Bohemian Paris: Culture, Politics, and the Boundaries of Bourgeois Life, 1830-1930

by Jerrold E. Seigel

IN THIS PENETRATING AND THOUGHT PROVOKING HISTORY, JERROLD SEIGEL EXPLAINS HOW AND WHY LA VIE DE BOHEME EXERTED SUCH A PULL ON GENERATIONS OF WRITERS AND ARTISTS. HE OFFERS A FASCINATING ANALYSIS OF THE CONTRASTING, BUT ALWAYS RELATED, BOHEMIAN AND BOURGEOIS LIFE STYLES, ETHICS, AND AMBITIONS, AND HIS BRILLIANT ACCOUNTS OF KEY POLITICAL EVENTS, SOCIAL ISSUES, AND INNOVATORS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY SUGGESTS IMPORTANT NEW WAYS OF INTERPRETATING POLITICS AND THE AVANT-GARDE.

Genres: History, Paris, France, Nonfiction, Politics, Art, 20th Century

453 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[AC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting material, but flawed treatment - the author is not disciplined enough (for my tastes); is prone to generalities; he often tells the reader what large arcs are implicit in the texts he is examining - but does not always demonstrate that that is the case. In other words, he outruns his material. Read w/ caution.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paul Verlaine's mother kept the fetuses of her miscarried children in jars.

Fun, useful and relevant analysis, especially for thinking about the contemporary relationship between culture and capitalism.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is not exactly what I thought it would be, which has colored my assessment of it. It is a very well researched and detailed account of the history of Bohemian writers and artists who lived and worked in Paris from 1830, starting with those writers, particularly Murger, who defined what it meant to be Bohemian and ending with Breton and Surrealism in the early twentieth century. Seigel's thesis is interesting. He sets out to demonstrate that the cultural movement that defined these artists, poets, playwrights and authors reflects the political economy of bourgeois culture of individualism. In essence, the Bohemians offer a series of answers to the question: what does it mean to be free? In this regard, Seigel argues, the bourgeoisie need bohemian culture as a dialectical moment within its development as an alternative to the individual subject as a being reducible to its economic functionalism, e.g. free labor power. The bourgeoisie and the Bohemians thus share aspirations toward individual self-expression and exploration even as they clash over politics and economics of emerging capitalism.

Though I like the thesis, and Seigel weaves a rich set of stories regarding important artists, poets, authors and playwrights, I had hoped to read more about the culture, politics, and boundaries of bourgeois life. For a person with a strong working knowledge of these artists and authors who populate the text, this would be a valuable read. For a person, like me, who knows the names Rimbaud, Apollinaire and Rimbaud, but not their works, this was more difficult to appreciate Seigel's history.

[William Guerrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so engaging and loaded with fascinating information that I was sorry to reach the end of it. Rather than succumb to the temptation to focus the story on the artists and writers whose fame has endured, the author instead chooses to put his emphasis on those whose lives most formed and reflected Bohemian Paris at the time, even if they are obscure or forgotten today (while still devoting plenty of space to those whose names are familiar). A couple of quibbles: I would have liked the author to devote more attention to the story of how this century of Paris intellectual/artistic history continues to be felt today, and the "Note on Histories of Bohemia" at the end of the book comes off (in my opinion) as petty and unnecessary.

[Caddy Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book very helpful in regard to learning facts and history of the whole Boheminan period in Paris. Since I am writing a fiction series, of which the first 2 take place during this time in this area, it was a source of knowledge for me.

I am also a painter and so I find this whole era fascinating. I did have some issues with a few of the facts, but have found that these same facts conflict on the internet, depending on who is writing them. It is probably due to the fact that it was a couple of centuries ago. For instance, this book says Andre Gill owned Lapin Agile for a few years. It is a fact that he painted the sign, but I cannot find other sources that say he ever was the owner. Still, there is a blank period there where one cannot find out from the internet who did own it, so perhaps he did after all.

[Bruce Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well researched, but tedious for me. Peripherally relevant to my modernism interest.

[Lisa]

very good

[Dreamersemporium]

good

[Dianna Rostad · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent account of Bohemian life from the late 1840s and on. Not so much in this work of the earlier formation period beginning in 1830s.

[Alberto Suarez]

A good description of the period