Paris and her Remarkable Women: A Guide [Hardcover]

Lorraine Liscio (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 27, 2009

This book evokes Paris from the MIddle Ages through the twentieth century by tracing sixteen exceptional women whose lives intersected with Paris in remarkable ways and whose eventual fame depended on the city itself. Their stories bring to life medieval culture, Enlightenment ideas, the court of Louis XiV, the chaos of the Revolution, the nineteenth-century art scene, and twentieth-century breakthroughs in science and fashion.

The sites associated with each of these women are located in the central parts of Paris that most visitors explore. When visiting Notre Dame, the reader will see the tragic figures of Abélard and Héloise in its shadows, and know to look for the enigmatic sculpture of Genevieve on the cathedral's facade. Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun's paintings in the Louvre and Camille Claudel's sculptures in the Rodin Museum will be all the more fascinating after readers have learned of the controversy they provoked. 

Even those women whom most people thought they knew may prove surprising. Who would have guessed at the relation between Coco Chanel's convent-school origins and her fashions? What are we to make of Emilie du Chatelet's fame as Voltaire's mistress when he touts her as a "great man whose only fault was being a woman"?

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Of course I’ve heard of Marie Curie and Sarah Bernhardt who both appear in this book, but there are lots of other remarkable ladies who are new to me. Geneviève, for example…And Elisabeth Vigée le Brun…and Madame de Maintenon…I enjoyed reading their biographies and their connections with parts of Paris, particularly as each is illustrated with a contemporary portrait.” —Destination France

"Each of the chapters in this attractive little volume is devoted to an exceptional Parisienne, beginning with Genevieve—the city's patron saint—and ending with Simone de Beauvoir. All include biographical information and a list of sites to visit." —France Magazine

"Liscio uses the lives of 16 French women, from Genevieve, the fifth-century patron saint of Paris, to Simone de Beauvoir, to create an original and lively narrative on the cultural life of this great city. " —The Daily Telegraph

"This handsome and unusual little book by Lorraine Liscio offers a new perspective on Paris as seen through profiles of 16 women whose lives intersected with the City of Light in ways both remarkable and inspirational." —Chicago Tribune

"Subjects in this attractive little book range in time from the 5th-century Saint Genevieve to the 20th-century Simone de Beauvoir, and include women of letters, artists, scientists, a political activist, and Louis XIV's second wife, Madame de Maintenon. Each chapter includes an excellent mini-biography (often with quotes from the women themselves), colorful illustrations and a list of sites to visit...A perfect gift for lovers of Paris, it's also an intriguing guidebook for unique pilgrimages through the city."
--Vivian Thomas, France Today

About the Author

Lorraine Liscio is a writer and editor who has taught at Boston College, where she was the Director of Women’s Studies. She lives in New Hampshire.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Little Bookroom (October 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892145774
• ISBN-13: 978-1892145772
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 0.5 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #686,831 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 16 concise portraits of fascinating Parisian women, November 9, 2009

By 

Jesse Kornbluth "Head Butler" (New York) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paris and her Remarkable Women: A Guide (Hardcover)

I flicked on the TV and there was Isabelle Adjani, one of my favorite actresses, in a film I'd never seen. A little application of Google, and I learned the movie was a biographical account of Camille Claudel, a sculptor who was mistress to the great Rodin. She may have been his equal as an artist, but she ended her days, mad and discarded, in an asylum.

I wanted to know more, and, another short Google session later, I ordered "Hidden in the Shadow of the Master: The Model-Wives of Cezanne, Monet, and Rodin." It's a Yale University Press book, thus scholarly, but scholarly on the fascinating side --- here's everything you might want to know about three "lost" women.

But you don't want to know that much about most people. You'd settle for concise mini-biographies --- like Wikipedia, only guaranteed reliable.

"Paris and her Remarkable Women: A Guide" is that kind of book. Lorraine Liscio profiles sixteen women closely associated with Paris, in neat mini-profiles that end with a sprinkling of kibbles --- information about their residences and gravesites, books and movies.

Camille Claudel, for example. As a 12-year-old, she found her grandfather's kiln and started working with clay. "From that time on, she forced friends and family members to pose for one another and habitually missed meals to devote herself to her work," Liscio writes. Soon she made her family move to Paris. At 18, she became Rodin's student; he quickly promoted her to assistant and then to model and lover. She began showing her own work and winning praise for it. After 15 years, their affair ended because Rodin wouldn't leave his wife. Soon after they separated, Claudel began to accuse Rodin of stealing her ideas. "She took to smashing her sculptures in fits of despair and doing away with them in mock funeral burials." The mental hospital beckoned.....

Liscio works chronologically, beginning with Genevieve (434-502), the patron saint of Paris, and ending with Simone de Beauvoir. Most names are familiar, though I knew nothing of Christine de Pizan, the first professional woman writer in France. I was aware that Emilie de Breuteil (Madame du Chatelet) was pretty much the intellectual equal of her lover, Voltaire; I didn't know that she died, as she feared she would, soon after she had a baby at age 43. I was amused to read how Elisabeth Le Brun, known for her portraits of Marie Antoinette, escaped the guillotine. Until I read the Simone de Beauvoir chapter, I didn't know the Germans put Parisians on an 850-calorie diet during their occupation in World War II.

Men and women, Beauvoir wrote, are like the trees at Versailles. They appear to grow naturally. Actually, they're trimmed to look alike. Women are like that, she argues --- pruned by the culture to look any way that men prefer.

Not these sixteen.