Heroes and Legends of Fin-de-Siècle France
Gender, Politics, and National Identity

'Do wounded democracies riven by partisan passions hunger for heroes? France's Third Republic, born of the defeat of 1870–71, did, enshrining a pantheon of great men and women whose qualities - panache, saintliness, grandeur - promised to heal a nation divided. Such is the argument of Venita Datta's engaging new book, and it is a claim that has lost none of its relevance in our own post-9/11 era.' Philip Nord, Princeton University

'Venita Datta's masterful book gets to the heart of the way heroism and historic symbols of French national unity were dramatized in the press and in theaters at the fin de siècle, mitigating, if not healing, the many political and cultural divisions of the era, while preparing the nation for war.' Robert Nye, Oregon State University

'Venita Datta's fascinating, impeccably researched, and beautifully written book makes an important contribution to the fields of history and gender studies. Datta insightfully analyzes constructions of heroism though real-life and fictionalized heroes and legends … In Datta's deft hands, the theater, melodrama, the press, and literature become politically significant as they build a national identity, but at the same time they reveal cracks in the strictly delineated gender categories and in religious, political, and class unity. This engaging book, like the theatrical and literary performances that Datta acquaints us with, will appeal to a broad and divergent audience.' Rachel G. Fuchs, Arizona State University

'Through a careful analysis of five causes célèbres between the 1890s and the First World War, Venita Datta's new book probes the many levels on which the cult of heroism circulated in the French cultural imagination. By revealing a series of tensions and pretensions surrounding the virility of men, the potential of women, and the meaning of Frenchness, Datta shows how conflicting ideas about the hero divided the very nation they aimed to consolidate. This is a fascinating and indispensable contribution to our understanding of culture and politics at the fin de siècle.' Christopher E. Forth, author of The Dreyfus Affair and the Crisis of French Manhood

'With verve and humor, Venita Datta considers the most colorful characters of the French fin-de-siècle stage, among them, Cyrano de Bergerac, Napoléon, and Joan of Arc. Using the lens of gender, she deftly explores how these 'heroes' helped to shape French national identity in a crucial period of transition. In doing so, she reminds us of the enormous historical importance of the theater, its power not only to debate politics but also to unite a nation on the eve of war.' Mary Louise Roberts, University of Wisconsin

'Gender historians and Third Republic specialists will find much of interest in Datta's effort to bring together feminism, the 'crisis of masculinity', and the national politics of the fin de siècle. Chapters of this lucidly written and engaging book might also be of great use in undergraduate classrooms.' Carol E. Harrison, French Politics, Culture and Society