num_pages: 284
description: An impure Joan of Arc or a radiant PenthesileaTheroigne de Mericourt remains one of the most misrepresented figures of the French revolution. Theroigne loved the Revolution; she refused the roles prescribed by her sex; and at the age of thirty-one she lost her reason. From these three facts historians have woven tenacious myths about women madness and revolution which reveal more about their own phantasms and allegiances than about Theroigne herself. Elisabeth Roudinescos exploration of Theroignes life and afterlife restores a much-wronged woman to her rightful place in history. After vividly tracing Theroignes life Roudinesco applies psychoanalysis to history and history to psychiatry. She analyses the founding fathers of the asylum and the historians of the French Revolution using their own assessments of Theroigne as revealing evidence. Her book adds a new dimension to our understanding of the French Revolution early feminism and the birth of the modern asylum.
language: English
title: Madness and Revolution: The Lives and Legends of Theroigne De Mericourt
publisher: Verso