The Arcades Project - Operi

;:: threshold of the hedroom, a devouring flame has come to be extinguished; often
'"
enough, for more than one grand passion, the perfumed bedsheets have become a
death shroud, More than one person . .. who will read these lines has entered, at
night, into the bed of Hymen, palpitating with desires and emotions, only to
awaken in the morning cold and icy." Claire Demar, Ma Loi d'avenir (Paris,
1834), 1'1', 36-37. [p2,5]
Re anthropological materialism. Conclusion of Claire Demar's Ma Loi d'avenir
: "No more motherhood, no more law of blood, I say: no
more motherhood. And, in fact, the woman emancipated . .. from the man, who
then no longer pays her the price of her body, . .. will owe her existence . , . to her
works alone. }l"or this it is necessary that the woman pursue some work, fulfill a
function, And how can she do this if she is always condemned to give up a more or
less large part of her life to the care and education of one or more children'? ...
You want to emancipate the woman? Well, then, take the newborn child from the
breast of the blood-mother and give it into the arms of the social mother, a nurse
employed by the state, and the child will be better raised . ... Then, and then only,
will man, woman, and child be freed from the law of blood, from the exploitation
of humanity by humanity. " Claire Demar, Ma Loi d'avenir: Ouvrage posthume
pnblie par Snzanne (Paris, 1834), 1'1'. 58-59. [p2a,11
What! Because a woman would rather not take the public into her confidence
concerning her feelings as a woman; hecause, from among all the men who would
lavish their attentions upon her, ... only she could say which one she prefers­
... is she then ... to become .. , the slave of one man? ... What! In such cases a
woman is exploited . ... For if she were not afraid of seeing them tear themselves to
pieces, . . . she could give satisfaction to several men at once in their love, ... I
believe, with M. James de Laurence, in the need . . . for a freedom without . . ,
limits , . . . a freedom founded on mystery, which for me is the basis of the new
morality." Claire Demar, Ma Loi d'avenir (Paris, 1834), pp. 31-32. [p2a,2]
The demand for "mystery" -as opposed to "publicity" -in sexual relations is
closely cOlmected, in Demar, with the demand for more or less extended trial
periods. Of course, the traditional fonn of marriage would in general be sup'
planted by this more flexible fonn. It is logical, furthermore, that these concep'
tions should give rise to the demand for matriarchy. [p2a,3]
From the arguments directed against patriarchy: Ah, it is with a huge pile of
parricidal daggers at my side that, amid widespread groans of lamentation at the
very mention of the words father' and mother: I venture to raise my voice ...
against the law of hlood, the law of generation!" Claire Demar Ma Loi d'avenir
(Paris, 1834), PI'. 54-55. [p2a,4]
Caricature plays a considerable role in the development of the caption. It is
characteristic that Henri Bouchot, La Litfwgraphie (paris