The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Three women were the celebrities of yesteryear
Author finds parallels between historic and modern iconic women
WASHINGTON — As an author who primarily focuses on groundbreaking and trendsetting women who made their mark throughout history, Caroline Weber often seeks to find the parallels between the modern celebrities of today and those of yesteryear.
Weber spoke to this topic during a lively discussion at the Gunn Memorial Library recently. During the presentation she discussed and signed copies of her recently released book, “Proust’s Duchess: How Three Celebrated Women Captured the Imagination of Fin-deSiecle Paris.”
According to Weber, her book delves into the lives of three aristocratic Parisian women who rose to become icons between the 1870s and 1890s. In seeking independence from the restrictions typically experienced by women during that time period; the trio sought to reinvent themselves, and in doing so became living legends.
“I was really struck by how modern their stories were,” Weber said. “We live in a culture of celebrities, where what’s valued is youth and beauty.”
Weber’s manuscript illustrates the degree of freedom and fulfillment the women were able to obtain despite considerable obstacles imposed by both their personal lives and the societal and gender roles of the time period.
“They were very conspicuously going against authority,” Weber said. “They did all these things to push themselves into the limelight.”
Weber’s book is the first in-depth study of three notable women living in Paris during the turn of the century — Genevieve Halevy Bizet Straus, Laure de Sade (Comtesse de Adhéaume de Chevigne); and Elisabeth de Riquet de Caraman-Chimay, the Comtesse Greffulhe.
“Against a rich historical backdrop, Weber takes the reader into these women’s daily lives of masked balls, hunts, dinners, court visits, nights at the opera or theater,” according to a release issued by the library. “But we see as well the loneliness, rigid social rules, and loveless marriages that constricted these women’s lives.”
French novelist Marcel Proust was so inspired by the three women that he would later utilize their lives as inspiration for his masterpiece, “The Remembrance of Things Past.” As a law student in 1892, Proust studied his three muses extensively in order to create his composite fictional character, the Duchesse de Guermantes.
In a notable intersection between past and present, Weber’s book received accolades from Edmund White, author of “Marcel Proust: A Life.”
“Thanks to her astonishing, prize-worthy research, Weber knows more about the three real women Proust modeled the Duchesse de Guermantes on than the mythologizing Proust himself did,” White wrote. “This is social history at its best.”
According to Weber, the process of researching and writing her book was a painstaking labor of love that encompassed a sevenyear time span.
“I’ve been holed up with my manuscript for seven years,” Weber said during a recent interview from her Washington home. “It was a ton of work.”
While she was conducting her research, Weber was fortunate enough to connect with various descendants of the three women. The ancestors shared family papers with Weber, which were instrumental in her ability to piece together a comprehensive account of the women’s lives.
Weber’s meticulous research has certainly paid off, as multiple publications have issued overwhelmingly positive responses. A recent review of “Proust’s Duchess” in the Yale Review praised “Weber’s engrossing and intelligent work.”
“Readers will delight in Weber’s lively and detailed treatment of this era and its cast of high-society characters,” Hollie Harder wrote. “‘Proust’s Duchess’ provides a rich panorama of historical, political, biographical, artistic, social, and cultural information, the product of years of extensive archival research.”
Weber has chosen to focus much of her career around 18th century French culture. She is a professor of French and comparative literature at Barnard College at Columbia University. She is also the author of “Queen of Fashion: What Marie-Antoinette Wore to the Revolution.”
Copies of Weber’s books are available locally at the Hickory Stick Bookshop in Washington. Weber divides her time between Washington and New York City.