e t h i g h s c o r r e s p o n d s to t h e m o u t h a n d ani-

m a t e s it, a n d s i m u l t a n e o u s l y o p e n s t h e t h i g h s " ] ( m y t r a n s l a t i o n ) . T h e first edition clearly retained, to

t h e e n d , t h e sexual a m b i g u i t y of t h e rest of t h e n o v e l a n a m b i g u i t y r e d u c e d , w h e t h e r for aesthetic or

moral reasons, in t h e fourth (1889) edition. I a m grateful to V e r o n i q u e H u b e r t - M a t t h e w s for alerting

m e to the 1884 variant.

4
B r a m Stoker, Dracula ( N e w York: D o u b l e d a y , 1927), 292. F u r t h e r references will b e given in t h e text.
5
Frank Rich, " T h e N e w Blood Culture," New York Times, 6 D e c e m b e r 1 9 9 2 , " S t y l e s o f the Times"

section. F u r t h e r references will be given i n t h e t e x t . Bram Stokers "Dracula," dir. F r a n c i s Ford Cop-

pola, C o l u m b i a Pictures, 1992.

POSTSCRIPT
264 s u b l i m i n a l fantasies t h a t s u r r o u n d t h e disease. H e offers as e v i d e n c e t h e raging
p r e s e n c e of b l o o d in this m o v i e o n t h e various levels of plot, d i a l o g u e , a n d c i n e -
matography. H e describes Coppola's Dracula as "an orgy of bloodsucking, b l o o d -
letting a n d b l o o d p o i s o n i n g " (1), refers to t h e portrayed e x c h a n g e of b l o o d with
" l u b r i c i o u s v a m p i r e victims" as "unsafe sex," a n d remarks t h a t even babies are prey
to t h e mysterious illness labeled by o n e bewildered doctor a " 'disease of t h e blood
u n k n o w n to all m e d i c a l t h e o r y . ' " As if in illustration of t h e u n k n o w n invader, t h e
c a m e r a , R i c h c o n t i n u e s , at o n e p o i n t pauses for "an extended m i c r o s c o p i c view of
w h a t appears to b e r a m p a g i n g blood cells" (11). A n d as if in c o n f i r m a t i o n of D r a -
cula's observation t h a t " 'blood is too p r e c i o u s a t h i n g in these t i m e s , ' " t h e screen is
o f t e n tinted "capillary red," so t h a t t h e viewer's perspective is suffused with b l o o d
(11). T h e c a m e r a captures t h e predator as well in shrouds of mist a n d f o g v a p o r s
t h a t are alternative fluid f o r m s .
T h i s , R i c h says, is a film for o u r times, a film t h a t plays to t h e fears of " f u r t h e r
A I D S invasions of t h e n a t i o n a l b l o o d s t r e a m " (1). P i n p o i n t i n g t h e s u p e r b t i m e l i -
ness of Dracula to political events c o i n c i d e n t with its m i d - N o v e m b e r 1992 n a t i o n -
wide o p e n i n g , R i c h notes t h a t t h e distraction of t h e r e c e n t presidential election
was n o longer present, t h a t t h e e n s u i n g easing of t h e previously d o m i n a n t eco-
n o m i c fear left r o o m for o t h e r d e m o n s , a n d t h a t t h e m u c h - p u b l i c i z e d possible lift-
ing of t h e b a n o n h o m o s e x u a l s in t h e military u n l e a s h e d p h o b i a s a b o u t c o n t a m i -
n a t i o n t h r o u g h casual c o n t a c t p h o b i a s fed by increasing p u b l i c awareness t h a t
A I D S is n o t c o n f i n e d to h o m o s e x u a l s , h e m o p h i l i a c s , a n d d r u g users.
I find Rich's a r g u m e n t t h a t Coppola's Dracula taps into t h e terror of o u r t i m e s
insightful a n d utterly c o n v i n c i n g . I also, however, find Rich's very focused histor-
icism b l i n d i n g to t h e larger historical context. For t h e full title of Coppola's film,
as R i c h m e n t i o n s , is Bram Stoker's "Dracula." T h e n a m i n g of t h e a u t h o r of t h e
1897 novel in t h e m o v i e title alludes to a n i n t e n d e d fidelity of C o p p o l a to Stoker,
film to novel, p o s t m o d e r n i s m to V i c t o r i a n i s m , a n d to t h e e c h o i n g of o n e fin de
siecle's p h o b i a s by those of a n o t h e r . W h e n R i c h calls Coppola's m o v i e "this u n -
faithfully a n a c h r o n i s t i c retelling of [Stoker's h o r r o r tale]" (11), o n e w o n d e r s if h e
read t h e book, w h i c h i n c l u d e s every verbal reference to b l o o d t h a t t h e film does
(and m o r e ) , w h i c h hypostatizes blood as milk a n d s e m e n , a n d w h i c h everywhere
vaporizes v a m p i r e s to mist a n d fog, t h e better to h e l p t h e m p e n e t r a t e h o u s e s ,
r o o m s , a n d bodies, t h e better to let t h e m i n f u s e their p o i s o n o u s fluids into u n s u s -
pecting b l o o d s t r e a m s . Like J o n a t h a n Harker, w h o looks for t h e m o n s t e r in t h e
m i r r o r a n d finds only his o w n image, R i c h finds in Coppola's Dracula an anach-
r o n i s m t h a t is t h e reflection of his o w n c h r o n o l o g i c a l bias.
N o w h e r e is t h e c h r o n o l o g i c a l error as clear as w h e n R i c h glosses " t h e n e w blood
c u l t u r e " as " t h e bizarre p o p b y p r o d u c t of a n a t i o n a l obsession with all bodily
fluids" (1). A n y of us w h o has witnessed n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y p h a n t a s m s a b o u t b o d -
 S P E C U L A T I O N S ON DRACULA, F R A N K E N S T E I N , AND R A C H I L D E ' S M O N S T E R
ily fluids a c c u m u l a t e in hysterias corpus will have difficulty perceiving o u r c o n - 265
t e m p o r a r y blood c u l t u r e as new. All of t h e eroticized terror of f u s i o n , i n f u s i o n ,
a n d t r a n s f u s i o n t h a t R i c h associates with " t h e n e w blood c u l t u r e " ostensibly pro-
voked by t h e A I D S virus already pervades Stoker's 1897 novel.
T o better situate Stoker's Dracula o n its own historical turf, I could speak h e r e of
t h e e n g u l f i n g fluids of hysteria a n d syphilis, those particular pathologies t h a t gave
n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y desire its lethal force, b u t I prefer to d o so only in passing, for I
w a n t to deliteralize t h e fluid c o m p o n e n t of all these d i s e a s e s w i t h o u t , of course,
d e n y i n g their reality or their specificity. T h e very dissimilarity of A I D S a n d hys-
t e r i a t h e f u n d a m e n t a l fact t h a t o n e is fatal, o n e is n o t i s especially i m p o r t a n t ,
for it suggests t h a t t h e overlapping discourses t h r o u g h w h i c h e a c h is perceived c o n -
tain c o m m o n p h a n t a s m a t i c u n d e r c u r r e n t s .
W e h a v e already seen h o w t h e threat of overflowing body fluids associated with
hysteria d e m a t e r i a l i z e s into t h e m o r e a b s t r a c t b u t n o less t e r r i f y i n g m e n a c e of
u n d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n t h a t t o u c h e s t h e physical a n d social body alike ( a l t h o u g h part of
t h e p o i n t is t h a t s u c h distinctions c a n n o t be m a i n t a i n e d ) . I w a n t n o w briefly to sug-
gest t h a t Stoker's m o n s t e r materializes a n d dematerializes similar threats, a n d t h a t
we m u s t t h e r e f o r e rehistoricize (that is, bihistoricize) a n d d e m a t e r i a l i z e t h e dis-
c o u r s e of fluidity in Coppola's film. O n l y t h e n c a n we evaluate t h e c o n t i n u i t y be-
t w e e n t h e n e w b l o o d c u l t u r e , v a m p i r i s m , t h e leaking of hysterical bodies, a n d ,
m o r e abstractly, t h e dissolution of discursive b o u n d a r i e s t h a t is at work in Mon-
sieur Venus.
T h e reiterated cry of Stoker's m a d m a n R e n f i e l d ( " T h e blood is t h e life! T h e
b l o o d is t h e life!" [142]) serves as a s u p e r f l u o u s r e m i n d e r that t h e color of Stoker's
prose is as u n a m b i g u o u s as t h e tint of Coppola's screen. Blood is n o t only spilled or
sucked or transfused everywhere in this novel; it is evoked m e t a p h o r i c a l l y w h e n it
is n o t explicitly flowing. It also symbolically replaces s e m e n a n d milk. T h e t h r e e
fluids are graphically s u p e r i m p o s e d w h e n , in a n i m a g e c o n f l a t i n g fellatio a n d
n u r s i n g , w e see M i n a Harker's face p u s h e d d o w n to suck f r o m a spurting w o u n d o n
D r a c u l a s chest: "His right h a n d gripped h e r by t h e back of t h e neck, forcing h e r
face d o w n . . . . T h e a t t i t u d e of t h e two h a d a terrible r e s e m b l a n c e to a child forc-
ing a kitten's nose into a saucer of milk to c o m p e l it to drink" (282). As C h r i s t o p h e r
C r a f t has suggested, t h e c o n f l u e n c e of fluids a n d t h e a n a t o m i c a l l y shifting images
of this t a b l e a u m o s t vividly represent t h e subversion of gender b o u n d a r i e s t h a t is
everywhere t h r e a t e n e d in this novel. 6
B u t g e n d e r is n o t t h e only d u a l i s m u n d o n e in this novel, a n d bodily fluids are
only t h e symbolic carrier of a generalized dissolution of b o u n d a r i e s m o s t literally
represented by t h e location of Dracula's castle "just o n t h e borders of t h r e e states"
6
S e e C h r i s t o p h e r C r a f t , " 'Kiss M e w i t h T h o s e R e d Lips': G e n d e r a n d I n v e r s i o n in B r a m Stoker's Dra-
cula," Representations 8 (Fall 1984): 1 2 5 - 2 6 .
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266 yet u n m a r k e d o n all m a p s a n d in all guides (2). T h e b o u n d a r i e s crossed a n d d u l y
noted by J o n a t h a n H a r k e r o n his voyage east will, of course, be recrossed in b o t h
directions by D r a c u l a a n d by Van H e i s i n g s b a n d of v a m p i r e fighters; t h e traversal
of geographic borders will be most sensationally e c h o e d by v a m p i r i z a t i o n a n d
b l o o d transfusions. But as S t e p h e n Arata has argued, p e n e t r a t i o n s of t h e b o d y in
Stokers tale, a n a l o g o u s to invasions of t h e body politic, articulate V i c t o r i a n fears
of reverse c o l o n i z a t i o n , a n d t h e dread m i x i n g of blood corresponds to a h o r r o r of
m i s c e g e n a t i o n . 7 ( D r a c u l a describes t h e blood t h a t flows in his veins as " t h e whirl-
pool of E u r o p e a n races" [29].) T h e polyglot dictionary to w h i c h J o n a t h a n H a r k e r
m u s t have recourse (6) in order to m a k e his way t h r o u g h t h e linguistic babel of his
Transylvanian passage is e m b l e m a t i c of t h e general p o l y m o r p h i s m of this novel,
w h i c h is a c o m p o s i t e of letters, diaries, transcribed p h o n o g r a p h diaries, telegrams,
n e w p a p e r articles, a n d travelogue. Slithering t h r o u g h this m o n s t r o u s assemblage
of g e n r e s " j u s t as a lizard moves a l o n g a wall"is t h e n o v e l s e p o n y m o u s a n t i -
h e r o , hybrid w i t h o u t a species: " W h a t m a n n e r of m a n is this, or w h a t m a n n e r of
c r e a t u r e is it in t h e s e m b l a n c e of m a n ? " (35). D r a c u l a , in C r a f t s w e l l - c h o s e n
phrasing, is "a b o r d e r b e i n g w h o abrogates d e m a r c a t i o n s , m a k e s . . . distinctions
impossible. H e is nosferatu, n e i t h e r dead n o r alive b u t s o m e h o w b o t h , m o b i l e fre-
q u e n t e r of t h e grave a n d b o u d o i r , easeful c o m m u n i c a n t of exclusive realms." 8
In Dracula's sexually a m b i g u o u s m o u t h ("white s h a r p teeth, b e h i n d t h e full lips
of t h e b l o o d - d r i p p i n g m o u t h " [282]), C r a f t puts s o m e u n a n s w e r a b l e q u e s t i o n s t h a t
speak graphically to t h e m o n s t r o u s p o l y m o r p h i s m of desire h e r e represented: "Are
we m a l e or are w e f e m a l e ? D o we have penetrators or orifices? . . . A n d w h a t
a b o u t o u r bodily fluids, t h e red a n d t h e white? W h a t are t h e relations b e t w e e n
b l o o d a n d s e m e n , m i l k a n d blood?" 9 D r a c u l a feeds o n n u b i l e y o u n g w o m e n , b u t
h o m o e r o t i c desire is represented n o n e t h e l e s s by a narrative t h a t b o t h represses a
thirst for y o u n g m e n (as w h e n J o n a t h a n H a r k e r cuts h i m s e l f shaving a n d is saved
f r o m t h e fangs of t h e b e a s t i n t h e nick of t i m e , as it w e r e b y his crucifix) a n d
displaces it (by t h e b a n d i n g together of m e n in t h e h u n t for D r a c u l a ) .
T h e m o b i l e sexuality figured by Stokers d r i p p i n g v a m p i r e m o u t h leads in two
different b u t m u t u a l l y significant directions: it a n n o u n c e s Coppola's similarly
fluid vision of monstrosity, a n d it repeats t h e i m a g e of a n o t h e r d i f f e r e n t l y m o n -
s t r o u s m o u t h (the wax statue's) in w h i c h coded dualities are dissolved in a b l o o d -
less dry irony. D i s t i n c t i o n s b e t w e e n m a s c u l i n e a n d f e m i n i n e , organic a n d syn-
thetic, d e a t h a n d life are u n d e r m i n e d in Jacques's reconstructed m o u t h , a wax
orifice i m p l a n t e d with real teeth a n d a n i m a t e d by a decidedly p h a l l i c spring
worked p r e s u m a b l y by Raoule's (ambiguously) f e m i n i n e h a n d . Fused h e r e , too,

7
Stephen D . Arata, " T h e Occidental Tourist: Dracula a n d the Anxiety of Reverse C o l o n i z a t i o n , " Vic-
torian Studies 33 ( S u m m e r 1990): 621-45.
8
Craft, '"Kiss M e with T h o s e Red Lips,'" 117.
9
Ibid., 109.
 S P E C U L A T I O N S ON DRACULA, F R A N K E N S T E I N , AND R A C H I L D E ' S M O N S T E R
are categories of sex a n d text; for if t h e sensationalizing description of t h e statue 267
m o s t i m m e d i a t e l y evokes a lewd r u b b e r doll, n o t far b e h i n d c o m e s t h e realization
that this is also a v e n t r i l o q u i s t s d u m m y , a n d that t h e spring that works t h e m o u t h
is a narrative device. O n c e again sex talks, b u t its words are m a n i p u l a t e d . Evoca-
tions of wax statues, cadaverous erotica, cross-dressing, bodies killed into a r t s o
m a n y citations f r o m a d e c a d e n t l e x i c o n a r e dead letters, r e m i n d e r s t h a t n e c r o -
philia a n d logophilia are inextricably crossed a n d fused.
The figurative fluidity everywhere operative in Monsieur Venus usefully ab-
stracts t h e m o r e literally represented fluidity of m a n y of t h e hysteria texts I have
discussed. Rachilde's novel in fact speaks m o r e significantly, t h o u g h implicitly,
a b o u t hysteria t h r o u g h its c o n s t a n t invocation a n d abrogation of binary categories
t h a n it does t h r o u g h explicit citations f r o m hysteria's discourse. By deliteralizing
this discourse a n d m i m i n g t h e cultural work hysteria is charged with, Monsieur
Venus acts as a bridge b e t w e e n t h e hysteria texts a n d t h e m o n s t e r narratives, to
w h i c h I will r e t u r n by way of rearticulating hysteria's strongest u n d e r c u r r e n t s .
M y words o n C o p p o l a necessarily i n c o r p o r a t e words o n Stoker as well. For C o p -
pola's Bram Stokers "Dracula," f r o m t h e awkwardly deliberate title o n , is a study in
citation. 1 0 T h e film everywhere cites t h e fluidity t h a t pervades t h e novel, a n d si-
m u l t a n e o u s l y fluidifies citation, blurs its distinguishing traces. Coppola's script re-
p r o d u c e s , a n d his c a m e r a reinvents, n o t only t h e literal fluidity of Stoker's novel
(the b l o o d , t h e symbolic sexual transfusions, t h e tears, t h e mists), b u t also Stokers
e m p h a s i s o n traveling, o n crossing borders, o n c h a n g i n g f o r m s a n d kaleidoscoping
histories. T h e c a m e r a lingers insistently o n J o n a t h a n H a r k e r as h e crosses over t h e
t h r e s h o l d of Dracula's castle. Lucy, freshly recruited to t h e ranks of t h e u n d e a d ,
"walks b e y o n d t h e grace of G o d , a w a n d e r e r in t h e o u t e r darkness." Dracula's
fifteenth-century princess is r e i n c a r n a t e d as Victorian m a i d e n . T h i c k l y billowing
fog u n w r a p s Dracula's gallant y o u n g p r i n c e persona, w h o slips s u d d e n l y into t h e
devil's s h a p e , w h i c h evanesces a n d leaves in its place a s w a r m i n g h o r d e of rats. A
s t o r m rages across t h e screen with t h e synesthetic howl of wolves. Lucy's severed
h e a d fades into a roast o n a platter. Eyes gleam red like bloodied m o u t h s a n d pierce
t h e darkness like fangs, a n d bleeding f a n g marks m e t a m o r p h o s e into glinting orbs.
I n t e r m i t t e n t l y t h e film toys with t h e possibility of stopping t h e flow of b l o o d , of
t i m e , of shapes, of sense. D r a c u l a reaches o u t to wipe away M i n a ' s tears a n d t u r n s
t h e m into a fistful of d i a m o n d s . H e begs for release f r o m his i n t e r m e d i a t e state in
t h e finality of death: "Give m e p e a c e . "

Coppola's m o v i e plays alternately with exceeding its own b o u n d a r i e s a n d r e c o n -

t a i n i n g t h e excess. T h e o p e n i n g scenes p r e c e d e t h e title (in flagrant d e f i a n c e of t h e
m o n u m e n t a l i m a g e of this title inscribed in b r o n z e ) a n d reach back b e y o n d B r a m
S t o k e r s story to folkloric a c c o u n t s of Vlad t h e Impaler. A n d t h e closing s c e n e is
10
In fact, w h e n t h e title a p p e a r s o n t h e screen, t h e citation begins. T h e film begins a f e w m i n u t e s ear-
lier, p r e c e d i n g Stoker's n a r r a t i v e w i t h f o l k l o r i c background.
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268 f o l l o w e d a f t e r t h e m o v i e has to all intents a n d purposes e n d e d , t h e s o u n d t r a c k
has faded o u t , a n d t h e credits have b e e n s h o w n b y t h e swelling tones of A n n i e
L e n n o x singing "Love S o n g for a V a m p i r e . " S o u n d t r a c k a n d m o v i e are r e n e w e d
for several m i n u t e s . T h e r e is a kind of overflow effect o n either e n d , as if t h e m o v i e
c o u l d n o t b e c o n t a i n e d by its p r e t e n d e d f r a m e . M i d w a y t h r o u g h , D r a c u l a a n d
M i n a m e e t in L o n d o n a n d see at t h e c i n e m a t o g r a p h w h a t appears to be a replay, in
early m o v i n g pictures style, of t h e first few (Vlad t h e Impaler) scenes of t h e film
as if to r e c a p t u r e t h e r u n a w a y material within firm b o u n d a r i e s . B u t C o p p o l a s
c a m e r a has already filmed several i m m e d i a t e l y p r e c e d i n g f r a m e s of L o n d o n streets
in t h e s a m e early m o v i n g pictures style of t h e film within t h e film, as if in m o c k e r y
of t h e borders t h a t t u r n o u t to be d y s f u n c t i o n a l q u o t a t i o n marks.
T h e citational f o u n d a t i o n of Bram Stokers "Dracula" m i g h t otherwise b e trans-
lated as d o u b l e vision. As s u c h , it is e m b l e m a t i z e d by a y o u n g p r i n c e D r a c u l a in
V i c t o r i a n d a n d y f o r m , sporting a pair of m o d i s h b l u e - t i n t e d glasses p e r c h e d rak-
ishly o n his nose. Peering t h r o u g h a n d over his glasses at t h e fifteenth-century
princess Elisabeta r e i n c a r n a t e d as M i n a , h e tells her: "I have crossed o c e a n s of
t i m e to find y o u . " Telescoping f o u r h u n d r e d years in his m o b i l e perspective, h e
t w o - t i m e s M i n a with Elisabeta as C o p p o l a does t h e p h a n t o m s of this fin de siecle
with those of t h e last, crossing t i m e with space, juxtaposing two e p o c h s , a n d two
incarnations.
D o u b l e - c r o s s i n g these crossovers, C o p p o l a e c h o e s with t h e rhetoric of his c a m -
era t h e o v e r a r c h i n g shift b e t w e e n m e t a p h o r s of d o u b l e talk (citation) a n d m e t a -
p h o r s of seeing d o u b l e t h a t is implicit in his d u a l perspective. T h e i n t e r c h a n g e -
ability of m o u t h a n d eye, speech a n d sight, message a n d vision, l a n g u a g e a n d
c a m e r a is m e t a p h o r i c a l l y or m e t o n y m i c a l l y invoked in this film by special effects
t h a t t u r n f a n g p u n c t u r e s into wolves' eyes, m o n s t e r eyes into w i n e goblets, or t h e
eye of a p e a c o c k f e a t h e r into t h e m o u t h of a t u n n e l . T h e s e t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s belie
t h e insistent a u t h o r i t y of o c u l a r images in this film. C o p p o l a gives us e y e s m o n -
strous roving e y e s e v e r y w h e r e s u p e r i m p o s e d o n t h e screen, o f t e n for t h e space of
a barely perceptible m o m e n t , a n d r a n g i n g in f o r m f r o m t h e literal to s u c h m e t o n -
ymies as b i n o c u l a r s or glasses, to visual p u n s (the "eye" of a storm) t h a t slide vision
o n c e again into l a n g u a g e . In t h e process, C o p p o l a , t r u e to his n a m e c o p p o , Ital-
ian for "eye s o c k e t " b u t again m i x i n g m e d i a , leaves his signature in visual trans-
lation. F a i t h f u l n a m e s a k e of t h e i t i n e r a n t o p t i c i a n / m a g i c i a n of E. T. A. H o f f -
m a n n ' s " T h e S a n d m a n , " cited by Freud as a master of t h e u n c a n n y , o u r C o p p o l a ,
too, is an oculist, purveyor of "fine eyes, b e a u t i f u l eyes." 1 1 S i g n i n g his text, crying

" C i t e d by S i g m u n d F r e u d in " T h e ' U n c a n n y . " ' I q u o t e h e r e a n d in n o t e 12 f r o m t h e 1 9 2 5 translation

by Alix S t r a c h e y in B e n j a m i n N e l s o n , ed., O n Creativity and the Unconscious ( N e w York: H a r p e r and

Row, 1958), 134, w h i c h I prefer to t h e later Standard Edition translation (Freud, " T h e 'Uncanny,'" in

The Standard Edition [ L o n d o n : H o g a r t h Press, 195374], 17:229).

 S P E C U L A T I O N S ON DRACULA, F R A N K E N S T E I N , AND R A C H I L D E ' S M O N S T E R
his wares, this hawker of vision bleeds eyes into m o u t h s that gloss w h a t w e see as 269
w h a t we h a v e t h e words to speak a n d , conversely, w h a t we c a n say as w h a t we h a v e
t h e eyes to read.
B o r r o w i n g C o p p o l a s lens, I have m a d e hysteria disappear, only to m a k e it reap-
pear in a m o n s t e r s m o u t h . I w a n t e d i n words I borrow f r o m F r e u d , w h o in
t u r n b o r r o w e d H o f f m a n n s i m a g e , t o "look t h r o u g h t h e fell C o p p o l a s glasses." 12
T h r o u g h t h e m I saw a m o n s t r o u s l y altered b u t radically c o n t i n u o u s discourse.
T u r n i n g back n o w to look o n c e m o r e t h r o u g h Frank Rich's eyes, I see an i m a g e of
a blood c u l t u r e t h a t behaves differently t h a n t h e o n e t h a t C o p p o l a represents.
Rich's " n e w blood c u l t u r e " tends to r e c o n t a i n b o t h its terrible fluidity a n d its u n -
ceasing monstrosity. W h e n h e neatly situates t h e D r a c u l e a n h y p e r c o n s c i o u s n e s s
of fluidity within o u r own historical m o m e n t a n d m o r e specifically identifies it
with A I D S , foreclosing its n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y context, h e reproduces t h e c o n -
t a i n i n g gesture of t h e v a m p i r e h u n t e r s or t h e hysteria doctors: h e draws a c o n t a i n -
ing circle as if to enclose w h a t by d e f i n i t i o n m u s t , as C o p p o l a shows, spill over all
bounds.

As C o p p o l a makes us see, t h e n e w blood c u l t u r e is t h e old blood c u l t u r e . In de-

fiance of its citational f r a m e , Coppola's Bram Stoker's "Dracula" bleeds Stoker i n t o
C o p p o l a , novel into film, g y n o p h o b i a into h o m o p h o b i a , hysteria into A I D S , a n d
o n e fin d e siecle into a n o t h e r . Dracula, like hysteria, is a b o u t bodily fluids' t h a t
defy t h e s a n c t u a r y of o u r h u m a n f r a m e s a n d seep t h r o u g h t h e h e r m e t i c a l l y sepa-
rated safe h o u s e s of gender. It is a b o u t blood, a n d tears, a n d sex. A n d it is a b o u t t h e
"watery clasp" of words t h a t m u s t flow into a n d b e c o m e whatever they w o u l d grip
a n d control. 1 3 Coppola's Dracula is m o s t markedly fluid in its intertextual play, in
its watery e m b r a c e of a n i n e t e e n t h - c e n t u r y source that speaks t h e uncontainabi'lity
of desire, of d e a t h , of t i m e , a n d of t h e texts w e write for t h e m .

12
F r e u d , " T h e ' U n c a n n y , ' " m O n Creativity, 1 3 7 ; Standard Edition, 17:230

13
T h e c i t a t i o n is f r o m R o b e r t G r a v e s , " T h e C o o l W e b , " i n New Collected Poems ( N e w York: Double-
day. 1 9 7 7 ) , 27- G r a v e s w r i t e s o f " t h r o w i n g o f f l a n g u a g e a n d its w a t e r y clasp."
1
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f

INDEX

Abject, the: Allen, James Smith, 62

in Kristeva, 196 Androgyne, 92, 170, 182
and LOrigine du monde, 221 Apostolides, Jean-Marie, 226
as textual source for Zola, 189, 193-94, Aragon, Louis, and Andre Breton, 2, 24,
196-97, 200 54 n
AIDS: Arata, Stephen D., 266
and Coppola's Bram Stokers "Dracula," Arcdecercle, 2 4 0 - 4 1
263-69 Aristotle, 170
and hysteria, 265, 269 Armstrong, Nancy, 59
representations of, 232 Artemidorus, 15
Allegory: Assad, Maria L., 159n
definitions of, 206
as immobilization, in Monsieur Venus, Babeuf, Gracchus, 57n
262 Bachelard, Gaston, 67, i25n, 129
reading Zola's Nana as, 185, 187 Bakhtin, Mikhail, 192
unmaking of, in Les Convulsions de Paris, Balzac, Honorede, 146, 250
207, 226 influence of, on Zola, 202-3

287
INDEX
288 Barkan, Leonard, 206 Carnivalesque, 216-18
Barnes, Julian, 128, l^on, i6on Carroy, Jacqueline, 6 i n , 2n, 22n
Barres, Maurice, 227-32, 235, 236, 239, Carroy-Thirard, Jacqueline, 8n, i9n
259, 260 Castration, 52-53, 16411
Barrows, Susanna, 192, 2o8n, 210 female, and hysteria, 51-54, 145-51
Bart, Benjamin, i35n, 16411, 165, female, and writing, in Zola, 2 0 2 - 4
i66n Cesbron, Henri, 35n, 7on
Barthes, Roland, 9on, i29n, 165, Chambers, Ross, 2n, io3n, i55n, i4n,
i7on, 176, 179, 181, 184, 194, 235
195, 218-19 Charcot, Jean-Martin, 2n, 6, 15, 32, 34,
Baudelaire, Charles, 12611, 135-36, 141, 61, 137, 138, 152
143, 225 cited by Rachilde, 240, 242, 245n, 246,
Baudry, Jean-Louis, 180 249, 254
Baym, Nina, 59n dismissal of hysterics voice by, 10, 43
Beaunis, H., 61 and male hysterics, 7, 3 m , 4 9 - 5 0
Beizer, Janet, i73n as popularizer, 8 , 1 1
Belenky, Mary Field, and Blythe McVicker Charney, Maurice, and Hanna Charney,
Clinchy, Nancy Rule Goldberger, Jill i24n, i27n
Mattuck Tarule, 11 i n Citation. See Coppola, Francis Ford; Idee
Benjamin, Jessica, 72 regue; Rachilde: italics in
Bercherie, Paul, 3n Cixous, Helene, 2n, i7on, 188
Bernheimer, Charles, 4on Cixous, Helene, and Catherine Clement,
Bernutz, G., 3248 passim, 61 24n,lion
Bersani, Leo, 232 Claretie, Jules, 15
Bertrand, Georges-Emile, 7611 on Paris C o m m u n e , 205
Besnard-Coursodon, Micheline, 227n works:
Binet, A., 61 Les Amours d'un interne, 15-29, 251,
Bissieu, Henriette, 7n 254n, 262
Bollas, Christopher, 71 Clement, Catherine, 105
Bood, Micheline, and Serge Grand, i34n, Coincidentia oppositorum, 92
1
35n Colet, Louise:
Borie, Jean, 172, i8gn bovarysme in, 101
Boundaries: and contestation of patriarchy, 11
crossing of, 2 6 2 - 6 9 correspondence with Flaubert, 11, 76,
See also Dichotomous categories; Gender 99-101
dichotomies; Rachilde: threshold in and Emma Bovary, 85, 131, 132-35,
Brchet, J. L., 32-53 passim, 58, 72, 8 i n , 152-61
19m and liaison with Flaubert, 76
Briquet, P., 32-50passim, 245n Mementos of, 99, 100-101, 13111
Brooks, Peter, 185, 200n and rupture with Flaubert, 134
Bruneau, Jean, 8on, i30n, i34n structures of containment in writing of,
Bruttin, Jean-Marie, 4n 101-4, 106, 120, 126-27, 129> 1 3 3
Byatt, A. S., 55, 73, i i 7 n verses of, about Flaubert, 82n
works:
Cameron, Deborah, 93n Une Histoire de soldat, 131, 134
Camille See Law, 49, 256 Lui, l o i n , 131, 134
Cappellanus, Andreas, 29 LaPaysanne, 76, 10m
r
Poeme de la femme, 76, 100
La Religieuse, 76
LaServante, 76, 8 i n , 82, 101-31, 133-
34, 142-43, 159, 160
Comic strip, 6 9 - 7 0
Compromise formation. See Castration:
female, and hysteria; Fetish; Hysteria;
Irony
Conversion hysteria, 1,95
Coppola, Francis Ford, 2 6 3 - 6 9
Corbin, Alain, i92n
Courbet, Gustave, 220-26
Cousin, Victor, i4n
Craft, Christopher, 265, 266
Cuaz, Odile, 7on
Cullen, William, 6
Culler, Jonathan, i53n, 163, 16411
Danahy, Michael, 50n, 62
Darnton, Robert, 6 8 - 6 9
Davis, Natalie Zemon, 2i6n, 2i7n, 2i8n
Dejerine, Jules, 246
Delacroix, Eugene, 123
Demorest, D. L., i55n, i56n
Dermographism, 20-29, 2 5 1 > 262
Dichotomous categories, 11
blurring of, 96, 194, 196, 229, 2 6 3 - 6 9
and dirt, ritualization of, 196-97
See also Boundaries; Gender dichotomies;
Rachilde: threshold in
Dictionnaire des sciences medicales:
in MadameBovary, i37n, 152-53
See also Louyer-Villermay, Jean-Baptiste
Diderot, Denis, 54, 72
Les Bijoux indiscrets, 174
Didi-Huberman, Georges, 2n, 2on, 2 54n,
2 59n
Dijkstra, Bram, i23n, i24n, 227, 240
Dinnerstein, Dorothy, i4n
Doctors:
as closet novelists, 16, 61-62
and literary models, 16-17, 31 1 3 7 - 4 2
Donne, John, 66
Dracula, 2 6 3 - 6 9
Drinka, George Frederick, 240n
Drowning:
inColet, 110, 120, 124-26, 160
INDEX
in Flaubert, 86, 160, 162 289
Ophelia and, 124, 160
used metaphorically, 128, 160
Du Camp, Maxime, 2o6n
and allegory, 206-7, 226
carnivalesque in, 216-18
works:
Les Convulsions de Paris, 11, 205-26
Souvenirs litteraires, 2o6n
Duchet, Claude, 233n
Ecriture feminine, 81, 124, 174
Eleb-Vidal, Monique, and Anne Debarre-
Blanchard, i92n, i95n
Eliade, Mircea, 92
Epheyre, Charles. See Richet, Charles
Evans, Martha Noel, 3 m , 35n, 45
Eymery, Marguerite. See Rachilde
Family romance, 112
Father, and language in Colet, 114-22
Feldman, Jessica, 9 m
Felman, Shoshana, iogn
Femme nouvelle, 256
Fermigier, Andre, i8gn
Ferraro, Fausta, and Adele Nunziante-
Cesaro, 71-72
Festa-McCormick, Diana, i42n
Fetish, 10, i4n
and detail, in Monsieur Venus, 2 5 7 - 6 0
and euphemism, in Nana, 183-84
hysteria as, in Madame Bovary, 147-48,
164-65
and irony, 163-64, 260
Fetishism:
in Flaubert, 90
and hysterics voice, 53-54
and socio-symbolic order, 2 0 3 - 4
in Zola, 2 0 2 - 4
Fetterley, Judith, iogn, 11 i n
Field, Joanna [Marion Milner], 71
Flaubert, Gustave:
correction of Louise Colet s writing by,
77, 8 0 - 8 3 , 84. 86, 87, 124-25, 129-
31, 134, 142-43, 159-60, 162-63
and free indirect discourse in Madame
Bovary, 161-66
 I

INDEX
290 Flaubert, Gustave (cont.) and voice, 10, 128-29
and idee regue, 97, 152-54, 163-65 Foucault, Michel, 10, 38n, 57, 169, i7on,
and identification with Emma Bovary, 174, 2ion, 22n, 232, 239n
94-96 Fraisse, Genevieve, 57n
juvenilia of, 8 3 - 8 4 , 166 Frankenstein, 262
and liaison with Louise Colet, 76 Franklin-Grout, Caroline, 76
and Mithridates, comparison to, 165-66 Freud, Sigmund, 1, 8n, 9-10, 95, 98,
and revenge, 133-35, 162-63 i i 5 n , 242n
and rupture with Louise Colet, 134 works:
scapegoating of Louise Colet by, 79, 133, Beyond the Pleasure Principle, 170:
159-60, 162-63 "On Femininity," 146
on style, 7 7 - 9 8 "On the Sexual Theories of Children,"
and fluidity, 7 8 - 8 6 , 9 6 - 9 8 , 124-25, 169
13031, 15455, 16065 "The'Uncanny,'" 59-61, 67, 26869
roaring of, 78, 128, 131, 133-34, i6on Frye, Northrop, 206
on Zola's Nana, 170 Fuss, Diana, 93n
works:
BouvardetPecuchet, 235 Galen, 4
"Un Coeur simple," 259 Gallop, Jane, 114m i74n
Correspondance, 11, 7 6 - 9 8 , 99-101, Garber, Marjorie, 183
125, 128, 129, 130, 132-35, 137m Gasarian, Gerard, 96
142-43, 144", 145 15m. 154, 159' Gender:
160, 161-63, 165-66, i7on a n d idees reques i n Monsieur Venus, 236
Le Dictionnaire des idees reques, 152-
39
53- 163
separated from sex, 9 0 - 9 3
LEducation sentimentale, 87n
Gender dichotomies, 10, 11, 37-39, 5 6 -
MadameBovary, 11, 56, 58, 59,61,79,82, 57, 93n, i25n, 263
86, 87, 94, 96, 120-21, 131, 132-66 as cause of madness in La Servante, 126
Salammbo, i37n
collapse of, 11, 79, 93, 9 4 - 9 8 , 130, 147,
LaTentation de Saint Antoine, 166
164, 204, 2 6 5 - 6 6
Fletcher, Angus, 2o6n construction of, 33, 53, 9 2 - 9 3
Flight into illness, g8n and language acquisition, 110-22, 127
Fluidity: and style, in Flaubert's Correspondance,
coded as female, 191 7 8 - 9 8 , m n , 125
in Coppola's Dracula, 2 6 4 - 6 5 and paradigms of textual production,
and desiccation, in La Servante, 125-26 16970
and female physiology, 4 0 - 4 3 , i2 5n in Zola, 170-204
and hysterical attack, 41, 191 and voice, in Colet, 111 n
images of, in Madame Bovary, 155-61 See also Dichotomous categories
and logorrhea, 4 3 - 4 8 Genette, Gerard, 18411
and maids, in Pot-Bouille, 192-93 Gilbert, Sandra M., i83n
a n d petroleuses, 211-16 Gilbert, Sandra M . , and Susan Gubar, 250
and secretions, in hysterics, 4 0 - 4 8 Gilman, Sander L., 32m i4n
in Stoker's Dracula, 2 6 4 - 6 5 Goldstein, Jan, 136m 152m 240n, 250n
and style, 11 Goncourt, Edmond and Jules de, 192
according to Flaubert, 7 8 - 8 2 , 124-25, Gossip:
130-31, 154-55, 160-65 of Communards, 216
according to Zola, 172-73 in Pot-Bouille, 1 8 8 - 9 3 , *99
 Gothot-Mersch, Claudine, 14311, 148, 149
Grasset, Joseph, 3 2 - 4 9 passim
Graves, Robert, 269
Gray, Francine du Plessix, 7611, 13on
Greuze, Jean-Baptiste, 197-99
Grotesque body, 192
Gubar, Susan, 17cm
Guizot, Madame, 57
Hahn, G., i 3 8 n
Hamlet, 123, i24n, 126
Hamon, Philippe, ig6n
Hawthorne, Melanie, 228n, 26on
Heath, Stephen, 10
Heilbrun, Carolyn, 104, io5n, 106, 13m
Hereditary degeneration:
in Monsieur Venus, 2 4 4 - 4 9
in Les Rougon-Macquart, 11
Hermaphrodite, the, 38n, 170, 239n
in Flaubert, 9 0 - 9 2 , 151
grammatical, in Monsieur Venus, 238-39
and textual gendering:
in La Servante, 130
in Zola, 170-74
Hertz, Neil, 223
Hippocrates, 4, 36
Hoffmann, E. T. A., 2 6 8 - 6 9
Homans, Margaret, 111, 11511, 118n
Hubert-Matthews, Veronique, 228n
Hugo, Victor, 123, 223
Hunt, Lynn, 57n, 225
Hunter, Dianne, 2n
Huyssen, Andreas, n n
Hysteria:
as cultural symptom, 3, 8 - 9
definitions of, 3 3 - 4 0
as a discourse, 10, 24
Flaubert's use of, 162-65
etymology of, 4, 7 - 8 , 36
and expression, 2, 53-54
as fetish, 147
in Madame Bovary, 147-48
history of, 3 - 8
and Judaism, 50
and Madame Bovary, 135-66
and la maladie du siecle, in Rachilde,
230, 235
and narrative, 9, 10, 32
as reading disorder, 96
and revolt, 2, 110
and secretions, 4 0 - 4 8
and surrealists, 2, 54
Hystericization, 8 - 9 , 11, 20
of Madame Bovary, 162-66
and Monsieur Venus, 232, 250
Iconographie photographique de la Salpe-
triere, 20, 245n
Idee regue:
and clinic, in Monsieur Venus, 2 4 0 - 4 9
in Flaubert, 97, 152-54, 163-65
and gender, in Monsieur Venus, 236-39
ironized by Rachilde, 235-36, 2 5 9 - 6 0
Irigaray, Luce, iogn, i25n, i2gn
Irony, 10
in Flaubert, 152-53, 163-65, 235
in Monsieur Venus, 11, 235-36, 239,
24n, 259-60, 266
Johnson, Barbara, 39n
Joyce, James, 66
Kafka, Franz, 26
Kahun Papyrus, 4
Kaufmann, Vincent, 8 9 - 9 0
Kelly, Dorothy, 228n
Kessler, Suzanne J., and Wendy
McKenna, g i n
Knibiehler, Yvonne, i4on
Koestenbaum, Wayne, 45n
Kofman, Sarah, 2n
Kristeva, Julia, 66, 114, 196, 203
Lacan, Jacques, 8n, 98n, 114, i83n, 251
LaCapra, Dominick, i45n, 146, i49n,
i53n, 16m, i4n, 229
Lacombe, Georges, 215
Lamartine, Alphonse de, 78, 80
Landouzy, H., 32-53 passim, 58
Laplassotte, Frangois, 7n
Laqueur, Thomas, 45n, 9 m
Larnac, Jean, 70
Lasegue, Charles, 35, 70
Leaking vessels, 47, 54, 81, 131, 173, 190-
91, 1 9 7 - 9 9 , 211, 265
Leleu, Gabrielle, 15m

INDEX
292 Lennox, Annie, 268
Lepois, Charles, 5
Leverenz, David, 124, 126
Lidsky, Paul, 2o6n
Lloyd, Rosemary, i55n
Lottman, Herbert, i?on, i32n
Louyer-Villermay, Jean-Baptiste, 6, 32-52
passim, 66, 1370, 140-42, 146-47,
151, 191
McClary, Susan, 105, iogn, 12711, i28n
Male hysteria, 6, 7, 31, 36, 4 9 - 5 0
and Flaubert, 9 4 - 9 8 , i3n, 15m, i52n,
164-66
and mobility, 50
Malleus Maleficarum, 5
Manet, Edouard, 5 9 - 6 0
Mannoni, Octave, i4n, 202, 2i2n, 20on
Marechal, Sylvain, 56, 57n, 64
Martin, Emily, 3111,9111
Maternity:
and hysteria, 37-39, 139-40, 142-51
and writing, in Zola, 193-94, 202
Maupassant, Guy de, 7n, 10m, 1380
on Paris C o m m u n e , 226
May, Georges, 5611, 7on
Mendes, Catulle, 223
Merimee, Prosper, 250
Michel, Louise, 30, 2ion
Miller, D. A., 170-71, i85n
Miller, Nancy K., 105, 130
Milner, Marion. See Field, Joanna
Mitterand, Henri, 190
Mobility:
and Communardes, 210
of desire, 263, 266
of hysterical temperament, 4 8 - 5 1
in Madame Bovary, 147-51
and male hysterics, 50
and monstrosity, 262, 266
and women, fear of, 5 8 - 6 1
Mbius, J. P., 122
Moi, Toril, iogn
Monsters, 2 6 2 - 6 9
Monstrous, the. See Monsters
Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat, baron
de, 78
Moreau de Tours, Jacques, 2o8n, 246, 247
I
Morel, Benedicte Auguste, 246
Moses, Claire Goldberg, 49n, 57n, 2 5611
Mother, and language, in Colet, 113-22
Muller, Catherine, 70
Music:
identified with the feminine, 127-29, 130
and Ophelia, 123, 127-28
Musset, Alfredde, 87n, 123, 131, i34n
Myth, in Zola, 170-74
Narrative plots, and women, 104-10, 124,
130
Neely, Carol Thomas, io9n
Nelson, Brian, i8gn
New blood culture, 263, 264, 265, 269
Nochlin, Linda, 221
Novel:
and domesticity, 59
in painting, 5 9 - 6 0
reading of, as cause of hysteria, 34, 49,
55, 126, 140
in Dictionnaire des idees reques, 152-53
in Madame Bovary, 138, 140
in Monsieur Venus, 242
and seduction, 61-65, 101-3, 105> 112
17
and social subversion, 5 5 - 6 1
and space, 6 6 - 7 3
See also Reading
Novelists, doctors doubling as, 16, 61-62
Odo of Cluny, abbot, 191
O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger, 92n
Oliver, Hermia, 70n
Ophelia:
and Colets La Servante, 122-28
in France, 123
Oresteia, 249
Ouerd, Michele, 7n, 49
Paris C o m m u n e , 11, 20526
allegorization of, by hysteria, 207-18
feminization of, 209-14
and nineteenth-century imaginary, 256
Petroleuses, 211-16, 256
Pinel, Philippe, 6
Plante, Christine, iogn
Plato, 4, 150
 Poe, Edgar Allan, 108
Possession, 70, 240
See also Satanism
Postel, Jacques, 6n
Poulet, Georges, 6 8 - 6 9 , 15n
Praz, Mario, 237
Prendergast, Christopher, i7on
QuefFelec, Lise, 62
Rachilde [Marguerite Eymery]:
and contestation of patriarchy, 11
ideology and interpretation in, 2 2 8 - 2 9
irony in, 11, 2 3 5 - 3 6 , 239, 246n, 2 5 9 -
60, 266
italics in, 2 2 9 - 3 6 , 262
reversal in, 2 2 7 - 2 8 , 2 3 7 - 3 9
semiotic body in, 2 4 9 - 5 4
threshold in, 229, 2 6 2 - 6 3
italics as, 2 2 9 - 3 0 , 2 3 3 - 3 5 , 262
preface as, 2 2 9 - 3 2
works:
Monsieur Venus, 11, 2 2 7 - 6 0 , 261-63,
267
Pourquoi je ne suis pas feministe, 227,
2on
Radway, Janice, 59n
Ramazani, Vaheed, 161, i4n
Reading:
and hysteria, 96
metaphoric and metonymic model of,
184-87
women, space, and, 10, 6 5 - 7 3
See also C o m i c strip; Novel
Reading public, gender of, 6 2 - 6 4
Realism (and naturalism):
deconstruction of, in Monsieur Venus,
257-60
ideological basis of, in Zola, 1 8 8 - 8 9 ,
1 9 4 - 9 7 , 200
linked to masculine, by Flaubert, 7 9 - 8 0
linked to masculine, by Zola, 170-71
and metaphor of undressing, in Zola,
1
75 - 77> 1 7 8 - 8 0
mocked by Zola, 197-200
Realist screen, theory of, 184
Reid, Martine, 9on
Reik, Theodore, 170
Retrospective medicine, 240
Rich, Frank, 2 6 3 - 6 5 , 269
Richard, Jean-Pierre, i55n
Richet, Charles [Charles Epheyre], 16, 6
62, 137
works:
"Les Demoniaques d'aujourd'hui," 16
1 9 , 3 2 - 4 9 passim, 58, 1 3 7 - 3 9 , 1 4 9 -
5 o , 1 5 3 , 251
Possession, i6n
SoeurMarthe, i6n, 6 2 - 6 4
Robert-Fleury, Tony, 6
Romanticism:
linked to feminine, by Flaubert, 7 9 - 8 0 ,
160
linked to feminine, by Zola, 171-73
Rops, Felicien, 205
Rose, Marilyn Gaddis, i3on, i 3 4 n
Rosolato, Guy, 44, i28n, 129
Ross, Kristin, 58n, 223
Rothfield, Lawrence, i 3 7 n , i52n
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 56
The Russia House, 6 6 - 6 7
Salpetriere Hospital, 137, 240, 242
and aestheticization of pathology, 2 5 4 - 5 5
in Claretie, 15, 251
and Colet, 107, 110, 122, 124, 127, 1 4 2 -
hysteria as spectacle at, 2n, 8n
Sand, George, 78, 123
Sarcey, Francisque, i38n
Satanism, 5, 4 5 - 4 7
See also Possession
Scarry, Elaine, 24n, 226
Schapira, Marie-Claude, i o g n
Schneider, Monique, 7 0 - 7 1
Schopenhauer, Arthur, 57
Schor, Naomi, i 4 5 n , i4n, i5on, 159,
165, 178, 182, 183, 2 i 4 n , 2 5 0 - 5 1 ,
2 57n
Sedgwick, Eve, 2 3 m
Semiological crisis, 1 9 6 - 9 7 , 218, 225
Semiotic body, 9, 2on, 2 4 - 2 9
in Les Convulsions de Paris, 221-26
in Monsieur Venus, 2 4 9 - 5 4 , 2 6 1 - 6 2
and tradition of association with w o m e n ,
250-51
in Zola, 178, 187
INDEX
294 Semiotics, overlap of medical and linguis- Tree of nervosity, 208, 246, 247
tic meaning of, 250 Tuccia, legend of, 190-91, 199, 2i2n
Serres, Michel, 181
Shakespeare, 123
Vampires, 2 6 3 - 6 9
Shelley, Mary, 262
Vaporization:
Showalter, Elaine, 6n, 711, i23n, i7on
as aesthetic ideal, for Flaubert, 142-43,
Silverman, Debora L., 2 57n
161-62
Silverman, Kaja, 44, n 6 n , i28n, 129
and hystericization, in Flaubert, 162-66
Sirens, 86, 129
in Madame Bovary, 154-58, 160-66
Smithson, Harriet, 123
Vapors:
Sollers, Philippe, 66
in Coppola's Dracula, 264, 267
Sontag, Susan, 35
in Stoker's Dracula, 264, 267
Space:
as term for hysteria, 32, 55,71, 154
architectural linked to anatomical, in Pot-
Vargas Llosa, Mario, 150
Bouille, 189, 192-94, 195
Vartanian, Aram, i74n
and creativity, 7 0 - 7 3
Veith, Ilza, 4n, 7n, i5on
and the novel, 6 6 - 7 3
Ventriloquy, 9, 10, 26, 226, 251, 267
and women, 6 5 - 7 3
and possession, 4 5 - 4 7
women, reading, and, 10, 6 5 - 7 3
in Zola, 174, 201
See also Boundaries; Dichotomous cate-
Vest, James M., i23n
gories; Rachilde: threshold in
Viollet-le-Duc, Eugene, 195-96
Spacks, Patricia Meyer, 47n, i73n, 191
Vlad the Impaler, 267, 268
Spelman, Elizabeth, io6n
Vocal organs, assimilated to sex organs,
Stallybrass, Peter, 192
4 4 - 4 8 , 52-54, 130, 174, 201
Stallybrass, Peter, and Allon White, n n ,
Voice:
84, 217-18
and "afterbirth," 4 4 - 4 5 , 53
Starobinski, Jean, 24n, 30-31
and fluidity, 10, 128-29
"Star Trek," 68n
of hysterics, 4 3 - 4 8
Stevens, Wallace, 89
and mother tongue, in La Servante, 114,
Stoker, Bram, 263, 264
116-17, 119, 127, 129
Swain, Gladys, 7n
Voicelessness:
Sydenham, Thomas, 5, 6n, 33
in Les Convulsions de Paris, 224-2 5
Syphilis, 265
and hysteria, 1-2, 9, 12
in La Servante, i i 3 n , 127
Taine, Hippolyte, 98
See also Ventriloquy
Tanner, Tony, 154n
Theweleit, Klaus, 88n, 196
Thomas, Edith, 21111 Wajeman, Gerard, 7 - 8
Time, linked with men, 66 Walker, Philip, 178
Tisseron, Serge, 6 9 - 7 0 Wandering womb, 4, 7, 3 m , 4 8 - 5 0 , 58,
Tissot, Samuel-Auguste, 55-56, 242 150-51
Transvestism: Warner, Marina, i90n, 191, 2i2n, 220n
in Monsieur Venus, 238 Wilden, Anthony, 251
in Nana, 182-83 Williams, Roger, 94, 13611
Travesty: Willis, Thomas, 5
in Nana, 180-82 Wing, Nathaniel, i59n, 260
See also Transvestism Winnett, Susan, 64
Winnicott, D. W., 71
and realist screen, theory of, 184
Witches. See Possession; Satanism
and space, architectural and anatomical,
Women: 189, 192-94, 195
and autobiography, 109, 230-32 and Tante Dide, 1
and desire to write, 82, 117-18, 159 works:
linked to lower classes, 192-93, 2o8n, LAssommoir, 181, 188, 230n
214 Correspondance, i75n, 184, 199
"Les Differences entre Balzac et moi,"
Wyatt, Jean, i22n
202
LeDocteurPascal, 171, 172, 201
Zola, Emile:
La Fortune des Rougon: Les Origines,
the abject as textual source in, 189, 193- 172
94, 196-97, 200
La Joie de vivre, 172, 200-204
and anxiety of Balzac's influence, 202-3
"De la moralite dans la litterature,"
and family tree of Rougon-Macquart,
i9on, 19411
2o8n, 246, 248
Nana, 170, 172, 174-87, 188, 190,
maternity and writing in, 193-94
201, 23n
on Paris C o m m u n e , 205
L'Oeuvre, 200, 250
and realism, ideological basis for, 188-
Pot-Bouille, 172, 188-200
89, 194-97, 200
Le Roman experimental, 171, 175
on realism (naturalism), and myth (lyri-
Les Rougon-Macquart, 1, 11, 170-204,
cism), 170-74
2o8n
realism mocked by, 197-200
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Beizer, Janet.
Ventriloquized bodies : narratives of hysteria in nineteenth-
century France / Janet Beizer,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0 - 8 0 1 4 - 2 9 1 4 - 5 ( c l o t h ) ISBN 0 - 8 0 1 4 - 8 1 4 2 - 2 (paper)

1. French fiction19th centuryHistory and criticism.

2. Feminism and literatureFranceHistory19th century.
3. W o m e n and literatureFranceHistory19th century.
4. French fictionMen authorsHistory and criticism. 5. Body,
H u m a n , in literature. 6. Hysteria in literature. 7. Sex role in literature.
8. Narration (Rhetoric) I. Title.
PQ653.B36 1994

843'.709352042dc20 93-41379