Eccentricity and the Cultural Imagination in Nineteenth-Century ParisWhat did it mean to call someone 'eccentric' in nineteenth century Paris? And why did breaking with convention arouse such ambivalent responses in middle class readers, writers, and spectators? From high society to Bohemia and the demi monde to the madhouse, the scandal of nonconformism provoked anxiety, disgust, and often secre yearning. In a culture preoccupied by the need for order ye simultaneously drawn to the values of freedom and innovation,