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For centuries before the 1789 revolution ballet was a source of great cultural pride for France but by the twentieth century the art form had deterio- rated along with Frances international standing. It was not until Serge Diaghilevs Ballets Russes found success in Paris during the rst decade of the new century that France embraced the opportunity to restore ballet to its former glory and transform it into a hallmark of the nation. In When Ballet Became French Ilyana Karthas explores the revitalization of ballet and its crucial signicance to French culture during a period of momentous transnational cultural exchange and shifting attitudes towards gender and the body. Uniting the disciplines of cultural history gender and womens studies aesthetics and dance his- tory Karthas examines the ways in which discus- sions of ballet intersect with French concerns about the nation modernity and gender identi- ties demonstrating how ballet served as an impor- tant tool for Frances project of national renewal. Relating ballet commentary to themes of transna- tionalism nationalism aesthetics gender and body politics she examines the process by which critics artists and intellectuals turned ballet back into a symbol of French culture. The rst book to study the correlation between ballet and French nationalism When Ballet Became French demonstrates how dance can transform a nations cultural and political history. Ambitious in scope and focused in argument When Ballet Became French offers a compelling account of the rise and fall and rise again of ballets fortunes as an exemplary French cultural and implicitly political form. Integrating dance history into a broader narrative of French cultural and gender history Karthas combines an internalist understanding of the transformations in ballets choreography technique staging and institutional form with a broader externalist analysis of its symbolism social location and cultural and political resonance. Judith Surkis Rutgers University Ilyana Karthas is assistant professor of history and afliate faculty of womens and gender studies at the University of MissouriColumbia. 2 5 M Q U P F A L L 2 0 1 5 F R E N C H H I S T O R Y C U LT U R A L H I S T O R Y When Ballet Became French Modern Ballet and the Cultural Politics of France 19091939 ilyana karthas A comprehensive picture of early twentieth-century French culture through the lens of ballet discourse. S P E C I F I C AT I O N S September 2015 978-0-7735-4605-9 44.95A CDN 39.95A US 27.99 cloth 6 x 9 352pp 14 photos Ebook available