bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Aspects de la conversion (1790-1800)
Authors: Guitton Edouard
Published: June 2016

Edouard Guitton : Aspects of conversion at the turn of the Century.

Leaving aside concepts of pre-romanticism and neoclassicism, this study isolates a phenomenon which was an important aspect of mentalities between 1790 and 1800 — that of conversion. We consider its historical, psychological, political and religious aspects, as well as its literary manifestations. Using convergent analyses, and without claiming to be exhaustive, this article attempts to throw light on this intellectual transformation in France at the turn of the century. In particular, it takes as examples La Harpe, André Chénier, the Ideologues, Delille, Joseph de Maistre, Mme de Staël, Chateaubriand ; the cases of Joubert and Maine de Biran are left for a later development.
Phénoménologie de la conscience religieuse
Authors: Vieillard-Baron Jean-Louis
Published: June 2016

Jean-Louis Vieillard-Baron : Phenomenology of religious consciousness.

The awakening of a religious consciousness in the last decades of the 18th C. can be seen in revolutionary ideology (Saint-Just, Danton, Robespierre) in which Revolution becomes Revelation. Fichte expresses this attitude in philosophy. In the aesthetic field we see a religious taste for the sublime. The intériorisation of religion is present in Hemsterhuis and Dutoit-Membriné. It takes new forms in Schleiermacher's Discourse on Religion (1799) and Chateaubriand's Génie du christianisme (1802), in which the exotic and sentimental are primordial. In 1807, Hegel demonstrated, in the Phenomenology of the Spirit, the significance of the religious revival ; art and religion are the means to attain Absolute Knowledge.
Un inédit de Benjamin Constant : Du moment actuel et de la destinée de l'espèce humaine ou histoire abrégée de l'égalité
Authors: Fink Béatrice
Published: June 2016

Beatrice Fink : An unpublished political treatise by Benjamin Constant.

Almost all of Constant's post-Empire theoretical writings are traceable to ms. works pre-dating 1806 that were subsequently published piecemeal. One group of mss., however, not mentioned by Constant, remains entirely unpublished. It consists of an unfinished treatise entitled «Du moment actuel et de la destinée de l'espèce humaine, ou Histoire abrégée de l'égalité », 2 lists of contents and an outline of the projected whole. Treatise and outline are here reproduced and situated in Constant's opus, and his aim is reconstructed. The treatise is an early work (ca. 1800), while the outline was written after 1815, suggesting projected publication. These texts add a new dimension to Constant's historical thought and pinpoint the role of equality in his philosophy.
Conversation sur le livre de Télémaque. Présentation
Authors: Kapp Volker
Published: June 2016

Volker Kapp : A neglected text : the «Conversation sur le livre de télémaque ».

The Conversation sur le livre de Télémaque, which appeared in 3 different editions, is now available only in the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbuttel. It is a literary treatment of a conversation between Sophie-Charlotte of Braunschweig and the future king Friedrich-Wilhelm I. Before January 1701 the latter's mother had recommended Fénelon's Télémaque to her son for him to learn the ethic of princes. The editor attributes the text to Antoine Teissier, who first published, in the Hague in 1700, Louvilles's «Mémoire » on Fénelon's concept of education. The Conversation provides the first evidence that Télémaque was used in the education of princes.
Deux lettres inédites du chevalier de Boufflers
Authors: Sokalski Alex
Published: June 2016

Alex Sokalski : Two unpublished letters by the Chevalier de Boufflers.

Known, since the later 19th Century, for his amorous correspondence with the Countess of Sabran, the Chevalier Stanislas de Boufflers is, however, not simply a writer of love-letters, as these two letters show. The first is addressed to a cousin, Mme de Caraman, and complements certain letters to his Countess from the same period, when the Chevalier was stationed in Brittany. Our second letter reveals the member for Nancy at work during the 1790 spring session of the Constituent Assembly.
Les thèmes des images populaires chez les Dicey
Authors: Duval Gilles
Published: June 2016

Gilles Duval : The themes of the Diceys' popular prints.

The two Dicey catalogues (ca. 1760) and the Bowles and Carver prints (ca. 1780) are typical of popular illustrations of the period. They show a preference for awesome and pathetic biblical scenes, portraits of selected English monarchs and of victorious and/or pathetic generals or admirals. The documents also testify to a fascination for public figures, criminals, singers, acrobats, etc. All these coexist with 'genre' scenes, monuments and traditional satirical scenes. Although diverse, the subjects are often underpinned by the twin patterns of the 'Wheel of Fortune' and 'The World turned upside-down'.
Grimm, Lalande et le quart de cercle de l'École militaire
Authors: David Jean-Claude
Published: June 2016

Jean-Claude David : Grimm, Lalande and the École militaire's quadrant.

One letter from Grimm and three from Lalande (1785-6) are published here for the first time. They concern the sale in Paris of a quadrant of a hitherto unknown precision, unique in France. Lalande wished to acquire it for the Royal Military Academy, while Grimm was trying to buy it for the Duke of Saxe-Gotha whose dream was to build an observatory. Lalande managed to defeat Grimm's secret negotiations and persuaded the War Ministry to finance the purchase of the instrument, without which a chapter in the history of astronomy would doubtless never have been written.
Vingt années d'études «chéniéristes»
Authors: Guitton Edouard
Published: June 2016

Édouard Guitton : Twenty years of Chénier Studies.

Recent research on André Chénier no longer treats him in isolation from his brother Marie-Joseph, his parents and the rest of his family. The poet's works have still to be republished, for this project has encountered many obstacles. The hunt for unpublished texts and manuscripts still goes on, and the main problem remains the organisation of fragments. There has been considerable progress in research in the last 20 years ; literary analysis, to remain relevant, is limited to three main directions : political and social aspects, technical approaches and aesthetic analyses. Since the colloquium on the Chéniers in 1981, Marie-Joseph has joined André as an object of critical analysis.
L'échelle des revenus
Authors: Sgard Jean
Published: June 2016

Jean Sgard : The salary scale.

The salary scale in France between 1726 and 1789 differs from 1 to 1000, if princely fortunes are excluded. Certain thresholds can be determined with comparative precision : 300 livres p. a. for a skilled worker, 1000 for an administrator, 5000 for a respectable middle-class fortune, 40,000 for a 'noble' income, and 100,000 for great fortunes. These differences and thresholds are often evident in novels, as can be seen from the example of Manon Lescaut, and they can help us to establish comparisons with present-day incomes.
Les manuels de cuisine
Authors: Bonnet Jean-Claude
Published: June 2016

Jean-Claude Bonnet : Cookery Handbooks.

Between 1650 and 1830 we see the «embourgeoisement» of cookery books ; what was originally a manual of table etiquette linked to aristocratic festivities became, by shedding its many annexes, simply a source of cooking information. The mid-eighteenth century saw a «new cuisine », simple yet subtle, based on sauces ; there rapidly appeared, in the prefaces and introductions accompanying the practical instructions, a commentary full of erudition. The tension between these two approaches is one of the distinguishing marks of gastronomy. It is not easy to read an 18th-century cookery book, for we are faced with a very strange world of the imagination and a maze of notions.
De la table au lit
Authors: Tarczylo Théodore
Published: June 2016

Theodore Tarczylo : From table to bed.

In the economy of salvation, the need to discipline one's nutrition is the first step towards perfection, which refuses fleshly excesses, but also the excesses of spiritual pride. The metaphor of nutrition enables us to understand the dynamism and rigour of Christian morality. It gives flesh to something that remains, essentially, beyond words. For the doctor, nutrition ensures the individual's continuity while genitality ensures that of the species as a whole ; he thus rejects both debauchery and asceticism. The principle of mediocrity thus makes medical writings appear as a continuation of moral theology, but it does not exclude, nevertheless, contrasts.
Mme de Merteuil et la critique du libertinage
Authors: Barny Roger
Published: June 2016

Roger Barny : Mme de Merteuil and anti-libertinism.

The marquise de Merteuil is the central character around whom the plot of the Liaisons dangereuses revolves. In the absence of narrative, the libertine's practice of the secret and the lie makes the heroine's behaviour difficult to interpret and perhaps unfathomable. However it can be seen as coherent and significant if we admit that her libertinism is rather a mask than a profound belief (which would be impossible for her as a woman). At the end of the novel she is defeated but nevertheless victorious, for she has brought off an experiment which proves the idiocy and inhumanity of libertine principles, which had helped her to lay a trap for Valmont, her «accomplice ».
Préliminaire de d'Alembert
Authors: Bélaval Yvon
Published: June 2016

Yvon Belaval : Preliminary

Was d'Alembert a philosopher ? This is only a first step towards an answer. His contemporaries were divided as to whether he was a snob or a sage. Although as a writer he aroused Voltaire's admiration, Diderot sent him contemptuously back to his equations. His ideal was the clear and distinct idea and he was close to this in literature ; surprisingly enough, according to mathematicians, he too often lacks this quality in his geometrical demonstrations. The philosopher has still to be judged.
D'Alembert et l'astronomie
Authors: Levy Jacques
Published: June 2016

Jacques Lévy : D'Alembert and astronomy.

D'Alembert's works on astronomy, written mainly between 1744 and 1756, concern essentially celestial mechanics ; they deal with the figure of the Earth, a body's movement around its centre of gravity, and the problem of three bodies (including the Moon's motion). The main positive result obtained concerns the movement of the Earth's axis (1749) : for the first time the movement of precession was calculated rigorously, and the phenomenon of nutation, which had just been discovered by Bradley, was described with a greatly superior precision to that of experimental findings. The other problems were too complex to be solved by d'Alembert's general form of mathematical analysis ; nevertheless he provided methods and tools that were to be used later, notably by Laplace, part of whose work was founded on them.
D'Alembert et la physiologie
Authors: Duchesneau François
Published: June 2016

François Duchesneau : D'Alembert and physiology.

D'Alembert criticised dogmatic iatromechanism and supported attempts, such as those of Haller, to ground physiological theory on an analysis of vital phenomena. His empirical methodology presupposes that basic physiological principles, established by experiment, can correlate sets of complex and relatively variable phenomena. The daring speculations of later physiological theories were difficult to reconcile with d'Alembert's epistemological views.
Quand Voltaire était élu à l'Académie de Saint-Petersbourg. Lettres présentées
Authors: Lizé E.
Published: June 2016

Emile Lizé : Voltaire and the Russian academy.

The documents presented here, already published in the 19th Century, but omitted by the Besterman edition of Voltaire's correspondence, are from the archives of the French Foreign Ministry. They show the involvement of the French ambassador to St. Petersburg in Voltaire's election to the Russian Academy in 1746.
L'anti-Pascal de d'Alembert
Authors: McKenna Antony
Published: June 2016

Antony Mckenna : D'Alembert's anti-Pascal.

Following D. Finch's study (1940) of Pascal's influence in the 18th Century, we underline d'Alembert's contribution to the debate on rational and historical proofs of Christianity. All d'Alembert's philosophical works bear reference to Pascal. His Eloge de l'abbé Houtteville, in particular, presents Pascal as a potential atheist saved from incredulity by an irrational faith. This Eloge consists partly in a "collage" of Pascalian fragments : we interpret d'Alembert's reading of the Pensées as a reaction to Sabatier de Castres's attack on the Encyclopedists and as a source of Condorcet's Eloge de M. Pascal. We provide a complete concordance of the Pascalian fragments exploited by d'Alembert.
Franc-maçonnerie et protestantisme
Authors: Ligou Daniel
Published: June 2016

Daniel Ligou : Freemasonry and protestantism.

'Speculative ' Freemasonry was from the beginning marked by an Anglican and Presbyterian atmosphere, seen in the ' decatholicisation ' of its ritual, the importance of the Bible and the removal of all references to the Virgin or the saints ; above all there was the role played in the foundation of the London Grand Lodge by the clergymen Desaguliers and Anderson. This Freemasonry spread without difficulty in Protestant countries and, despite Papal Bulls, in countries traditionally suspicious of the Vatican, such as France and the Empire ; but in the Italian and Iberian peninsulas its hold was slight and its existence precarious. In Catholic countries the Protestant minority was favourable, especially in France, where three Protestants — Morin, Baur and Court de Gebelin — played a particularly important role.
Une mentalité du 16e siècle au temps des Lumières : les protestants du Vivarais
Authors: Joutard Philippe
Published: June 2016

Philippe Joutard : From the sixteenth century to the enlightenment : Pro¬ testants in the Vivarais.

French Protestants in the second half of the 18th century have traditionally been presented as greatly influenced by enlightened ideas, and as deists rather than christians. This article attempts to modify this image. A certain number of manuscripts concerning the Vivarais Protestants, dating from after 1750 and found in the present century in peasant family archives (sermons, prayers, collections of laments), help us to gain an insight into the religious sensibility of this community. What emerges is a fundamentalistic vision of the Bible and even an apocalyptic and millenarian state of mind, which indicate that this reformed community lived in the age of Luther rather than Voltaire.
Monarchistes ou Républicains ?
Authors: Adams Geoffrey
Published: June 2016

Geoffrey Adams : Monarchists or republicans ?

From the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes to the Edict of Toleration, Catholics, monarchists and philosophes associated Calvinism with republicanism, and the Calvinist churches' governing bodies were organised on republican lines. But the shock of the Revocation, followed by the Camisard War, led the French Protestants to adopt, from 1715 to the Revolution, a resolutely pro-monarchical stance and conduct. However, by their very presence in the kingdom and their resistance to royal edicts concerning the ' new Catholics ', they contributed to weakening the monarchical ideal.
La surveillance des protestants en Hautes-Cévennes (1705-1760)
Authors: Poujol Robert
Published: June 2016

Robert Poujol : Surveillance of protestants in the Hautes-Cévennes.

The period under study goes from the end of the War of the Camisards to 1760, the beginning of de facto toleration. The court at Versailles was haunted by the memory of the Cévennes uprising of 1702 and the Regent's policy, followed by Louis XV, was inconsistent : on the one hand he forbade religious meetings, while on the other he treated the new converts like the old Catholics. The Phély peaux dynasty, Secretaries of the Royal Household, applied this policy, carried out at the local level by the Campredons, Subdelegates at Barre-des-Cévennes. In the clandestine Reformed churches composing the «Heroic Wilderness », where Antoine Court preached, non violence was almost always applied. Pastor Paul Rabaut inaugurated the «Second Wilderness » which was peaceful, tolerant and tolerated.
Saint-Simon et les huguenots : convergence et variations
Authors: Coirault Yves
Published: June 2016

Yves Coirault : Saint-Simon and the Huguenots.

Despite Saint-Simon's well-known attack on the Edict of Fontainebleau (1685) and the forced conversions, we should not forget that in 1716 the Duke was hostile to recalling the banished Protestants and that in 1746, in his Memoirs and Parallèle des trois premiers rois Bourbons. the aged writer was still attacking the Huguenots for being factious and republicans. Although he still considered the Revocation to be an error, his loyalty to traditional values and beliefs meant that he refused, here as in other fields, any change or compromise. He was sorry for the erring, the exiled and the obstinate, but he refused both the ' abomination ' and any toleration which would amount to condoning ' error '.
Court de Gébelin et les Églises
Authors: Robert Daniel
Published: June 2016

Daniel Robert : Court de Gebelin and the Churches.

This article only deals with one aspect of the complex and insufficiently known activity of Court de Gebelin, son of Antoine Court, namely his role as a pastor. His religious ideas can be seen in two manuscripts in the Court Collection at the Geneva Library (summaries of a larger work which has been lost) ; while claiming to follow the Bible and traditional teaching, he is in fact, by means of symbolic representations and cross-cultural references, expressing his own ideas, close to those of 19th-century liberals. Later, Court de Gebelin moved to France and after travelling in the South, settled in Paris (1763-1784), where he at first considered himself as the Protestants' representative ; in fact, he was on bad terms with most of the community who considered him too daring and hence dangerous.
Les entrées royales ou le plaisir du prince
Authors: Moureau François
Published: June 2016

François Moureau : Royal entries or the prince's pleasure.

This article considers royal entries as exceptional shows with a single performance. In the 18th Century, the ' Entrée ', in which the deified Prince showed himself to the people, became a ritual ceremony directed by Parisian civil servants or local authorities, who stuck to rigid, stereotyped patterns. There was no local colour or enthusiastic crowds ; everything was French, monarchical and unified. Rare popular exuberance or aberrations such as the royal illness at Metz were integrated to emphasize the permanence and inevitability of royal power. All this can be seen in the accounts of ' Entrées ' which were splendid works intended to immortalise the King's memory and actions. The decline of this dramatic genre after 1750 proves that here, as elsewhere, the time was ripe for reform.
Public et répertoire aux théâtres Regio et Carignano de Turin
Authors: Bouquet-Boyer Marie-Thérèse
Published: June 2016

Marie-Thérèse Bouquet-Boyer : Public and repertory in the Turin theatres.

In the 18th Century Turin had two great theatres, the Regio and the Carignano, which were both linked to the Savoy royal family, but had very different audiences and repertories. The Teatro Regio, opened on 26th December 1-740, was built by the King of Sardinia, who wanted to own a permanent theatre devoted to Neapolitan opera which was then the rage in Italy. It was reserved for the King, the court, foreign diplomats and a few privileged individuals, and its season went from 26th December to Ash Wednesday. In contrast, the Teatro Carignano, built at the beginning of the century by the Prince of Carignano, was open almost all year to a much wider public, and its repertory ranged from opera buffa and French and Italian comedies to masked balls and puppet shows.
Frédéric II et l'opéra
Authors: Otto Werner
Published: June 2016

Werner Otto : Frederick II and the opera.

When he was heir to the throne and exiled at Ruppin, Frederick II first developed, with the architect Knobelsdorff, his idea of a national German opera to replace its Italian rival in Germany. He inaugurated at Rheinsberg, together with the musician Graun, entertainments in which he played the flute. When he became King he commissioned Knobelsdorff to build an Opera in Berlin modelled on the Villa Rotonda at Piacenza (1742). The King exercised a strict control over the Unter den Linden Opera, scouring Europe for the best artists ; the details of this influx of European blood to Berlin can be followed in the letters of Knobelsdorff and Graun. After the Seven Years' War, Frederick's interest in his toy declined ; his artistic tastes were conservative and the best talents left. The founder of ' German Opera ' disliked both Glück and Mozart.
François Richard, paysan parvenu
Authors: Bertrand Colette
Published: June 2016

Colette Bertrand : François Richard, a peasant's success story.

Richard-Lenoir (1765-1839) dictated authentic, moving memoirs in which he summed up his life and recounted the stages of his transformation from François Richard to Monsieur Richard-Lenoir. The first three chapters, studied here, are devoted to his childhood and adolescence, when he was still only a little peasant from Epinay. This precise, simple, sometimes malicious document brings us the voice of a hard-working, miserable and usually silent class and recounts the slow rise of a peasant towards fortune and respectability ; it is thus a celebration of victory over hunger, fear and poverty. It also gives an inside view of country life in the 18th Century and the aspirations of the peasantry for social betterment.
Illusion et désillusion dans l'Émigré de Sénac de Meilhan
Authors: Laforge François
Published: June 2016

François Laforge : Illusion and disillusion in Sénac de Meilhan's «L'Émigré ».

L'Émigré, which dates from the same period as Bonald's and J. de Maistre's theoretical texts, is part of a general critical reflexion on the Enlightenment and the Revolution. The choice of a fictional form reflects Sénac's two-fold ideological aim. He wished, first, to show the Enlightenment's true character, which was illusion and the imaginary, and which made the novel the perfect instrument for a rigorous critique of the ' enlightened ' aristocracy's different myths. Secondly, he wanted to exorcise contemporary history, by denying the Revolution any reality. Here again, as the Revolution is no longer part of reality but of fiction, the only appropriate form is that of the novel.
A propos des fausses adresses
Authors: Weil Françoise
Published: June 2016

Françoise Weil : On false imprints.

This article proposes a new classification of books published with a false imprint and considers whether there is a link between the publisher's imprint on the original edition and the false one on the pirated edition. It emphasizes the complexity of the problem, for one must distinguish between forbidden, tolerated and pirated books. Above all the article insists on the necessity for a corpus of typographical ornaments, in one form or another.
La lecture dans les petites écoles
Authors: Sonnet Martine
Published: June 2016

Martine Sonnet : Reading in French Village Schools.

Reading was the main subject taught in village schools, and the teaching methods used can be studied in the extant pedagogical literature and text-books. The learner is led over a series of strictly graded thresholds, from the recognition of letters to syllables, words and whole lines, first in printed characters and then in handwriting. For exercises, the pupils used mainly alphabets inspired by pious works such as the famous Cross of Jesus. Such textbooks were published by printers specialising in popular editions and their use prepared the children for their later reading of chapbooks. As these schools produced readers with different levels of competence according to how much of the course they finished, they led to collective reading practices, as the less expert often sought the help of more learned neighbours.
Culture populaire et création littéraire. Le cas de Rétif de la Bretonne
Authors: Testud Pierre
Published: June 2016

Pierre Testud : Popular culture and literary creation — the case of Rétif

de la Bretonne.

Thanks to his peasant origins and his experience of working-class life, Rétif may appear to be an author who represents the true voice of the people. In fact, despite his populist claims, he adopts the social and cultural ideology of the ruling class. His literary works are nevertheless distinguished by three characteristics which betray the influence of popular culture, namely : veneration for the printed word ; the narrative structure, which is that of almanachs ; and the inclusion of oral communication in which the narrator's power is particularly clear. The works' freedom and originality come from the failure of Rétifs double attempt at a new departure and cultural aspirations.
L'image et la Bibliothèque bleue normande
Authors: Le Men Ségolène
Published: June 2016

Ségolène Le Men : Illustration in the Bibliothèque bleue in Normandy.

This article studies the function of the few pictures to be found in these chap-books, which is not that of modern illustration. Full-page illustrations and vignettes are distinguished from ornaments, which show a certain technical mastery. Despite the unchanging subject-matter, the type and position of illustrations evolve ; in the 18th Century, they tend to be found mainly on the title-page in the form of a vignette indicating the literary genre, a part of the reading public or the region. In books with several illustrations there is a greater use of specially-adapted woodcuts. After the upheavals of the Revolution, the genre reemerges, and the collections made at the end of the 19th Century form the basis for our present knowledge.
La roue de la Fortune dans les livrets de colportage anglais
Authors: Duval Gilles
Published: June 2016

Gilles Duval : The Wheel of Fortune in English chap-literature.

Despite its relatively unobstrusive nature, the topos of the Wheel of Fortune plays an important role in English chap-literature. It is at the basis of both books of magic and astrology and also many biographies (such as Elizabeth I and the Earl of Essex, Moll Flanders, etc...). Its importance springs from its malleability and its kinship with other commonplaces (notably ' The World Turned Upside Down ') ; together they reveal some of the more secret aspects of these texts.
Livres populaires français et allemands dans l'Europe du Sud-Est
Authors: Duju Alexandre
Published: June 2016

Alexandru Dutu : French and German popular books in south east

Europe.

In the second half of the 18th Century, popular books were often published in Serbian, Greek and Romanian, and an even greater variety of titles is to be found in manuscript form. Both those who ordered the manuscripts and those who subscribed to the books preferred entertaining works, recounting amazing adventures, which were also educational. At the same time, translators often collaborated in towns such as Vienna, Budapest or Bucarest. A ' middle-brow Culture ' was thus formed, comprising traditional popular works, such as Paris et Vienne or Till Eulenspiegel, and texts by Wieland, Campe, August Lafontaine, Gessner, Fénelon, Florian, Marmontel, Ducray-Duminil. During this period popular books broadened their range and appealed to all tastes, but their composite character was a sign of the future separation of cultural levels.
Les agents nationaux en Bretagne
Authors: Tripier Yves
Published: June 2016

Yves Tripier : National Agents in Britanny during the Revolution.

National agents in each of the local councils created by the Montagnard Convention (Decree dated 14 Frimaire, an II, 4 December 1793) were charged, under the authority of visiting representatives, with the excution of revolutionary laws and the encouragement of the local authorities who were often considered by the Paris committees to be too moderate and thus likely to hinder the Convention's actions. The task of these important instruments of the Montagnard government was to ' republicanise ' Britanny, which was strongly Catholic and attached to its traditional rights and liberties. This article shows how a revolutionary government, imposed by the capital and threatened from both inside and outside the country, defended itself and extended its control over distant and recalcitrant provinces.
Euler lecteur de Descartes
Authors: Costabel Pierre
Published: June 2016

Pierre Cost ab el : Euler and Descartes.

Euler's writings provide a typical illustration of the way in which Cartesianism was considered in the mid-Eighteenth Century. A systematic inventory of direct quotations made by Euler shows that he had in fact read the available texts by Descartes which concerned his own interests ; in general however he had misunderstood some of the subtleties of Descartes's analyses, in particular concerning the concept of laws of nature.
Une contradiction chez Helvétius : l'herbivore et le carnassier
Authors: Dion Françoise
Published: June 2016

Françoise Dion-Sigoda : The herbivore and the carnivore, a contradiction in Helvétius.

Helvétius defines man by his physical sensitivity and his passivity in the face of external determinism. At the same time, he uses the state of nature in De l'Homme to show that man is both a herbivorous and a carnivorous animal. This definition, using Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, should be taken as both moral (the herbivore as good, the carnivore as cruel) and political (sociable versus unsociable). By associating these contradictory ideas, Helvétius wishes to emphasize man's malleability in the hands of the legislator ; but the bitterness caused by the condemnation of De l'Esprit led him more and more to consider man as a wild beast whose cruel drives must be repressed by the legislator. This contradiction between Helvétius the man and his system can be seen clearly in De l'Homme.
Casanova/Fellini ou le bel infidèle
Authors: Mimoso-Ruiz Duarte , Rustin Jacques
Published: June 2016

Duarte Mimoso-Ruiz and Jacques Rustin : Casanova-Fellini.

Fellini always showed a certain contempt for Casanova di Seingalt, even claiming not to have read his memoirs in order to film his famous Casanova. However, a close study of the 1977 film and the work reveals, behind this apparent contempt and derisive parody, a remarkable study of the text. The ten episodes are well chosen and allow a subtle play on the order of events, which are always traceable (with one exception ?), even if the story tends ever more towards a typically Fellinian free fantasy. The screen-writers' aim was obviously to de-mythify the hero, who is reduced to the level of a stud or a puppet ; one could however argue that in this unequal (and unfair) fight, the very brutality of the film's caricature makes the true Casanova appear in a more favourable light.
Franc-maçonnerie et Église catholique. Motivations politiques des premières condamnations papales
Authors: Ferrer-Benimeli José
Published: June 2016

Jose A. Ferrer Benimeli : Freemasonry and the Catholic Church. Political motives for the first papal condemnations.

There are two crucial moments in the relations between the Catholic Church and Freemasonry in the 18th Century, namely the condemnations by Clement XII in 1738 and Benedict XIV in 1751. There were obviously political as well as religious reasons for condemning Freemasonry. Rome was merely following the example of other governments who were worried by the atmosphere of secrecy and conspiracy surrounding it. In addition, they did not know exactly what it was or what it involved. However, the immediate reason for Clement XII's condemnation must be sought in Florence, and Benedict XIV's in Naples. In this connection, the voluminous correspondence kept in the Florence and Naples national archives, and in the Vatican's Secret Archives, enables us to follow the development of the two affairs.
La maçonnerie en Autriche
Authors: Reinalter Helmut
Published: June 2016

Helmut Reinalter : Austrian Freemasonry.

Freemasonry in Austria had a chequered history. After arriving gradually via England and France, it reached its high point with the prestigious lodge «True Concord », directed by Ignaz von Born. However, Joseph II decreed severe restrictions on its activities and development, as he was afraid that Freemasonry would encroach upon his authority. It apparently limited his authority and the central government's control, over some of his subjects. In view of the danger from local nationalisms, this was too great a risk for the monarchy to take. Under the reactionary Franz II, a certain number of supporters of enlightened constitutional monarchy formed a Jacobin movement and many of the Freemasons joined this political opposition.
La musique maçonnique
Authors: Autexier Philippe A.
Published: June 2016

Philippe Autexier : Masonic music.

There are two criteria which define a piece of music as Masonic, namely the adaptation of the profane repertory to the needs and customs of the lodges (especially the ad notam device) and the presence of typical ritual elements (mainly the words and batteries). Thanks to the latter means, Mozart introduced a Masonic content into works specifically destined for the profane. However, concerts organised by «musical » lodges contained only few works which could be classified as Masonic.
Nouvelles lumières sur la Société olympique
Authors: Chevallier Pierre
Published: June 2016

Pierre Chevallier : New light on the Olympic Society.

Until 1986 the only list of the Olympic Society was the one dating from 1786 in the Bibliothèque historique de la ville de Paris. Thanks to Ms Morillon, of the Manuscript Department of the Bibliothèque nationale, a second copy of this list has been found in the B.N.'s Department of Printed Books. In addition the classification of the Baylot collection brought to light an unknown copy of the 1788 list. A comparison of the two lists indicated 194 hitherto unknown Masons. The most important are the Marquess of Bouillé, the Marquess of Dreux-Brézé, the Prince de Conti, the Baron Ménou, Rochambeau's father and son and the abbé de Véri, confidant of Maurepas, Louis XVI's minister.
L'Art royal dans le Val-de-Loire
Authors: Feneant Jacques
Published: June 2016

Jacques Feneant : Royal art in the Loire valley.

The appearance of Freemasonry in the Loire Valley did not occur early, as the first traces of lodges date from 1744. Then they were rapidly set up in Orléans, Saumur, Tours, Blois and finally Angers, but in the absence of any documents prior to their affiliation to a central Masonic organisation, we can only conjecture as to their origins. After the creation of the Grand Orient, Masonry in the region entered a «golden age », while avoiding excessive Illuminism. In 1789 there were 16 active lodges in 9 towns, not including the chapters of the higher degrees. Their members were merchants, lawyers, government officials, nobles and clerics. They were, however, richer and more aristocratic than the national average. The late 18th-century vogue for Freemasonry shows their desire to meet discreetly and form a miniature ideal society.
Les aspirations féministes dans les loges d'adoption
Authors: Vigni Francesca
Published: June 2016

Francesca Vigni : Feminist ideals in adoptive lodges.

«Loges d'adoption », which came into existence in France in 1774, were female lodges with a rather superficial ritual and frivolous activities. They were nevertheless important for their ideals, which foreshadowed later female Masonry, and for the interesting problems they posed for 18th-century Freemasonry. The very initiation of these aristocratic women called into question the traditional religious conception of women's inferiority and showed that women were autonomous, free individuals on the same footing as men, sisters sharing human qualities. The female lodges therefore challenged the social order and stood for the ideals of female emancipation.
Polyphème mangeant les compagnons d'Ulysse : une image politique de Diderot
Authors: Goggi Gianluigi
Published: June 2016

Gianluigi Goggi : Polyphemus eating Ulysses' companions : an image in

Diderot's political language.

The image of Polyphemus eating Ulysses' companions takes on, in Diderot's political language, a metaphorical connotation. This article, by comparing the three occurrences of the image, tries to discover its significance. This is clarified by a comparison with a passage in Locke's Second Treatise (§ 228) and a chapter in Rousseau's Social Contract (I, 4) : the Cyclops is a metaphor for Hobbes's Leviathan, used to criticize the latter's theory of an absolute state. In the intertextual relationship of Diderot's image with Locke's and Rousseau's texts, we can recognize the rhetorical figure called «metaphorical syllepsis ». The polysémie nature of the image is a good example of Diderot's antisystematic writing, sometimes based on «cue-signs » which summarize a whole argument for readers who can grasp their meaning.
Le thème des croisades et l'héritage des Lumières au début du 19e siècle
Authors: Denby David J.
Published: June 2016

David J. Denby : The theme of the crusades and the enlightenment's

legacy in the early 19th century.

The true horizon of the debate in three little-known texts on the Crusades from the period 1805-1822 is the historical importance of Enlightenment values in the post-Revolutionary world. Mme Cottin's Mathilde dramatises a conflict between love and religion, happiness and renunciation, which remains unresolved and ideologically undetermined. In Michaud's Histoire des croisades, an ultra reading of the Crusades, a dichotomy emerges between a nostalgic, reactionary absorption in the past and an anachronistic, critical presentation of past values. Vernes's explicit rewriting of Cottin reveals the persistence and adaptation of 18th-century models : the love-story is the bearer of values of democracy, laicity and happiness, and the novel functions as a novel af education.
Une année au jour le jour. Chronologie du 1er janvier au 31 décembre
Authors: Retat Pierre
Published: June 2016

Although Mirabeau had apparently no musical education, he wrote, in 1777, a pamphlet in defence of Raimondi's Télémaque. This defense of instrumental music was unusual at the time, but his arguments appeal to the traditional theory of music as the universal language of feeling. What is new is his claim that instrumental music expresses more than vocal music and is therefore superior, even though the latter expresses better. Describing, at the end of the pamphlet, Raimondi's musical technique, he rejects his opponents' preference for seeing a story, in favour of hearing and feeling it. The emotion aroused by hearing is more personal, less reasoned, and therefore preferable. Mirabeau thus attempts a theoretical justification of instrumental music.
Prophétie féministe pour l'après-89 : une lettre inédite de la comtesse de Bentinck
Authors: Magnan André
Published: June 2016

The abbé de Prades is not well known ; interest has been focussed on only a few years of his life, between 1751, date of his thesis, and 1757, when he was imprisoned at Magdeburg. This article outlines a complete biography, throwing light on obscure periods in his youth and adult life, and revealing other events beyond his condemnation, retraction, and imprisonment. We also see that his character, maligned by contemporary polemics, is worth studying with more understanding than hitherto. Finally, his works merit complete study, not limited to the censored passages, linking the controversies of the period to the long-term trends in philosophy, theology and Church history.
L'année 1789 vue par les journaux : problèmes et propositions
Authors: Retat Pierre
Published: June 2016

A history of the year 1789, or the Revolution «seen by the newspapers », gives rise to certain problems which are frequently ignored. The newspaper article must, like any other text, be situated in its context, and its choice, although inevitable, affects the way it is interpreted. One must therefore first discuss the different types of newspapers, after which the main outlines of the representation of the Revolution can be discerned. We also study the different forms of expression, collective mentalités, and publishing activity.
Nos Seigneurs du clergé de France en 1789
Authors: Péronnet Michel
Published: June 2016

The French bishops, the first body of the first Order of the state, were frequently consulted during the 1780s, which indicates their importance. On 24th January 1789, the right to vote was accorded to all the members of the secular clergy and the baillage was fixed as the electoral unit, thus breaking with tradition by choosing the bishops in the dioceses. There were only about forty bishops in the Estates General and they took part in all the 1789 debates, especially in the discussions concerning the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the nationalisation of Church property and the establishment of the Catholic Church. The bishops «refusal to proclaim catholicism the state religion (28th August) was the first sign of disagreement with the deputies, followed in October by the distribution of incendiary pastoral letters ».
1789 à la Bibliothèque du Roi
Authors: Bléchet Françoise
Published: June 2016

Nothing in the musical scene in 1789 foreshadowed the coming upheaval. All the programmes for both opera and concerts continued the tradition dating from the 1770s. The favourite French composers were all at the height of long and glorious careers, and their successors were as yet hardly emerging or were still children. This period saw the beginning of the music-lovers'long preference for Italian composers, who triumphed on the stage, in the concert-hall and in amateur circles. The quarrel between French and Italian music, which had marked the whole century, was finally over ; the majority, «the Public », had overridden the philosophes' diatribes. 1789 was for the French, united in their admiration for Italian music, a year of consensus, which was to be only briefly disturbed by the needs of revolutionary propaganda.
Le roman en France en 1789
Authors: Cook Malcolm
Published: June 2016

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Long novels, popular as they were in 1789, did not portray a precise revolutionary reality. The most striking novel of 1789, Lavallée's Le Nègre comme il y a peu de blancs is an effective example of political propaganda in fiction. It is analysed here in relation to the political pamphlets of the period which dealt specifically with the slave trade. Many short political pamphlets used fictional allegorical forms. Three are studied here : Le Royaume de Naudelit ; Le Rêve philosophique de Bryltophend ; and Une nuit de Babylone. Using allegorical veils, these works offer transpositions of the revolutionary reality but tend, as do the majority of short contemporary fictional works, to favour a conservative view.
L'année 1789 vue de Turin par un diplomate portugais
Authors: Diniz Silva-Mansuy Andrée
Published: June 2016

The Portuguese plenipotentiary at the Sardinian Court, D. Rodrigo de Souza Coutinho, in Turin since 1779, was an attentive observer of the political, economic and social situation in France. In the weekly dispatches he sent to the Foreign Secretary, he recounted and commented on some of the main events in France in 1789. His attempt to grasp the underlying reasons for the unfolding revolution produced a lucid analysis which drew the lesson from the events. He was a man of the Enlightenment in favour of necessary reforms, but also a supporter of enlightened despotism, and he was concerned to preserve the king's complete sovereignty.
Mirabeau vu par les écrivains romantiques
Authors: Trousson Raymond
Published: June 2016

Because of his scandalous youth, his role at the beginning of the Revolution, and his ambiguous character, Mirabeau interested the Romantics. Mme de Stael and Chateaubriand considered him to be an exceptional being with an uncommon destiny, impressive physique and fiery eloquence. Although Balzac identified with him, Stendhal, however, was not very interested in him, and George Sand saw him as a false revolutionary motivated by ambition and bought off by the right. It was Hugo who developed all the elements which gave Mirabeau a truly mythical status, expressing his own political and social ideals. Following him, Michelet and other historians, and Lamartine together created, during the Romantic period, the legend of Mirabeau.
George Sand et la Révolution française
Authors: Chastagnaret Yves
Published: June 2016

The author here tries to show the originality of the historical analysis begun in 1830 by G. Sand. She began her literary career after the July Revolution, which strongly influenced the content of her work and the form taken by her political commitment. It was urgent, she believed, to return to the ideals of 1789 and to resume the debate concerning the fundamental principles of the Revolution. Her meeting with Pierre Leroux in 1835 was decisive, for it made her thinking, previously fragmented, more coherent and profound. Instead of simply criticising, she produced a more unified system. But this plan for a new «social contract » foundered on the harsh reality of 1848.
1986, année Frédéric le Grand
Authors: Bourel Dominique
Published: June 2016

Nicolas Louet arrived in Paris from his native Chaumont on 11th July 1789 and lived through all the tumultuous events of that month. The originality of his diary, in which he describes all his experiences, lies in the fact that it portrays the effervescence of the period from day to day, in particular life in the street. Crowds gathered rapidly at the slightest alert — the third estate particularly around Palais Royal and the «fourth » at the place de Grève and the Hôtel de Ville — to read the wall posters and follow the latest rumours. We see the misery of the poorest, which led to the execution of speculators as well as officials on the «Grève », followed by popular processions brandishing the heads of the criminals.
Chronologie posthume, Montesquieu 1755-1961
Authors: Benrekassa Georges
Published: June 2016

Georges Benrekassa : Montesquieu, 1755-1961.

This chronological essay lists the main events, publications, and political and intellectual developments, from the time of Montesquieu's death up until R. Shackleton's critical biography, which show the continuing influence of his work.
Fallait-il brûler L'Esprit des lois ?
Authors: Duranton Henri
Published: June 2016

Henri Duranton : Should the Esprit des lois have been burnt ?

In the months preceding the meeting of the Estates General Montesquieu's popularity, which was at first great, rapidly slumped. From being the chief reference in political pamphlets, he became a dangerous author who was refuted and later forgotten. This strange destiny parallels that of the Parlements, which were feted in early 1788 as the «fathers of the country » and considered a few months later as enemies to be fought. The relationship between these two developments is not merely symmetrical or one of cause and effect ; instead, they both reveal a form of political reasoning. The defeat of Montesquieu and the Parlements is not only related to events of the moment, but also indicates the emergence of a new ideology.
Montesquieu républicain ? De l'interprétation universitaire pendant la IIIe République
Authors: Larrère Catherine
Published: June 2016

Catherine Larrère : Was Montesquieu a republican ?

This article attempts to define the relationship between Montesquieu the republican who was considered as one of the founding fathers of the Third Republic, and Montesquieu the sociologist on whom Durkheim wrote his Latin thesis. This Montesquieu, concerned with facts and their relationships rather than with ideal essences, conforms to the scientific model which suited the Republic, namely positive science in which modern scientific culture should replace traditional literary rhetoric. But between scientia politico, to which Montesquieu still belonged, and sociology, whose precursor Durkheim wanted to be, politics has vanished. This does not however apply to morality, which Durkheim reworks as the science of morals. This still comes down to founding the Republic on virtue.