The Salpêtrière asylum, Paris,1885. This is a women's asylum, housing the insane and also those who inconvenient-to-their-families or the inconvenient-to-society. It's here that Genevieve has found her life's calling as senior nurse, and Eugenie, daughter of a bourgeois family is suddenly incarcerated having admitted to having contact with the dead. Over a ten day period during which the inmates are preparing for the spectacle of their annual ball, when they will be paraded for the amusement of Parisian citizens, these two women develop an understanding of one another and Genevieve agrees to help Eugenie. As an over-view of a shocking system, presided over by Doctor Charcot and his treatments involving hypnotism, this is an interesting and eye-opening account. As a story for a reader cynical about contact with other worlds, it didn't do much for me. But it's an interesting read, and quickly finished. ( )

“The Salpêtrière is a dumping ground for women who disturb the peace. An asylum for those whose sensitivities do not tally with what is expected of them. A prison for women guilty of possessing an opinion.”

In 1885 Paris, nineteen-year-old Eugenie Clery, a strong-willed young woman, is committed to the Salpêtrière Hospital for the mentally -ill by her father after her grandmother betrays her secret about her spiritualistic leanings that she had shared in confidence . Here she meets Genevieve the senior nurse of the facility – a practical woman who believes in science, doesn't believe in God (after a personal tragedy) and has faith in renowned neurologist Dr. Charcot’s methods for treatment of those suffering from mental illness. Dr. Charcot’s methods include hypnosis and every week he holds a practical demonstration of his methods for an audience of male doctors and interns. Louise, one of the patients Eugenie meets (the origins of her illness are discussed later on in the narrative) is the current case study. Louise is also romantically involved with one of the younger doctors who has promised to marry her. Eugenie knows that Genevieve is the only person who can help her but to do so would mean convincing her that she is not mentally ill. To do so she must use her gifts to make a connection with someone from Genevieve’s past – her younger sister Blandine whose death she still mourns- and she must do this before The Madwomen’s Ball. The Lenten Ball, The Madwomen’s Ball is an annual event wherein select members of the Parisian bourgeoisie are invited to interact with the patients of the asylum – a bright event that the women of Salpêtrière look forward for the festivities and the potential opportunity to meet someone sympathetic to their plight and an opportunity for the invitees to openly observe these women and satisfy their curiosity.

“Madwomen fascinate and horrify.”

The Mad Women’s Ball by Victoria Mas (translated by Frank Wynne) is an atmospheric, insightful and thought-provoking story that paints a heartbreaking picture of the plight of women banished from their homes and families and society in general on the whims of those whom they should have been able to trust. The story not only looks at the stigma associated with mental–illness during that period but also sheds a light on the practice of dubbing those not conforming to societal /patriarchal expectations as mentally ill. Not only were these women denied agency but were treated like experiments by their doctors and theater by those who were "curious” about what went on behind the closed doors of the institution.

“No woman can be certain that her words, her aspirations, her personality will not lead to her
being shut away behind the fearsome walls of the hospital in the thirteenth arrondissement.”

The narrative is shared from the perspectives of Genevieve, Louise, and Eugenie. Given the short length of this novel, there isn’t much much scope for in-depth character development or exploring the relationships between the characters beyond a certain point. On that note, I thought Eugenie’s story was left somewhat incomplete. The Author's Note only provides a glossary for real people from that era who make an appearance/ are referred to in this story. I did feel the need for an Author’s Note on the historical context of this novel and the different themes that have been explored in the novel including the spiritualist movement of that era and some background on the Salpêtrière asylum , which unfortunately was missing.

Overall, while I truly appreciate the premise of this novel, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the execution.

“Unswerving faith in any idea inevitably leads to prejudice. Have I told you how calm I feel since I began to doubt? What is important is not to have beliefs, but to be able to doubt, to question anything, everything, even oneself. To doubt.” ( )

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Mas-Le-bal-des-folles-BD/1362934

"It is a curious moment, when the world as you believed it to be is called into question, when your innermost convictions are shaken - when new ideas offer you a glimpse of a different reality"...

This phrase evokes the interesting and immersive experience that transports the reader to a historical era and space where being different or having a diversity of beliefs rather uncommon for a Woman of that era will mark you as "mad" and the individual strength required to embrace your individuality before anything or anyone. ( )

The Mad Women’s Ball, originally published in France as Le Bal de Folles, is a debut novel by Victoria Mas which earned its author rave reviews, literary prizes and critical accolades. It is now being published in an English translation by Frank Wynne, bringing the work to a wider audience.

The novel is set in Paris in the mid-1880s and presents us with two strong female protagonists. On the one hand there’s Genevieve, senior nurse at the Salpetriere, an asylum which houses various madwomen, hysterics and outcasts. Its director, Dr Charcot, experiments with hypnotism on some of his high-profile cases during public lectures which feed the public’s thirst for voyeurism. Genevieve, is a firm believer in the power of science, personified in Charcot and his associates in whom she has full and unconditional faith.

However, Genevieve’s beliefs are challenged when she meets Eugenie, an independent-minded young woman from a bourgeois family, who has been conveniently locked away at the Salpetriere after claiming to converse with ghosts. Is Eugenie delusional, or is she the victim of a patriarchal society, a society which wants to get rid of uncomfortable women?

The “Mad Women’s Ball” of the title is a yearly event held at the asylum during the Lenten period: a costumed ball which gives a rare opportunity to high class society to mingle with the dangerous females of the asylum. Besides becoming itself a metaphor for the abuse suffered by the Salpetriere patients, the ball provides the perfect set-piece for the novel’s denouement.

The Mad Woman’s Ball is an atmospheric work which combines fictional and historical elements (Charcot, as well as some other characters in the book did exist), and its Gothic and supernatural overtones add some frisson to the plot. However, I must admit that I was disappointed overall, and that I expected more from a worked dubbed as a “literary sensation”. While the two protagonists are well drawn and there are some interesting figures in the “supporting cast”, most of the other characters, particularly the male ones, are there merely to serve the plot or to highlight the general nefariousness of the male sex. Indeed, one of the problems of this novel is that it seems to be continuously underlining and highlighting its “message”. Here’s a typical paragraph:

The sole purpose of the corset was clearly to immobilize a woman’s body in a posture considered desirable – it was certainly not intended to allow her free movement. As if intellectual constraints wee not sufficient, women had to be hobbled physically. One might almost think that, in imposing such restrictions, men did not so much scorn women as fear them.

Don’t get me wrong. The novel’s feminist message is laudable, but I think readers should be expected to be intelligent enough to get the point without it having to be explained to them.

Perhaps the real problem is that there are several very good, and some great, works of feminist Gothic and historical fiction available in English – by the likes of Evie Wyld, Sarah Waters, Alison Littlewood, Sarah Perry and Susan Fletcher, to name but a few – which cover the same territory. The Mad Women’s Ball faces stiff competition and while an entertaining and interesting read, I do not feel it is original enough to make it memorable.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-mad-womens-ball-by-victoria-mas.h... ( )