Pauline Ménard-Dorian

Pauline Ménard-Dorian (21 July 1870 – 24 December 1941) was a French woman of letters and a literary salon hostess of La Belle Époque.

Pauline Ménard-Dorian
Portrait of Pauline Ménard-Dorian by Eugène Carrière circa 1890.
Born21 July 1870
Château du Fraisse
Third French Republic
Died24 December 1941
Mas de Malherbes
Aimargues, Gard
Vichy France
NationalityFrench
Known forsalon hostess
SpouseGeorges Victor-Hugo (1894–1899; div.)
ChildrenJean Hugo
Marguerite Hugo
Parent(s)Paul-François Ménard
Louise-Aline Dorian

Early life and family

Pauline Ménard-Dorian was born at the Château du Fraisse on 21 July 1870 to Paul-François Ménard, a wealthy politician and businessman, and Louise-Aline Dorian.[1] A member of a prominent Republican family, her maternal grandfather, Pierre Frédéric Dorian, served as the Minister of Public Works for the French Third Republic. She was raised as a Protestant. She spent her childhood between living in a hotel in the Rue de la Faisanderie and her family's properties in Fraisse and Lunel.

Her mother hosted Republican salons attended by Jules de Goncourt, Edmond de Goncourt, Émile Zola, Alphonse Daudet, Auguste Rodin, Élie-Abel Carrière, Victor Considerant , and Georges Clemenceau , Georges Périn , Allain-Targé , Challemel-Lacour , and Henri Rochefort.

Adult life

In 1894 Ménard-Dorian married Georges Victor-Hugo, a grandson of Victor Hugo.[2] They had two children, Marguerite and Jean. Through her marriage she was a sister-in-law of the socialite Jeanne Hugo. She and her husband hosted popular literary and political salons in Paris attended by Zola, Marcel Proust, Léon Daudet, the Goncourt brothers, Jean Cocteau, Max Jacob, Eugène Carrière, and Erik Satie.[3][4] The marriage was an unhappy one, and Ménard-Dorian filed for divorce in 1899.[5]

Ménard-Dorian died on 24 December 1941 at the Mas de Malherbes in Aimargues.

Portrait of Madame Georges Hugo, and her son Jean by Giovanni Boldini, 1898, oil on canvas - Subject: Madame Georges Hugo (born Pauline Ménard-Dorian) and her son, Jean Hugo

References
  1. "Letter from Louise-Aline Ménard, née Dorian, (1850-1929) to an unidentified correspondent - Letters of Victor Hugo's relatives - The Victor Hugo Collection - Archives Hub". archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. Retrieved Sep 30, 2019.
  2. Stephens, Bradley (Feb 11, 2019). Victor Hugo. Reaktion Books. ISBN 9781789141115. Retrieved Sep 30, 2019 – via Google Books.
  3. Rosengarten, Frank (Sep 30, 2014). THROUGH PARTISAN EYES: My Friendships, Literary Education, and Political Encounters in Italy (1956-2013). Firenze University Press. ISBN 9788866555674. Retrieved Sep 30, 2019 – via Google Books.
  4. Windsor, Henry Haven (Sep 30, 1916). Cartoons Magazine. H.H. Windsor, Editor and Publisher. p. 397. Retrieved Sep 30, 2019 – via Internet Archive. Pauline Ménard-Dorian.
  5. Cambor, Kate (Aug 3, 2010). Gilded Youth: Three Lives in France's Belle Époque. Macmillan. ISBN 9780374532246. Retrieved Sep 30, 2019 – via Google Books.
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