France, Fin de Siecle

by Eugen Weber

The end of the nineteenth century in France was marked by political scandals, social unrest, dissension, and “decadence.” Yet the fin de siècle was also an era of great social and scientific progress, a time when advantages previously reserved for the privileged began to be shared by the many. Public transportation, electrical illumination, standard time, and an improved water supply radically altered the life of the modest folk, who found time for travel and leisure activities―including sports such as cycling. Change became the nature of things, and people believed that further improvement was not only possible but inevitable.

In this thoroughly engaging history, Eugen Weber describes ways of life, not as recorded by general history, but as contemporaries experienced them. He writes about political atmosphere and public prejudices rather than standard political history. Water and washing, bicycles and public transportation engage him more than great scientific discoveries. He discusses academic painting and poster art, the popular stage and music halls, at greater length than avant-garde and classic theater or opera. In this book the importance of telephones, plumbing, and central heating outranks such traditional subjects as international developments, the rise of organized labor, and the spread of socialism.

Weber does not neglect the darker side of the fin de siècle . The discrepancy between material advance and spiritual dejection, characteristic of our own times, interests him as much as the idea of progress, and he reminds us that for most people the period was far from elegant. In the lurid context of military defeat, political instability, public scandal, and clamorous social criticism, one had also to contend with civic dirt, unsanitary food, mob violence, and the seeds of modern-day pollution, drugs, sensationalism, debased art, the erosion of moral character. Yet millions of fin de siècle French lived as only thousands had lived fifty years before; while their advance was slow, their right to improvement was conceded.

Genres: History, France, Nonfiction, 19th Century, College, Research

308 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Historian, fought in World War II

Reviews

[Brian Griffith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great examination of how old-fashioned people coped with wrenching transformation of their world.

[James Henderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The closing of a century is a time of change in history and culture. This was never more true than at the end of the nineteenth century; the era now known as the "fin de siecle". Eugen Weber focuses on France in this fine history of that era. It is a history organized topically rather than chronologically. In this mode Weber offers a narrative of the lives of people, their way of living, and the impact on them of technological changes. The changes in political and educational patterns highlight how the old morphs into the new in this area as well. Anyone interested in the arts is treated to a discussion of decadence which opens the book. There is the naturalism of writers like Zola, but also the neurosis of the age with hints of Freud and Nietzsche. Even sports is not neglected in this eclectic and always fascinating picture of the end of a century.

[Leonard Nakamura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an old book from 1986, and it is written in a discursive rather chatty fashion. Nor is it the sharply intellectual history of Schorske's "Fin de Siecle Vienna." But it offers a history of every day life in France from roughly 1870 to 1915, thus providing a very insightful backdrop to World War I, Impressionism, the Dreyfus affair, the theater of the absurd, Proust and modern Paris.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting information, although I found the organization of content a bit hard to follow at points. Would be helpful to have a basic understanding of key historical events of this era before reading.

[Kelsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst books I've ever read. I loved Eugene Weber's 'The Hollow Years,' but this book is awful! The organization is poor and the writing is worse, with awkward syntax and many repeated phrases. This is one of the very few books I have not been able to bring myself to finish. I advise you to not even begin!

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is excellent. It's well researched, well written, and insightful. It took me a lot longer to read than I expected because I ended up taking so many notes as the book is crammed with interesting information.

[Scott Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good read. A lot of parallels to the current state of the U.S.

Also, provides a reverse blueprint for the dissolution of society into chaos and insanity.

Very specifically:

The elements that organically destroy society can be artificially harnessed to destroy civilizations.

Empower criminals, anarchists, nihilists, druggies against stability.

Weaponize education, energy and health policy against a citizenry.

Remove the church. Remove sports. Remove women. Remove energy independence. Remove education and replace it with indoctrination. Debase music. Glorify the lower classes, the violent and the insane. Reward political corruption. Pretend that climate cooling/warming/change is all man-made. Encourage drug use. Encourage homelessness. Encourage criminality. Reward lassitude. Degrade fair play. Heckle the sane, the productive, the pious, the normal. Embrace physical ugliness and anti-rational outbursts. Deny scientific research. Define science as what is approved by the State. Foster anti-white hate. Foster hate against educated minorities. Foster hate against middle class values. Force untested drugs on the populace. Stop policing. Let the CCP and Gates buy up all of the farmlands.

All equals premeditated efforts to destroy to the middle class and make way for a comprehensive totalitarian uberclass that will control every movement of anyone not in said uberclass, or working towards their evil ends.

Good job, CCPCIA. You ripped apart the U.S., but good. I see no way back for that country.

Prediction: there will no red (Republican) wave, but they might let Florida leave the Republic.

[Bridget · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of ten books assigned for a class I took on the Fin de Siecle, and it was easily my favourite of the ten. The information is on the broader side, but for a casual historical read that's probably what one wants anyway. Loved the whole thing.

[Amadeo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative overview of the era and filled with wonderful anecdotes. It was an enjoyable read; I'm glad I took the time.

[Devon]

Every time I read anything about health and sanitary conditions in past I don’t understand how anyone is alive today. Eugen Weber’s chapter on “How They Lived” only solidified this belief of mine. “The water problem” (56), as Weber puts it, was a problem in every French city. In fact, Paris still has a water problem: The Seine is not an entirely safe body of water to swim in. The Paris Olympic Committee went back and forth on having their swimming events be in the Seine due to the amount of fecal matter in the water. Eventually, they did end up swimming in the river, the mayor of Paris claimed it was safe, but jury is still out on whether or not it is sanitary. I do frequently see men at the bottom of the steps that lead to the Seine pee into it, so take that as you will. Currently at Reid Hall, we too have a water problem of our own. The kitchenette water has been plagued with some type of larvae and though the problem was said to be fixed, Arden sent a pretty incriminating video yesterday where the problem is clearly still there. I knew public plumbing and water infrastructure was not great going in reading this chapter (hell, my apartment building still has communal toilets on each floor because there wasn’t individual apartment systems until fairly recently in the building’s history), but I didn’t realize that undressing fully to take a bath, an event by today’s standards, a completely normal and expected thing to do, was actually frowned upon: “They soaped themselves through their bath shirts, ‘for never would we have allowed ourselves to be naked to wash’ (59). I know that modesty functioned on different terms at the end of the 19th century, but I never would have thought this applied to bathing oneself. When you think about it, it does make sense, however, because hot baths (or even a clean bath) in a tub were reserved for those of the upper class, to whom more modesty was given due to their status and to whom had servants to bathe them. Not to bring up Arden twice in one paper, but she is currently sitting across from me, but she has remarked on several occasions that French people smell bad and that French deodorant, (if French people wear it in the first place), is not as effective as its American counterparts. I now have historical context for this statement: clothing and hair were not washed. Though of course the ability, or lack of ability, to wash stemmed from infrastructural and monetary concerns (Weber even notes that “Flaubert… had grumbled at the way his proletarian neighbors stank to high heaven (61).), perhaps it was ingrained within the culture that has persisted to this day.

[Bob Newman · Rating 4 out of 5]

France at the ground level

Avoiding the usual year-by-year chronicling of politics, wars and colonial exploits, Weber paints an incredibly detailed and fascinating portrait of French life in the period 1880 to 1905, with various ventures beyond or before. The book is nothing but an encyclopedia full of interesting facts…a multiplicity of examples. We start off with the question “was France of the period decadent?” Was there a rise in degeneracy, decadence and decline? After a discussion of this, we turn to a chapter called “Transgressions” which covers drugs, sexual behavior, spiritualism and the apparent loss of ideals, plus crime and its sensationalizing. “How They Lived” tells about the daily life of the average French person, not the life featured in many novels of the day which tended to cover elite life in Paris. A rich descriptive overview of family life and education comes next. In short, the book contains wall-to-wall facts about France of the day, entertainingly written to be sure. If somebody were going to write a novel about France of the period or even a history of France, it would be advisable to read this book very carefully. I found it well-worthwhile even though I have no such plans.

“There was nothing very exceptional about the fin de siècle. Its two or three decades did see the culmination of certain secular trends, like the impression of decadence, as well as the birth of activities and techniques characteristic of the century that followed: movies and driving, popular access to leisure, mobility, news, and sports, a preoccupation with speed and the conquest of space, the massive spread of facilities and civilities hitherto reserved for the very few.” (p.235)

In some way, Weber’s book straddles the time before all this appeared and the time when such big changes occurred and that’s why it’s particularly interesting. I would have to disagree with his comment that it wasn't an exceptional time. In terms of the lives of French people, it certainly was.

[Peyton · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weber's broad survey of the time period covers topics as diverse as crime, marriage, politics, and the development of the culture of sport. As a research book, it offers some useful pieces of information, but as a cultural study, it often utilizes broad generalizations that can make the cautious reader dubious. Still, a largely entertaining look into a fascinating era.

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a monograph but rather a broad view, presenting insights and suggestions for further development of ideas.

[Scott]

More on the shadowy Chat Noir Club on one page than all the fulcanelloid books put together.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

i've noticed several grammatical mistakes. and sometimes the comments with the images are kind of irrelevant.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look at late 19th century France. Learned lots.

[StrangeBedfellows · Rating 2 out of 5]

I purchased this as a supplementary read for one of my literature classes. I found it to contain good information, but I would not recommend it to the casual reader.

[Jared · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most delightful, engaging, and all-encompasing histories I have read in quite some time. A phenomenal grasp of the breadth of experience in late nineteenth century France.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can read this time and time again. It's a fun social history of a legendary place and time.

[Cath Holden · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing read about the changes in time and space