Flora Tristan’s Diary: The Tour of France 1843-1844

In February 1843 Flora Tristan began to write a journal as she set out on her tour of France wherein she recorded her experience of feminist socialist militancy. This is a unique record of gender politics and political and socio-economic conditions in twenty-two towns of provincial France on the eve of the 1848 revolution. It came to an abrupt end with her illness and death in Bordeaux in November 1844. The long-awaited first complete translation of Flora Tristan’s journal is presented with an analytical introduction, an index and bibliographical footnotes. Contents: Presentation of Text: Flora Tristan’s diary as historical witness. The private passions of a public woman–Introduction to Translation–The text of the diary subdivided into sections on the towns visited–Bibliographical guide–Index. The Editor and Translator: Maire Fedelma Cross is Professor of French at the University of Sheffield where she teaches courses on the history of political ideas in nineteenth- and twentieth-century France. Among her publications are the coauthored works, The Feminism of Flora Tristan (with Tim Gray), Berg, 1992, and Early French Feminisms. A Passion for Liberty 1830-1940 (with Felicia Gordon), Elgar, 1996. She is a member of the editorial board of Modern and Contemporary France.