Book Smart

Susanne Desan, professor of history, “The Family on Trial in Revolutionary France,” University of California-Berkeley Press, 2004.

During the French Revolution, divorce became legal for the first time in the nation’s history. Men and women had the same access: They could invoke adultery, abuse or abandonment, even incompatibility or mutual consent. One woman sent her wedding ring to the National Assembly in thanks for “the holy law of divorce,” having trembled, she said, “under the empire of a despotic husband.”

However, the sweeping changes that the Revolution ushered into France were not confined to dissolving unions. Desan uncovered a social revolution within families taking place within the larger Revolution. Adult children took advantage of their new right to defy their parents and choose their own marriage partners. Younger sons, daughters and even illegitimate children were accorded equal shares of inheritance. Ordinary women and men became politicized about gender and domestic matters.

“In a nutshell, the Revolution helped create a lasting ideal of more egalitarian, affectionate and freely chosen domestic arrangements,” Desan says. “People’s expectations were altered fundamentally by the Revolution.”

Political ideologies introduced in the Revolution continue to influence contemporary debate, she says.

“Questions like woman’s position in the household or a father’s rights and duties vis-ˆ-vis his illegitimate child emerge from an 18th century dialogue about how liberal or republican politics should affect the rights of individuals within family units,” she says.

This semester Desan is teaching a lecture course on 18th century Europe and a first-year interest group (FIG) seminar on society and gender in 18th century France.

“My research has generated lots of questions in class about how gender dynamics worked in the Old Regime and revolutionary France. I myself want to know how politics and personal experience intersect, how major modern trends emerge from the daily practices and choice of thousands of ordinary individuals.

“I like studying people of passion. Even though the Revolution has deep failures, it is a moment of tremendous possibility, intensity and optimism, when everything is up for grabs.”

Desan will elaborate on her book on Wednesday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m. at Borders West on University Avenue, sponsored by the UW–Madison International Institute. For more information about the free event, contact Borders, 232-2600.

—Barbara Wolff