Balzac claimed that toilettes were the expression of society. Coiffures describes the historical and cultural practices associated with womens hairstyles hair care and hair art in nineteenthcentury France. Hair also has profound symbolic significance. Lying on the border between life and death it grows but does not feel. It marks sexual identity it can be wild and erotic or tamed and made docile by hairdressing. Literary works are inevitably informed by social and cultural practices and those of the period make extensive use of the meanings of hair. The Realist novelists in particular devote great attention to the physical traits and dress of their characters and hair is often a key element in their descriptions and plots. Coiffures shows how a wide range of literary works incorporate the manifold aspects of hair and it examines particular texts in detail including works by Balzac Sand Flaubert Zola Gautier Maupassant and Rodenbach.