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Article: Blood Sisters: The French Revolution in Women's Memory.
- Article from:
- The Women's Review of Books
- Article date:
- February 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Old City Publishing, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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MARILYN YALOM'S BOOK, originally published in French as Le Temps des orages; Aristocrates, bourgeoises, et paysannes racontent (Maren Sell, 1989), brings to public attention, often for the first time, 87 autobiographical works (nicely annotated in the bibliography) by women who lived through the French Revolution. They were duchesses, ladies-in-waiting, writers, governesses, actresses, servants, peasants and nuns; some two-thirds were aristocrats, which contributes to the preponderance of anti-revolutionary sentiments among them. Bourgeois and working-class memoirists tended to support the Revolution, though on occasion their early enthusiasm for revolutionary principles ...