A multitude of links between the theories devised by magnetic somnanbulists and their magnetisors, and then spiritism, a new religion and utopia of extra-terrestrial worlds invented between 1853 and 1857 by Allan Kardec is to be found in Fourier’s works. « The Fourierists’ sky » exerted a tangible influence on these men and women who had for most of them read Fourier. Despite important disagreements, there exist striking continuities and common grounds between fourierism and the somnanbulistic or spiritist discourse (as regards in particular their socialist concern for the equality of men and women).

Nicole Edelman est maître de conférences en histoire contemporaines (HDR) à Paris Ouest-Nanterre. Elle a notamment publié Les métamorphoses de l’hystérique (2003), Voyances (2008), Histoire sommaire de la maladie et du somnambulisme de Lady Lincoln (en collaboration, 2009), "Savoirs occultés : du magnétisme à l’hypnose", Revue d’histoire du XIXe siècle, 2009/1.