Unfinished revolutions : legacies of upheaval in modern French culture / Robert T. Denommé and Roland H. Simon, editors.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Denommé, Robert Thomas.

Simon, Roland-H.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

France--Civilization.

France.

Civilization.

France--History--Revolution, 1789-1799--Historiography.

History.

Historiography.

France--History--Revolution, 1789-1799--Influence.

France--Cultural policy.

Cultural policy.

Physical Description:

178 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

University Park, Pa. : Pennsylvania State University Press, [1998]

Summary:

Original essays that show how the French Revolution continues to influence that country to the present day.

Although modern scholars have viewed the French Revolution of 1789 as an event that irrevocably altered the destiny of that nation, it seems today to remain an unfinished task, one that failed to completely achieve its goals of "liberte, egalite, fraternite".

These essays illustrate the theme of "unfinished revolution" in modern France from a variety of historical perspectives, all showing how the Revolution continues to influence that country to the present day. Contributors from history, sociology, literature, politics, and the history of science discuss both how the Revolution was interpreted during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and how it is being completed in the postmodern age.

Scholars including Henri Mitterand and Henri Mendras here focus on specific examples of the ongoing conflicts between proponents and opponents of revolution. The articles consider a broad spectrum of topics ranging from the novels of Hugo and Zola and writings of the French Romantics to the symbolic function of the Pantheon, the relevance of the Revolution to the 1889 Universal Exposition, and the continuing progress of democratization in France.

Unfinished Revolutions shows that any viable definition of French culture rests on an ongoing examination of values inherited from institutions that have shaped the French character both before and after the Revolution. By offering penetrating glimpses into facets of the unfinished nature of revolutions, it invites readers to rethink basic questions concerning history and its reappropriation.

Contents:

Introduction: The Unfinished Nature of Revolutions 1

I. The Unfinished Revolution: Popular Writing and Iconography in Cultural History Studies / Marc Bertrand 17

II. "The Scarlet Vision of the: Revolution..." / Henri Mitterand 43

III. Quatrevingt-Treize: Turning the Terror to Account / Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson 65

IV. Concerning Certain Usages of the Revolution in French Romantic Literature / Robert T. Denomme 81

V. The Unfinished Scientific Revolution and Stendhal's La Chartreuse De Parme / Karen Hunger Parshall 103

VI. Unsettled Memories: The Revolution Buries Its Dead / Marie-Helene Huet 121

VII. Presenting Modern France: The Rhetoric of Reform at the 1889 Universal Exhibition / Janet Horne 139

VIII. What is Left of 1789? / Henri Mendras 163.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

0271017856

0271017864

OCLC:

37955790