French Literature Reviews - 2026

A. Farge, The Revolt of Mme Montjean: The Story of an Artisan Couple in the Age of Enlightenment
History, Politics and Society

The Revolt of Mme Montjean: The Story of an Artisan Couple in the Age of Enlightenment
Arlette Farge

Publication date: 31/08/2016 Publisher: Albin Michel (Editions) ISBN: 978-2-226-32009-4 EAN: 9782226320094 Format: Large Format Presentation: Paperback No. of pages: 169 p.

In 1775, Paris is angry. So is Mme Montjean. This artisan's wife has had enough of spending hours sewing, taking care of her home, and looking after the children... She wants to live like the aristocrats, to be beautiful and desirable, to experience the intoxication of the senses! In reality, Mme Montjean has just discovered the minor pleasures of libertinism: pinching, whips, and unbuttoned breeches... hence her excitement. For two years, she will turn heads and drive her husband to the brink of ruin.

Penned by the cuckolded husband, who kept a journal of this metamorphosis, it is a delightful tragi-comic tale worthy of a comedy by Marivaux. Yet, from this cheeky heroine whose awakening in some ways prefigures the Revolution, Arlette Farge crafts a gripping history book—a history of ordinary people, daily life, and women, which she has always illustrated so wonderfully. Awarded the prestigious international Dan David Prize in 2016 for her lifetime achievement, this work aligns with the studies that made her reputation (The Allure of the Archives; Subversive Words; The Disorder of Families…).

Arlette Farge is renowned for her pioneering work in microhistory and the social history of eighteenth-century France, particularly her focus on ordinary lives, marginalized voices, and the everyday realities of women in Paris before the Revolution. Rather than concentrating on political elites, her scholarship investigates police archives, judicial records, and intimate journals to reconstruct the texture of daily existence. This study of an artisan couple intersects with the broader intellectual traditions of cultural history and gender studies, examining how individual desires and domestic conflicts reflect the shifting mentalities of the Enlightenment era.

This engaging work will appeal to students and scholars of modern European history, gender studies, and the French Enlightenment, as well as general readers interested in narrative non-fiction and archival history. It offers valuable insights into how private transgressions and marital disputes mirror broader societal tensions on the eve of revolutionary upheaval. Readers seeking to understand the lived experiences of eighteenth-century Parisians beyond official chronicles will find this tragi-comic tale both methodologically illuminating and deeply human.