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Madame Chrysanthemum’S Sisters, Elizabeth Emery

Department of World Languages and Cultures Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

English translation of two articles published in the newspaper Le Temps by Adolphe Brisson in April and May 1900. They are dedicated to the twelve "geishas" brought from Japan to perform at the Panorama du Tour du monde, the "sisters" of Pierre Loti's “Madame Chrysanthemum” (the model for Puccini's Madama Butterfly). Brisson's interviews with a number of figures important for Japonisme (Hayashi and Bigot, in particular) provide insights into Franco-Japanese relations in 1900 and to the living and working conditions of foreign performers at the Paris Exposition.