Une Histoire de l’hystérie ou une Histoire de l’enfermement des femmes à la Salpêtrière dans Le bal des folles de Victoria Mas

Abstract

Le bal des folles is Victoria Mas's first novel. Published by Albin Michel in 2019, it won the Prix Renaudot des lycéens the same year. Set in 1885 at the Salpêtrière Hospital, the author goes back in time to tell the story of a hospital that has served many purposes since the 17th century. From the General Hospital, where all 'deviants' were locked up under restrictive and confusing regulations under the Sun King, it became, at least visibly, a place for the insane in the 18th century, with the birth of psychiatry. In the 19th century, the great Charcot arrived at the Salpêtrière to treat the madwomen, the hysterical, with new therapies such as hypnosis. Behind the appearance of medical progress and a visible medical preoccupation with women and their suffering, the Salpetrière was a place where women were restricted and excluded.  This article attempts to understand the interplay between the history of the Salpêtrière and Charcot's experiments on hysterics, carried out by V. Mas, in relation to his commitment to women and feminism.