Adèle Esquiros, née Adèle-Julie Battanchon (12 December 1819 – 22 December 1886) was a French feminist journalist and writer.

Life

Adèle Esquiros was born in Paris, the daughter of Pierre-François Battanchon, a medical student who died in 1860, and Marie-Rose Rouvion, a pensioner who died in 1844 and married in 1822. Esquiros had four brothers - Pierre-François (d. 1864), a music teacher in

Libourne Libourne (; ) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the wine-making capital of northern Gironde and lies near Saint-Émilion and Pomerol. Geog ...

and then in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

; Gabriel-Félix, a professor in Geneva; Edmond, painter in Paris; and Henri, merchant in Buenos Aires. Her sister Émilie (d. 1864) married a certain Dubosc, a landowner at Le Puy. A teacher and poet, she met Alphonse Esquiros, a Romantic writer converted to

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

and republican ideas, with whom she married in Paris on 7 August 1847 and wrote several books: ''Histoire des amants célèbres'' and ''Regrets, souvenir d'enfance'', before being abandoned by her husband in 1850.Vincent Wright, Éric Anceau, Jean-Pierre Machelon, Sudhir Hazareesingh, ''Les Préfets de Gambetta'', Presses Paris Sorbonne, 2007, 482 pages, p. 195-198 Naomi Judith Andrews, ''Socialism's muse: gender in the intellectual landscape of French romantic socialism'', Lexington Books, 2006, 179 pages . During the

French Second Republic The French Second Republic ( or ), officially the French Republic (), was the second republican government of France. It existed from 1848 until its dissolution in 1852. Following the final defeat of Napoleon, Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle ...

, Esquiros was an active member of the Women's Club founded in April 1848 and the Society for the Mutual Education of Women, founded in August 1848, with Jeanne Deroin, Eugénie Niboyet and Désirée Gay. With Eugénie Niboyet and

Louise Colet Louise Colet (; 15 August 1810 – 9 March 1876), born Louise Revoil de Servannes, was a French poet and writer. Life and works She was born at the hôtel d'Antoine ( fr) in Aix-en-Provence in France. In her twenties she married Hippol ...

, she was the founder of two feminist journals, '' La Voix des Femmes'' (1848), then ''L'Opinion des Femmes''.Alphonse Lucas, ''Les clubs et les clubistes : histoire complétè critique et anecdotique des … '', E. Dentu, Paris, 185
books.google.com
/ref> Her most notable work is her response to

Jules Michelet Jules Michelet (; 21 August 1798 – 9 February 1874) was a French historian and writer. He is best known for his multivolume work ''Histoire de France'' (History of France). Michelet was influenced by Giambattista Vico; he admired Vico's emphas ...

, ''L'Amour'' (1860). A member of the

Société des gens de lettres The Société des gens de lettres de France (SGDLF; ; ) is a writers' association founded in 1838 by the notable French authors George Sand, Honoré de Balzac, Victor Hugo, and Alexandre Dumas. It is a private association recognised in France as ...

, she died in Paris in 1886, blind, paralyzed and in abject poverty, surviving only thanks to a meagre treatment of the Société. When she died, she left an asset of only 1827 francs.

Works

* ''Le Fil de la Vierge'', Paris, V. Bouton, 1845, 70 p. * ''Histoire des amants célèbres'' (with Alphonse Esquiros), Paris, bureau des publications nationales, 1847. * ''Regrets. - Souvenirs d'enfance. - Consolation. - Jalousie'', (with Alphonse Esquiros), Paris, imprimerie de Bénard, 1849, 2 p. * ''Un vieux bas-bleu'', in ''Les Veillées littéraires illustrées'', volume II : ''Choix de romans, nouvelles, poésies, pièces de théâtre etc. etc. des meilleurs écrivains anciens et modernes'', Paris, J. Bry aîné, 1849. * ''Les Amours étranges'', Paris, A. Courcier, 1853, IV-349 p. * ''Une vie à deux'', by Alphonse Esquiros. ''La Course aux maris'', ''la Nouvelle Cendrillon'', ''l'Amour d'une jeune fille'', ''l'Échoppe du père Mitou'', by Adèle Esquiros, Paris, Lécrivain et Toubon, 1859, 48 p. * ''L'Amour'', Paris, 1860, 107 p. * ''Histoire d'une sous-maîtresse'', Paris, E. Pick, 1861, 138 p. * ''Les Marchands d'amour'', Paris, Pick, 1865, 224 p.

References

External links

The Feminist and the Socialist: Adele and Alphonse Esquiros
(Santa Clara University) {{DEFAULTSORT:Esquiros, Adele 1819 births 1886 deaths Writers from Paris 19th-century French writers 19th-century French journalists French feminist writers 19th-century French women writers