Artists' Wives

"Artists' Wives" by Alphonse Daudet is a collection of fictional stories that examines marriage within the artistic community. The book looks at the complicated dynamics between artists and their wives, focusing on the special difficulties and disagreements that arise from their different lives. The book starts with a poet and a painter debating whether marriage helps or hurts an artist's work. The painter thinks marriage ruins talent by showing examples of upset artist couples. The poet, however, believes family life and a supportive spouse are necessary to combat the artist's isolation, thus the stories display various relationships affected by happiness, creativity, and social norms.