Blessed Motherhood, Bitter Fruit: Nelly Roussel and the Politics of Female Pain in Third Republic France

339 Pages·2006·2.39 MB·English

by  Elinor Accampo

Blessed Motherhood, Bitter Fruit
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Blessed Motherhood, Bitter Fruit
Nelly Roussel and the Politics of Female Pain
in Third Republic France
elinor accampo
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore
© 2006 The Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 2006
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
The Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 North Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363
www.press.jhu.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Accampo, Elinor Ann.
Blessed motherhood, bitter fruit / Nelly Roussel and the politics of female pain in
Third Republic France / Elinor Accampo.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 0-8018-8404-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Roussel, Nelly, 1878–1922. 2. Birth Control—France—Biography. 3. Feminists—France—
Biography. 4. Women social reformers—France—Biography. I. Title.
hq764.r68a33 2006
363.9(cid:118)6092—dc22
2005033501
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
In memory of my mother,
Alice Accampo (1910–1998)
In memory of my sister,
Jane Callaghy (1946–2001)
For my daughter,
Erin Accampo Hern
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contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction:Nelly Roussel, “Contemporary of the Future” 1
1 Conversion Experiences 13
2 Mother and Missionary: The Ideological Foundations of
an Unorthodox Feminism 35
3 The Making and Marketing of a Spectacular Apostle 70
4 The Public and Private Politics of Female Self-Sacrifi ce:
Audience Reception 99
5 Pathologies and Persecutions 135
6 The Great War: Pacifi sm, Censorship, and the Disease of a
“Weary, Wounded Heart” 171
7 Last Battles: Words of Combat, Hope, and Pain 205
Epilogue 239
Notes 251
Bibliography 291
Index 303
Illustrations follow page 107
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acknowledgments
The research for this book began with a different project in mind. After having
studied French fertility decline in the nineteenth century among the working
classes, I wanted to fi nd out more about what the French were thinking when
they had small families. I began researching the neo-Malthusian (French birth
control) movement in the hope of learning what male, and especially female, pro-
ponents of birth control were saying about reproduction and gender issues, but
I soon discovered that few women numbered among their ranks. One of them,
Nelly Roussel, had, however, left an enormous archive.
I am an accidental biographer. As a social historian, it would never have oc-
curred to me to write a biography had not the sources Roussel left behind been
so rich. For the fi rst few years of looking at her archive, I tried to avoid “wasting
time” reading materials that were not relevant to my project as I had defi ned it,
but I fi nally gave in to this treasure of personal papers when several friends and
colleagues prodded me to write a biography. Many years later, I feel gratifi ed that
doing so allowed me to address the questions that had inspired my original proj-
ect. I have many people to thank for making the fi nal result possible.
First, I owe thanks to the institutional support I received. For my original
conception of this project I thank the National Endowment for the Humanities
for a Travel-to-Collections Grant and the American Council of Learned Societies
for a summer grant. Otherwise, all the support for this project came from the
University of Southern California: research grants from Institute for the Study
of Women and Men in Society, the Zumberge Faculty Research and Innovation
Award, the USC College Award for Research Excellence, and the USC College
Faculty Development Award. This funding made travel to France and to confer-
ences possible.
I thank the staffs at the Archives nationales de France, Bibliothèque nationale
de France, the Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris, Archives de la Préfec-