Saint-Simonians in Nineteenth-Century France. From Free Love to Algeria

Bibliographic Data

ID16580809
AuthorsAbdallah Zouache (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume29
Issue1
Pages124-125
Publication date2015-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrench History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0269-1191 • E-ISSN: 1477-4542
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/fh/cru109
OpenAlexW2042788267
LanguageEN
Citations received7

This book written by Pamela Pilbeam will become a classic on the Saint-Simonian movement, a precious reference not only for the English readers but also for the French scholars interested in Saint-Simonism. It will please specialists, students in History or Post-Colonial studies, but also casual readers. The book is well written, and the author shows a great agility in her ability to summarize the main content and ideas of Saint-Simon and the Saint-Simonians. Pilbeam makes us forget the heavy, religious, confused and sometimes boring writing style of the Saint-Simonians, their difficulty to get to the point; and their long detours. In Pilbeam’s hands, Saint-Simonism becomes clear and, in this sense, it is a ‘Saint-Simonian miracle’ that deserves to be noted. Pilbeam gives a clear description of the imbrication of the economic, political and social challenges in the Saint-Simonian movement. Yet, the author avoids conceptual issues. The book does not offer a definition of socialism or colonization, and, more generally, lacks a description of the philosophical foundations of Saint-Simonism, notably their conception of History, and of the political economy of the Saint-Simonians. Pilbeam seems to have rather favoured a psychological interpretation. The psychological rendition of the Saint-Simonians as a gathering of outsiders who, because of their religion (Jewish), their sex (female) or their family origin, were blocked in the post-1789 French society is quite compelling. However, some psychological explanations are not as convincing. How useful is it to point out the sexual problems of the Saint-Simonians as an explaining factor of their attitude towards free sex? What about the historical context, especially the progressive entrance of women in the labour market with the industrialization of Europe, and hence the premise of a financial independence? In the same vein, a long section is dedicated to Suzanne Voilquin and Islam. She, as an outsider without political and economic supports from her family, had most certainly access to the Egyptians, and particularly to the Egyptian women, contrary to the Saint-Simonian males. However, had Suzanne Voilquin survived the plague, would she have escaped the virus of Orientalism?

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Casual · Colonialism · Literature · Miracle · Political science · Politics · SAINT · Sociology · Style (visual arts) · Classics · European Political History Analysis · French Historical and Cultural Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub