Early Mass Culture In Fin-De-De-Siècle: Book Review

Spectacular Realities: Early Mass Culture in Fin-de-Siècle by Vanessa R. Schwartz explores the ways in which Paris became a spectacle in the late-nineteenth century. One institution that Schwartz focuses on is the Paris Morgue, which stands out from the other prominent modes of entertainment she analyzes in the book. Schwartz argues that “at the Paris Morgue, city and state officials, in conjunction with the popular press, turned the allegedly serious business of identifying anonymous corpses into a spectacle¬¬ – one eagerly attended by a large and diverse crowd.” However, the Paris Morgue eventually facilitated and escalated its own spectacle by utilizing theatrical elements. Schwartz uses primary sources and deliberate theater terms throughout the section on the morgue to thoroughly compare the morgue to the theater, thus fitting the morgue into the overall themes of spectacle and entertainment within her book. The original purpose of the Paris Morgue was to identify anonymous bodies by displaying the dead behind a glass window for the public to examine. However, “aided by the growth of the mass-circulated press and organized tourism, the
Furthermore, the 1908 February issue of Le Journal straightforwardly stated that “the morgue is a theater of dramas and comedies.” Drama and comedy were of course the two major genres found in theatrical productions. These documents prove that Schwartz’s comparison is not innovative; however, she provides a multitude of information describing why a common view of the morgue easily translated to a theatrical entertainment