Little Demon in the City of Light (Levingston) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
1. Paris in the Belle Epoque was a strange and sensational place. What were some of the signs of its bizarre city life? Would you have liked to be alive then?

2. Do you think hypnotism has the powers that the French in the 19th century believed it had, even to the point that someone could be hypnotized to commit murder?

3. Women in the Belle Epoque were sometimes perceived as "hysterics." How did doctors and scientists treat women like that? And was it right?

4. The Paris newspapers played up the Gabrielle Bompard murder case. Consider the hunger of the press for the latest morsels about the little demon and her behavior. Were you surprised by the extent of the media hype more than a century ago? Discuss how this hype foreshadows the intense coverage of cases like the story of OJ Simpson.

5. Chief detective Goron was a classic, indefatigable gumshoe. What did you think of his style of police work?

6. Programs like CSI feature cutting edge forensics. But in the Belle Epoque, Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne was a pioneer in forensic science and his revolutionary techniques helped solve the case. How did early forensics figure in the story?

7. Putting the bloody trunk on display at the morgue for thousands of Parisians to see was just as much a spectacle as a night at the Moulin Rouge. Sigmund Freud, who was a medical student in Paris in 1885, wrote home: "Suffice it to say that the city and its inhabitants strike me as uncanny; the people seem to me of a different species from ourselves; I feel they are all possessed of a thousand demons." What did you think of the public’s eagerness to embrace the ghoulish?

8. Inspector Jaume felt that Gabrielle had become too popular and was disgusted by the public’s excitement over a murder suspect. "There is truly hypnotism in the air," he said. "Only it’s Gabrielle who magnetizes public opinion." Did you believe Gabrielle’s testimony?

9. What do you think of the sentencing of Gabrielle Bompard and Michel Eyraud. Fair or not?

10. Did this book change or inform your perception of Paris in the Belle Epoque?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)

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