Description
Book SynopsisHeroic Hearts examines how young women in nineteenth-century France, authorized by a widespread cultural discourse that privileged individual authority over domesticity and marriage, sought to change the world.
Trade Review"In this richly documented and lucidly written work, Popiel . . . shows how in the course of the nineteenth century, three strongly independent women changed the Catholic Church in France in ways that were important in their time and beyond."—S. Bailey,
Choice“Jennifer Popiel’s book offers a fresh and illuminating perspective on the often maligned Catholic culture of the nineteenth century. Through a close analysis of devotional literature, fiction, images, and personal correspondence, Popiel moves beyond conventional assessments that emphasize patriarchal authority and female submission. Popiel shows us instead how Catholic women could find in intensely sentimental language and iconography centered on devotions such as the Sacred Heart models of heroic behavior and independence.”—Thomas Kselman, coeditor of
Christian Democracy: Historical Legacies and Comparative Perspectives“Jennifer Popiel has rehabilitated language and imagery that both contemporaries and historians have interpreted as demonstrating women’s inherent emotionality and passivity.
Heroic Hearts breaks ground in its consideration of nineteenth-century women’s spirituality and its serious discussions of sentimental literature and imagery.”—Sarah Curtis, author of
Civilizing Habits: Women Missionaries and the Revival of French EmpireTable of ContentsList of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Pastel Saints and Powerful Women
1. Shaping the Sentimental Order: Martyrdom, Marriage, and Catholic Heroism
2. Contesting Oppression: Love, Suffering, and Sentimental Literature
3. Seeing the Path to Heaven: Sentimental Virtue and Visual Culture
4. Preferring Jesus Christ to Any Man: Chastity, Sacrifice, and the Religious of the Sacred Heart
5. Changing the World: Pauline Jaricot, Social Reform, and the Power of the Heart
6. Becoming a Saint: Zélie Martin, Suffering, and Heroism in a Consumer Society
Conclusion: Roses, Elevators, and Modern Heroism
Notes
Bibliography
Index
