Céline Renooz
| Céline Renooz | |
|---|---|
Engraving of Renooz circa 1905
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| Born |
January 7, 1840 Liège, Belgium |
| Died | February 22, 1928 (aged 88) Paris, France |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Notable work |
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Céline Renooz (7 January 1840 – 22 February 1928) was a Belgian feminist writer and activist known for her works on evolution, epistemology, and historiography.
After a troubled marriage and the birth of four children, Renooz left her husband to launch a writing career in Paris. In a prolific series of books, lectures, articles, and correspondence, she advocated for the demolition of patriarchal structures and viewpoints that oppressed women. Her philosophy, known as "neosophism," outlined an alternative, non-male-dominated approach to science, and championed matriarchy as a beneficial social system. Her later works brought the neosophist approach to the field of historiography, critiquing male-centered societal narratives and suggesting a new feminist interpretation of historical events.
Renooz's theories were too radical for most feminists of her time, and her attempts to redesign the scientific method were not supported by women scientists with more formal training. Her ideas were largely dismissed by the male-dominated scientific establishment she criticized; her last works were written in poverty. However, Renooz was recognized as one of very few women who had become notable in French scientific circles, and regarded by feminist colleagues as a supporter in their campaigns against oppression.
Renooz was born in Liège. Her mother was from Paris; her father was Emmanuel-Nicolas Renoz (he preferred this simplified spelling), a government-appointed notary who had played a significant role in the Belgian Revolution of 1830. His outspokenly liberal views were reportedly a strong influence on his daughter. Because of his politics, the Catholic Church did not give him a religious burial, a rejection which led to a public conflict between local Catholics and liberals. After his death, his library was inherited not by Céline Renooz but by her brother, who claimed it by arguing that "it was the man's responsibility to provide books for his family."
Renooz's formal training was limited to the basic lessons typical of female education in the nineteenth century. In 1859, she married an engineering student,, the son of a well-known and politically active Spanish banker. After their marriage, they moved to Madrid and had four children together. However, their marriage became conflicted, and in 1875 Renooz left her husband to live with her children in Paris. Muro went on to become a journalist for French and Spanish newspapers, but was best known as the author of a popular Spanish cookbook, .
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