The restaurant, like so many of the institutions of French modern society, developed at a very particular moment in history. In this project, I tell the story of the maturation of the restaurant and study its unique role in the social history of Paris during the nineteenth century. By examining the restaurant as a site of modernity, I illuminate its important role in precipitating class distinctions, locating the emerging consumer culture, highlighting gender differentiation, challenging prevailing views of domesticity, and revealing a debate over public and private space.
Through a close reading of the realist novel as a discourse on daily life, I intertwine cultural history and literary theory to look at some of the critical questions about the nineteenth century restaurant. I examine a sampling of novels in which the restaurant is integral to the author’s narrative project. I demonstrate how Balzac uses the restaurant in Père Goriot as a signifier of one’s social status and how Maupassant uses the restaurant in Bel-Ami to differentiate gender roles. In my analysis of Flaubert’s Madame Bovary and L’Éducation Sentimentale and of Henry Céard’s Une Belle Journée I write about the restaurant’s unique role as both a public and private space in French society by highlighting its ability to sumultaneously satisfy many “appetites.” I read Balzac’s Le Cousin Pons, Dujardin’s Les Lauriers sont coupés, and Huysmans’ À Vaul’eau through the lens of an anxious bourgeoisie trying to navigate the emerging restaurant culture of Paris. In my final chapter, I address the social issues that rose to the surface as a result of the emergence of a nineteenth century consumer society focused around the restaurant through an analysis of Baudelaire’s poem “Les Yeux des pauvres” and Zola’s Le Ventre de Paris.
","abstract_html":"<p>The restaurant, like so many of the institutions of French modern society, developed at a very particular moment in history. In this project, I tell the story of the maturation of the restaurant and study its unique role in the social history of Paris during the nineteenth century. By examining the restaurant as a site of modernity, I illuminate its important role in precipitating class distinctions, locating the emerging consumer culture, highlighting gender differentiation, challenging prevailing views of domesticity, and revealing a debate over public and private space.</p> <p>Through a close reading of the realist novel as a discourse on daily life, I intertwine cultural history and literary theory to look at some of the critical questions about the nineteenth century restaurant. I examine a sampling of novels in which the restaurant is integral to the author’s narrative project. I demonstrate how Balzac uses the restaurant in <em>Père Goriot</em> as a signifier of one’s social status and how Maupassant uses the restaurant in <em>Bel-Ami</em> to differentiate gender roles. In my analysis of Flaubert’s <em>Madame Bovary</em> and<em> L’Éducation Sentimentale</em> and of Henry Céard’s <em>Une Belle Journée</em> I write about the restaurant’s unique role as both a public and private space in French society by highlighting its ability to sumultaneously satisfy many “appetites.” I read Balzac’s <em>Le Cousin Pons</em>, Dujardin’s <em>Les Lauriers sont coupés</em>, and Huysmans’ <em>À Vaul’eau</em> through the lens of an anxious bourgeoisie trying to navigate the emerging restaurant culture of Paris. In my final chapter, I address the social issues that rose to the surface as a result of the emergence of a nineteenth century consumer society focused around the restaurant through an analysis of Baudelaire’s poem <em>“Les Yeux des pauvres”</em> and Zola’s <em>Le Ventre de Paris</em>.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Rienti, Joseph J.B."],"institution":"The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":"French","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Mary Ann Caws"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-02-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2014-02-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:58:49Z","subjects":["French and Francophone Literature"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1421","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Mary Ann Caws"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Rienti, Joseph J.B."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-02-01T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["French"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["French and Francophone Literature"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1421"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The restaurant, like so many of the institutions of French modern society, developed at a very particular moment in history. In this project, I tell the story of the maturation of the restaurant and study its unique role in the social history of Paris during the nineteenth century. By examining the restaurant as a site of modernity, I illuminate its important role in precipitating class distinctions, locating the emerging consumer culture, highlighting gender differentiation, challenging prevailing views of domesticity, and revealing a debate over public and private space.
Through a close reading of the realist novel as a discourse on daily life, I intertwine cultural history and literary theory to look at some of the critical questions about the nineteenth century restaurant. I examine a sampling of novels in which the restaurant is integral to the author’s narrative project. I demonstrate how Balzac uses the restaurant in Père Goriot as a signifier of one’s social status and how Maupassant uses the restaurant in Bel-Ami to differentiate gender roles. In my analysis of Flaubert’s Madame Bovary and L’Éducation Sentimentale and of Henry Céard’s Une Belle Journée I write about the restaurant’s unique role as both a public and private space in French society by highlighting its ability to sumultaneously satisfy many “appetites.” I read Balzac’s Le Cousin Pons, Dujardin’s Les Lauriers sont coupés, and Huysmans’ À Vaul’eau through the lens of an anxious bourgeoisie trying to navigate the emerging restaurant culture of Paris. In my final chapter, I address the social issues that rose to the surface as a result of the emergence of a nineteenth century consumer society focused around the restaurant through an analysis of Baudelaire’s poem “Les Yeux des pauvres” and Zola’s Le Ventre de Paris.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Reading the Restaurant: Social Class, Identity, and the Culture of Consumption in the Nineteenth Century French Novel"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Mary Ann Caws"],"dc:creator":["Rienti, Joseph J.B."],"dc:date.available":["2016-02-01T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The restaurant, like so many of the institutions of French modern society, developed at a very particular moment in history. In this project, I tell the story of the maturation of the restaurant and study its unique role in the social history of Paris during the nineteenth century. By examining the restaurant as a site of modernity, I illuminate its important role in precipitating class distinctions, locating the emerging consumer culture, highlighting gender differentiation, challenging prevailing views of domesticity, and revealing a debate over public and private space.
Through a close reading of the realist novel as a discourse on daily life, I intertwine cultural history and literary theory to look at some of the critical questions about the nineteenth century restaurant. I examine a sampling of novels in which the restaurant is integral to the author’s narrative project. I demonstrate how Balzac uses the restaurant in Père Goriot as a signifier of one’s social status and how Maupassant uses the restaurant in Bel-Ami to differentiate gender roles. In my analysis of Flaubert’s Madame Bovary and L’Éducation Sentimentale and of Henry Céard’s Une Belle Journée I write about the restaurant’s unique role as both a public and private space in French society by highlighting its ability to sumultaneously satisfy many “appetites.” I read Balzac’s Le Cousin Pons, Dujardin’s Les Lauriers sont coupés, and Huysmans’ À Vaul’eau through the lens of an anxious bourgeoisie trying to navigate the emerging restaurant culture of Paris. In my final chapter, I address the social issues that rose to the surface as a result of the emergence of a nineteenth century consumer society focused around the restaurant through an analysis of Baudelaire’s poem “Les Yeux des pauvres” and Zola’s Le Ventre de Paris.
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