The Bedroom, Michelle Perrot
The Bedroom, Michelle Perrot
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

The Bedroom
An Intimate History

Author: Michelle Perrot, Lauren Elkin

Narrator: Christa Lewis

Unabridged: 13 hr 52 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/21/2018


Synopsis

The winner of France's prestigious Prix Femina Essai (2009), this imaginative and captivating book explores the many dimensions of the room in which we spend so much of our lives—the bedroom. Eminent cultural historian Michelle Perrot traces the evolution of the bedroom from the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans to today, examining its myriad forms and functions, from royal king's chamber to child's sleeping quarters to lovers' trysting place to monk's cell. The history of women, so eager for a room of their own, and that of prisons, where the principal cause of suffering is the lack of privacy, is interwoven with a reflection on secrecy, walls, and the night and its mysteries.

Drawing from a wide range of sources, including architectural and design treatises, private journals, novels, memoirs, and correspondences, Perrot's engaging book follows the many roads that lead to the bedroom—birth, sex, illness, death—in its endeavor to expose the most intimate, nocturnal side of human history.

About Michelle Perrot

Michelle Perrot is professor emeritus at Paris VII and one of France's most distinguished cultural historians. She has received numerous awards and honors in France and abroad for her published histories of work, prisons, private life, and women.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Andres Felipe on June 26, 2021

El libro es interesante, y algo curioso, porqué como se ha mencionado, el libro se centra mucho en Francia y más que todo entre los siglos XVIII y XXI, no esperen que mencionen lugares alejados de Europa ni mucho menos menciones a la Edad Antigua o la Edad Media; no obstante, si las menciona y hay v......more

Goodreads review by Alejandro on July 02, 2022

This is social and literary cultural history of rooms ("chambres") centered on the bedroom in 17th to 20th century France. It is not ordered chronologically but by topics, which makes it occasionally repetitive and relies heavily on literary scenes written by authors such as Balzac, Proust, Zola, Fl......more

Goodreads review by Neil on February 22, 2022

A sweeping, largely anecdotal account of the history of the bedroom from the point of view of a French cultural historian. Her point of view is neither sociological or historical; she talks about what having a private space has meant in various cultures. It's a fascinating story, painted with a broa......more

Goodreads review by Gabrielle on August 06, 2021

Chambres pour dormir, aimer, accoucher, mourir, chambres d’enfant, de jeune fille, refuge de femme, chambres témoins de sexualités diverses dans un lit ou deux, chambres où l’on viole, cellules où l’on prie ou emprisonne, chambres de bonnes, de promiscuité, chambres dortoirs d’ouvriers, de misère, p......more