Did men attend literary salons?

Question

Looking particularly at 19th Century England, but also literary salons in general.
Was it forbidden, or merely uncommon?

Answer 1

Literary salons flourished mainly during the 18th century in France. they were usually run by a woman, but were open to both women and men. In 'the Cambridge Illustrated historyof France' colin Jones writes:



'One of the most famous salons was run by Madame Geoffrin on the fashinoable Rue Saint-Honore in paris, and was from the 1730s one of the most brilliant and renowned of literary salons. here artist and literati mingled with court nobles, igh state officials, wealthy bourgeoise and visiting dignitaries to discuss, to debate and to engage in polit social intercourse.



merit rather than birth was the key to admission to these gatherings; Madame Geoffrin famously turned down the marshal de Richelieu on the grounds of lack of distinction. Wit, urbanity, artistic ability and politesse ensured entree, not geneology. Madame Geoffrin's visitors were indeed highly distinguished; d'Alembert, Fontenelle, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Helvetius and Marmontel among the philosopjers, and, among the socially distinguished, Gustavus III of Sweden, the future Catherine th eGreat of Russia, and Stanislas Pontowski, former King of Poland.



The salon became an instrument of intellectual, and thereby political, power. It was said that to enter the Academie Francaise, for example, one had first to receive the approval of the salon of Madame de Lambert. Salons also had a powerful impact over public taste: Madame Geoffrin's salon was said to be important in winning critical acclaim for new artistic and literary works. The 'Czarina of paris' as she was called,w as thus an important disseminator of Enlightenment values and shaper of public opinion.



The influence of the salons was probably declining from the 1770s as new organs of sociability and opinion-forming developed (masonic lodges, clubs and so on). The dominance of women becazme a target of criticism. The salonnieres were seen as aristocratic bluestockings, who rendered politics and politicians effeminate. This misogynist attack was launched from within the Enlightenment. Writer and political theorist jean-jacques Rousseau's view, that women should be excluded from politics and should stay at home and bring up children, was influential right across the political spectrum. The ideology of "seperate spheres" would be taken further in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods.'

Answer 2

I'm actually writing a paper about 18th c. French salons, and men comprised most of the guests. Although the woman would lead the salon, many of the most intellectual salons had few female guests. This was different than in England, where the bluestocking gatherings (which is what the English salons were called) led by women such as Lady Montagu had more women members, but were still heavily patronized by men. My research ends in the 18th c., so sorry I can't help you with the 19th.

Answer 3

I'd say it was common, among a certain class of men. What would have been called the intelligentsia in Europe proper, educated and well enough born, but broke enough to appreciate free food and booze.



Men would have made up the large majority of authors and poets at the time. If anything I find the idea of them being forbidden or uncommon at a salon a bit comical. Mixed salons might have been a popular hobby of rich women, but they would have been populated by educated men and their celebrities would have been almost all men.



Several circles of such educated men dominated the politics and governments of England throughout the 19th centuries. Have you tried looking at the biographies of English political philosophers, such as John Stuart Mill? I can remember a group gathering around his mentor, as well as him in later years.