French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Glinoer, La Bohème: A Figure of the Social Imaginary
History, Politics and Society
Anthony Glinoer
La Bohème: A Figure of the Social Imaginary
University of Montreal Press, "Socius" collection, 2018.
EAN13 : 9782760639676.
Publisher's Description:
Ever since the mid-19th century, when Henri Murger dubbed a group of artists living on love and dry bread in Paris "bohemians," the bohemian and the bohemian lifestyle have never left the social imaginary. They have existed both in reality and in literary texts, not only in Paris but also in Madrid, Warsaw, Oslo, and New York, while Charles Aznavour's song and Puccini's opera have become part of the world's cultural heritage. Drawing from a vast body of discourse, this book brings to light iconic places, collective practices, exemplary lives, antagonistic figures, and variations on the theme of bohemia. The reader encounters Albert Glatigny, Nina de Villard, the Brasserie des Martyrs, fictional orgies, and Montreal's own bohemia. Throughout the chapters, bohemia reveals itself as an inextricably imaginary and social phenomenon, shaped and embodied by numerous men of letters and art. Here, Anthony Glinoer continues his exploration of collective phenomena in the 19th century. Approaching the subject as a sociologist of literary facts and imaginaries, he paints a portrait of one of the key figures in our representations of the writer's and artist's life, from Murger to the "bobos."
Anthony Glinoer holds the Canada Research Chair in Book History and the Sociology of Literature and is a professor at the Université de Sherbrooke. His publications notably include L’âge des cénacles. Confraternités littéraires et artistiques au XIXe siècle with Vincent Laisney (2013).
Positioned within the sociology of literature and cultural history, this study examines how bohemianism evolved from a specific mid-nineteenth-century Parisian reality into a pervasive global myth. As a key figure in the social imaginary, the bohemian artist bridges the gap between lived experience and literary representation. Anthony Glinoer investigates the collective practices, iconic spaces, and antagonistic figures that shaped this tradition across various urban centers, demonstrating how literature and social life continuously reinforce one another in the formation of modern artistic identities.
This scholarly work will particularly interest students and researchers of nineteenth-century French literature, cultural sociology, and the history of artistic communities. By tracing the lineage of bohemia from Henri Murger and nineteenth-century cénacles to contemporary bourgeois bohemians, the book addresses fundamental questions about the marginality, autonomy, and social role of the writer and artist. It offers valuable insights into how cultural myths endure and transform across generations and international borders.