Voyage de Théodose à l'île d'Utopie.
Paris : Lachaud, 1872.
In-12, 249-(2) pages. Demi-chagrin moderne, plats de couverture conservés.
Brunissures éparses. Item #4451
Edition originale, rare, de cette utopie féministe par la fondatrice de la première organisation féministe socialiste en France.
« In 1872, Rouzade published three novels which she had probably written during the 1860s. All three were inspired by the utopian socialists Cabet and Fourier. […] The role of women was also the theme of Voyage de Théodose à l’île d’Utopie (‘Théodose’s Voyage to the Island of Utopia’). The story began, like every utopian novel, with a sudden change of environment. Théodose was shipwcreked on an island ‘next to the sun’. He discovered to his amazement that everyone worked only four hours a day, in complete harmony and equality. Before long the question of women’s role came up. Chastity was held in abhorrence and marriage blessed, but marriage was an affair of complete equality. Théodose eventually returned to France, having learned the true nature of love from the Utopians, and wooed and married a beautiful woman of great charm, tact and dignity. But she insisted on maintaining her independence while he slipped back ino the old ways. After a showdown, Théodose fell into a coma, repented his attempt to dominate his wife, obtained her forgiveness, and died. » (Charles Sowerwine, Sisters Or Citizens ? : Women and Socialism in France Since 1876, Cambridge University Press, 1982, p. 29.)
« Born at Paris on 6 September 1839, [Rouzade] absorbed republican and Voltairian sympathies from her father. After a brief period living alone and working as an embroiderer, in 1860 she married Auguste Rouzade, chief municipal accountant for the quiet little town of Meudon, where they spent the rest of their lives. Léonie Rouzade came to socialism only after her marriage, through study and reflection (op. cit. p. 29). […] She attended the feminist congress of 1878 and then joined Auclert’s Le Droit des Femmes, therefore entering into contact with the socialists of Le Prolétaire. Her talent as a orator was soon appreciated in the small world of the nascent socialist movement. From the summer of 1879, she began giving lectures in the company of Guesde and other socialist leaders – once even Blanqui, the grand old man of revolution. (op. cit., p. 30) […] [L’Union des Femmes, founded in 1880,] was the first group of socialist women in France. The undisputed founder and leader of the Union was Léonie Rouzade (op. cit. p. 29). […] Having spoken frequently in Paris, she began making extensive tours of the provinces : in March 1881, she gave lectures in eight provincial cities in every corner of France. […] In May she lectured with Guesde at Rennes and other cities of the West. […] Rouzade was also establishing herself in the [socialist] party hierarchy. […] In December 1881, the Union took another step forward : through its initiative, the party nominated Rouzade as candidate for the Paris Municipal Council, this making her the first Frenchwoman to stand for elected office as a candidate of a regular political party (op. cit., p. 36). »
Le CCFr recense en France 3 exemplaires, dont 2 à la BnF et un à l’Arsenal, et WorldCat, 2 exemplaires aux USA (City University of New York-Mina Rees Library et Stanford University Libraries), un à Amsterdam (International Institute of Social History), et un à Stockholm (LIBRIS).
Price: €950.00