Rosewater of the revolution : Olympe de Gouges feminist humanism

The peaceful revolution was never a conceivable trajectory in the French Revolution, although it may have been the most viable. Olympe de Gouges (1748–1793), anti-slavery playwright and intellectual feminist, author of the declaration The Rights of Woman (1791), battled with her pen for welfare, against excessive use of violence and for one of the most important qualities of democracy: freedom of speech and debate. In this essay and drama new light is shed upon this inciting historical figure and her legacy.

In a brilliant play we encounter Olympe de Gouges in an imaginary after-life together with Robespierre and Mercier. Lisa Gålmark contextualises one of the most interesting voices of the French Revolution and elucidates her place in the early women’s rights movement, the abolitionist movement and the tradition of writers who criticize our treatment of non-human animals. This book is an important contribution on a historical person who deserves more recognition, and indeed for even more radical ideas than research until now has acknowledged. – Camilla Flodin, Researcher in Aesthetics, Uppsala University, Senior member, Robinson College, Cambridge University, Editor of the Swedish Journal of Gender Research

A unique book giving new and profound insights into the life and works of a woman whose merits have to a great degree been overlooked. Rosewater of the Revolution is thought-provoking and ought to reach a larger audience than what is attainable in the Swedish language. – Ragnhild Sollund, Professor of Sociology, Criminology and the Law, Oslo University