Robida’s Mormons

Nineteenth-century French observers fascinated with the American West appropriated cultural aspects of the region in a variety of ways. This transnational exchange included “Mormons,” members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who migrated progressively west from the Missouri and Ill...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Daryl Lee
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association Française d'Etudes Américaines 2019-05-01
Series:Transatlantica
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/10869
_version_ 1797402704713089024
author Daryl Lee
author_facet Daryl Lee
author_sort Daryl Lee
collection DOAJ
description Nineteenth-century French observers fascinated with the American West appropriated cultural aspects of the region in a variety of ways. This transnational exchange included “Mormons,” members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who migrated progressively west from the Missouri and Illinois frontiers in the 1830s and 40s to the Great Basin after 1847, where they established an extensive network of colonies. Author-illustrator Albert Robida depicted the “polygamist sect” in venues such as Le Journal amusant and La Caricature, and in two novels, his Jules Verne-inspired Voyages très extraordinaires de Saturnin Farandoul (1879) and the futuristic satire Le Vingtième siècle (1883) set in 1953. In the latter, Robida conflated orientalist stereotypes abounding in accounts of Mormon polygamy and in French salon painting, by removing the Mormons from the Rocky Mountains and transplanting them to Europe in order to think through French preoccupations with geopolitics, colonization, and the role of women in society.
first_indexed 2024-03-09T02:28:04Z
format Article
id doaj.art-ec839e2ad2f842c3aba042f4345648b9
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1765-2766
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-09T02:28:04Z
publishDate 2019-05-01
publisher Association Française d'Etudes Américaines
record_format Article
series Transatlantica
spelling doaj.art-ec839e2ad2f842c3aba042f4345648b92023-12-06T15:50:28ZengAssociation Française d'Etudes AméricainesTransatlantica1765-27662019-05-01210.4000/transatlantica.10869Robida’s MormonsDaryl LeeNineteenth-century French observers fascinated with the American West appropriated cultural aspects of the region in a variety of ways. This transnational exchange included “Mormons,” members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who migrated progressively west from the Missouri and Illinois frontiers in the 1830s and 40s to the Great Basin after 1847, where they established an extensive network of colonies. Author-illustrator Albert Robida depicted the “polygamist sect” in venues such as Le Journal amusant and La Caricature, and in two novels, his Jules Verne-inspired Voyages très extraordinaires de Saturnin Farandoul (1879) and the futuristic satire Le Vingtième siècle (1883) set in 1953. In the latter, Robida conflated orientalist stereotypes abounding in accounts of Mormon polygamy and in French salon painting, by removing the Mormons from the Rocky Mountains and transplanting them to Europe in order to think through French preoccupations with geopolitics, colonization, and the role of women in society.http://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/10869RobidaMormonismcaricaturefuturismThird Republicthe woman question
spellingShingle Daryl Lee
Robida’s Mormons
Transatlantica
Robida
Mormonism
caricature
futurism
Third Republic
the woman question
title Robida’s Mormons
title_full Robida’s Mormons
title_fullStr Robida’s Mormons
title_full_unstemmed Robida’s Mormons
title_short Robida’s Mormons
title_sort robida s mormons
topic Robida
Mormonism
caricature
futurism
Third Republic
the woman question
url http://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/10869
work_keys_str_mv AT daryllee robidasmormons