Description
Book SynopsisExplores the intriguing life of the real d'Estoc, explaining why others came to doubt the "experts" and following the threads of evidence that the latter overlooked
Trade Review“Learned, funny, enlightening, and provocative in terms of what [this book] reveals not only about the past but about how we think in the present about the past and how we think about knowledge in general.”—Janet Beizer, professor of Romance languages and literatures at Harvard University and author of
Thinking through the Mothers: Reimagining Women’s Biographies“A research odyssey that addresses nothing less than the importance of the humanities to education and to life.”—Carol Mossman, professor of French at the University of Maryland and author of
Writing with a Vengeance: The Countess de Chabrillan’s Rise from Prostitution"A truly exquisite volume. . . . Conversational, erudite, and inspired: this book is exceptional."
—Choice"
Finding the Woman Who Didn’t Exist is an enjoyable and thought-provoking read. It can appeal, on the one hand, to those interested in biographies that are also good stories. On the other, its observations of scholarship can be useful both for those who are established in the field and can even serve as a primer for those in the beginning phases of scholarship, especially when it concerns primary sources."—Richard Shryock,
Contemporary French CivilizationTable of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. To Hell and Back (the Present)
2. Gisèle d'Estoc and World War II (the 1930s)
3. A Storm in a Teacup and a Bomb in a Flowerpot (the 1890s)
4. An Interlude (No Time in Particular)
5. Gisèle d'Estoc When She Was Real (the 1870s)
6. Gisèle d'Estoc and Who She Wasn't (the 1960s)
Afterword
Chronology
Notes
Works Cited
