bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Le sang des Atrides. Sur les tragédies de Crébillon
Authors: Giaufret Colombani Hélène
Published: June 2016

Hélène Giaufret : The blood of the Atrides.

The elder Crébillon has been considered as the dramatist of horror ; the cup of blood offered to Thyestes by Atreus seems to have exerted a sort of fascination over critics. Thus a new reading of these tragedies must take as its starting point the theme of blood. A textual analysis reveals a high frequency of the lexeme blood and the predominance of figurative over literal uses. Through metaphors, synecdoches and metonymies, blood stands for both life and death, the individual, his ancestors, descendants, family and even caste. Concordances enable us to see the different roles of blood. Thus characters are caught in the trap of tragic language which leads them astray ; Atreus alone seems to keep a grasp on reality, but he succeeds in restoring language's univocity only by violating ethical and natural laws.
L'Histoire d'une Grecque moderne de Prévost : une rhétorique de l'exemple
Authors: Sermain Jean-Paul
Published: June 2016

Jean-Paul Sermain : Prévost's "Histoire d'une grecque moderne" : the

rhetoric of example.

In his Histoire d'une Grecque moderne, Prévost creates a distance from his narrator not only by casting doubts as to his impartiality and sanity, but also by showing clearly all the choices and rhetorical devices of his account. In addition, by means of the interspersed stories and anecdotes, he demonstrates how the ambassador's memoirs are made up of literary formulae, models and stereotypes. Thus the novel appears as a reflection on the role of rhetorical constraints and poetical conventions ; this story is also telling us how a story is told.
Naissance au Japon de l'autobiographie moderne : Oritaku shiba no ki (Souvenirs de ma vie) d'Araï Hakuseki
Authors: Nakagawa Hisayasu
Published: June 2016

Hisayasu Nakagawa : The birth of modern autobiography in Japan.

At the beginning of the 18th Century Japan produced its first modern literary autobiography, Oritaku-Shiba-no-Ki (Memoirs of my Life), written by Hakuseki Arai, a high-ranking official in the then Tokugawa Shogunate government. Japanese society of the 18th Century shows a striking similarity with French society in that it was characterised by growing secularisation and "embourgeoisement" ; this resulted in political and economic crises and a series of reforms enacted by the government in an attempt to overcome them. Through an analysis of this work, this article reveals the author as an enlightened rationalist, a type which emerged for the first time in Japanese literary history, in contrast with the French philosophes.
Le livre français dans la bibliothèque de Jovellanos
Authors: Aguilar Piñal Francisco
Published: June 2016

Francisco Aguilar-Pinal : French books in Jovellanos's library.

The Spanish writer and reformer Jovellanos (1744-1811) was a tireless reader. The inventory of his library, drawn up in 1778, which contains 857 titles in six languages, reveals the importance of French books, which are the most numerous after the Spanish ones ; these are books printed in France, books in French and books translated into Spanish from French. In this "enlightened" library, however, none of the books question the religion, morals or political principles of the Old Regime.
La répression contre les protestants dans la seconde moitié du siècle d'après les registres de l'Ancien Régime
Authors: Pappas John
Published: June 2016

John P appas : The pursuit of Protestants in the second half of the century

in the «registers » of the old regime.

The unpublished letters and dispatches to and from the King's ministers reveal royal policy towards French Protestants between 1750 and 1785. In the 1750s Louis XV developed a plan to crush Protestantism ; to encourage them to perform their marriages and baptisms in the Catholic Church, the Minister, Saint-Florentin, pressured bishops in Protestant areas to relax restrictions against them and omit derogatory remarks on baptismal certificates and parish records. This was to be accompanied by stiffer sanctions against disobedience. Wars deprived the campaign of troops needed to implement the plan and necessitated humouring Protestants to avoid defection. War again interrupted Louis XVI's attempt to revive the policy and by by 1785 there existed ' a tacit toleration ' of Protestants.
Une évasion de protestants nîmois. La fortune de la famille Vernède
Authors: Briggs Éric R.
Published: June 2016

Eric R. Briggs : A sensational escape by three Protestants of Nimes in

1744, the Vernède family and their fortune.

Abundant documents in archives and other sources permit a reconstruction of the genealogy and a narrative of the rise of the Vernèdes from 1590, perhaps even 1516, to almost 1789. This story is centred upon Noé Vernède (1679-1755), his relatives in France and descendants there or in Holland, England, S. America or the Indies. The vicissitudes of their great fortune show the reactions of royal administrators in a surprisingly favourable light, the solidarity of many intermarried protestant families, their planning for preservation of inheritances against penal laws, the ramifications of their commercial and banking links in France and Holland and in professions, until today. Their case shows how such family histories can contribute to more general aspects of social, religious, political, administrative, commercial and financial history.
L'opéra-ballet et la Cour de France
Authors: Dartois-Lapeyre Françoise
Published: June 2016

Françoise Dartois-Lapeyre : Balletic opera and the French court.

Balletic opera, that most typical of 18th-century genres, is little known. As it evolved late, its repertory dates from between 1695, date of The Seasons, and 1773. The court was subject, actor and audience, and a source of inspiration for the authors who, in the tradition of court ballet, celebrated royal victories, births and marriages ; but the main theme became the triumph of love rather than glorification of the monarch. In the 18th Century the court became merely a spectator ; Louis XV only danced in one opera and nobles were replaced by professionals from the Royal Academy of Music. Operas were now rarely created at court, except in the period 1745-54 under the influence of the Marquise de Pompadour, the Marquis of Courtenvaux and the Slodtz family. Palaces were ill-adapted to the necessary machinery, spectators preferred to watch a single entry rather than a whole opera, and the genre declined and finally vanished in 1774.
L'opéra-comique à la Cour de Louis XVI
Authors: Pré Corinne
Published: June 2016

Corinne Pré : Comic opera at the court of Louis XVI.

From 16th December 1774 to 29th May 1789, nearly 550 comic operas were mounted in the different court theatres of Versailles, Fontainebleau during the hunting season, and Choisy. This profusion reflected royal tastes, and particularly those of the Queen. Performances were sumptuous with abundant and varied decors and accessories kept in the storerooms of the ' Menus Plaisirs ' or made especially for the occasion, luxurious costumes and ballets danced by the best members of the Opera. The comic opera was also the favourite genre of the troupe of the nobles in which the Queen, the Comte d'Artois and intimate friends acted. The operas chosen show a preference for sentimentality, parody and light entertainment.
Mozart et les spectacles de cour
Authors: Claudon Francis
Published: June 2016

Francis Claudon : Mozart and court entertainment.

Mozart is often seen as the symbol of an old-fashioned court art, but in many respects he can be considered to have revitalised and transformed court entertainment, as can be seen from examples concerning mainly Germany and Italy. Court theatre (Hofoper ) was not necessarily Italianising or Francophile, as Mozart showed with Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, immediately performed throughout Germany. More generally, the fashion for Mozart operas, including his serious ones, shows that people wanted to ' understand ' what was happening even when they preferred lighter works. Above all we see from Mozart's performances that court theatre wanted to become more national and Germanic. That is why certain works which were not originally court commissions, such as The Magic Flute or Don Giovanni became great successes at the beginning of the 19th Century in court theatres throughout Europe.
La querelle de l'inoculation en 1763. Trois lettres inédites de Suard et du chevalier d'Éon
Authors: David Jean-Claude
Published: June 2016

Jean-Claude David : The innoculation debate in 1763, three unpublished

letters from Suard and the chevalier d'Eon.

Innoculation against smallpox, using a mild form of the disease, was used before Jenner's discovery of vaccination in 1798. However, this prophylactic measure, already known in ancient China, was still not completely accepted in France in 1763, as can be seen from these three letters between Suard, director of the Gazette de France, and Eon, plenipotentiary minister in London. They show the ramifications of this debate concerning a victory of the Enlightenment over the obscurantism of the Medical Faculty and the Paris Parlement.
Condillac à Parme. Lettres inédites
Authors: Grillenzoni Paolo
Published: June 2016

Paolo Grillenzoni : Condillac in Parma : unpublished letters.

From 1758 to 1767, Condillac was tutor to Prince Ferdinand of Parma, at a time of rapid development of enlightened ideas, in particular concerning pedagogy. There are few extant letters from the tutor to his pupil ; the thirteen letters published here throw new light on Condillac's teaching methods and their relative failure. When the Prince was innoculated, Condillac sent him ten notes full of care and concern. In 1765, on the Prince's accession to the throne of Parma, Condillac wrote three long letters in which we can discern a certain impatience and the beginnings of a profound disappointment.
Les amidonniers et la Régie générale (1777-1786)
Authors: Logette Aline
Published: June 2016

Aline Logette : Starch-Makers and the tax administration (1777-1786).

The Old Regime society used used much starch and ' powdering powder some for confectionery, more for laundry, and even more for wigs. As the starch-makers had to pay taxes like other artisans, they were also subject to a very close economic control ; the tax administration of the ' Régie générale ' was determined to retain the control of the number of professionals and selected those who were entitled to practice. They were then subjected to rigorous, and even petty, restrictions, both in order to maintain the quality of their produce and to avoid the use of bread-making flour. Hence we find, at the end of the Century, a very interesting exchange of letters between the artisans, the ' Régie générale ' and the Finance Ministry, which had the final say.
Plan d'éducation et modèle politique dans l'Encyclopédie
Authors: Pérol Lucette
Published: June 2016

Lucette Perol : Education in the «encyclopedie ».

The articles devoted to education in the Encyclopédie are to be found mostly in the early volumes, published before the Jesuits were expelled from France. Teaching in their ' collèges ' is considered from the point of view of the middle classes and is the object of severe criticism, which implies a different conception of education for a different society. Such a society would be a fully active one, run on strict hierarchical lines and concerned with its own stability. Its institutions would make use of all abilities and it would give young men a global view of the interests of the state, even organizing public debates about them.
Bakounine critique de Rousseau
Authors: L'Aminot Tanguy
Published: June 2016

Tanguy L'aminot : Bakunin as a critic of Rousseau.

The Right has traditionally accused J. J. Rousseau of being the spiritual father of anarchism ; Maurice Barres even said, in 1912, that he had inspired Jules Bonnot and his gang. However, no attention has hitherto been paid to Michael Bakunin's judgment of Rousseau, although he devoted part of his book Federa¬ lism, Socialism, Antitheologism (1867) to a refutation of Rousseau's theory of the origin of society and the social contract. When closely examined, Bakunin's criticism can be seen to be directed against what he called ' Rousseau's school ' — that is, the liberal tradition which emerged from the French Revolution — rather than the works of the Genevan philosopher.
Lectures paysannes. La bibliothèque de l'enquête Grégoire
Authors: Chartier Roger
Published: June 2016

This article analyses the answers to three questions concerning the ownership of books and reading habits included in the abbé Grégoire's August 1790 question naire on ' patois and the customs of countryfolk After having emphasized the distance separating Grégoire's informants from the peasants' world, we study the contradictory diagnoses concerning the appetite for reading in the countryside and the role of the clergy ; then we see the sort of books found, according to the correspondants, and the peasant's access to books. The answers can be seen both as an indication of the educated provincials' image of peasant reading habits and as a way of discovering, through this distorted image, the true situation and the way it was changing.
Un enjeu de la pastorale religieuse
Authors: Quéniart Jean
Published: June 2016

Jean Quéniart : A facet of religious propaganda.

The 18th-century clergy, who were much better trained than their predecessors, distributed works of devotion and catechisms which did not however completely replace earlier texts, whose content was less orthodox and more naive. The continuing localised popularity of the earlier texts was perhaps due to the earlier spread of literacy in some regions. Towards the end of the Old Regime, the fear of ' unsuitable books ' made some priests doubt as to the usefulness of learning, until the progress of literacy forced the clergy to invent a new strategy for influencing popular literature.
La transcription en Basse-Bretagne de quelques textes du 18e siècle
Authors: Balcou Jean
Published: June 2016

Jean Balcou : The transcription of some 18th-century texts in Lower

Britanny.

In order to illustrate the complex problem of transcription, this article studies, for historical, geographical and cultural reasons, examples taken from Lower Britanny : the folklorist Luzel taking down from his Breton-speaking story-teller the story of ' the Angel and the Hermit ' ; the author and transcriber Le Lae transforming the inoffensive Morin of the chapbooks into a pamphlet sermon ; an anonymous author reducing La Double inconstance to a country romp ; the translator and transcriber Conan annotating his account to show his contribution ; and finally J. Cambry, a man of the Enlightenment captivated by his own collection. These examples all concern an essential aspect of the passage of a text — in this case translation — to a popular audience.
Les mille langues du Père Duchêne : la parade de la culture populaire pendant la Révolution
Authors: Guilhaumou Jacques
Published: June 2016

Jacques Guilhaumou : The thousand tongues of père Duchêne : The

parade of popular culture during the french revolution.

By his scope and diversity, the figure of père Duchêne (or Duchesne) dominates popular burlesque texts of the Revolution period. This character, modelled on those in Rabelais or fairground theatre, played an important role in the education of the people through comedy, following the principle that ' comic ideas follow closely serious ideas '. This article studies mainly the reception of the different incarnations of père Duchesne by Paris popular opinion. He appears in two main guises : for the Royalists he represents a pseudo-popular ' common sense ' while, at the prompting of Hébert, he points to the permanent social mediation of the Jacobins. All in all, père Duchesne represents popular philosophy.
Le fermier général Helvétius en Lorraine : un projet de réforme (1744-1745)
Authors: Inguenaud Marie-Thérèse
Published: June 2016

Marie-Thérèse Inguenaud : An unpublished plan by Helvétius for fiscal reform in Lorraine (1744-1745).

Helvétius's activity as a tax-farmer (1738-51) is still little-known ; the discovery, in the Nancy Archives, of this unpublished plan for reform, written by Helvétius in 1744-5 during a tour in Lorraine, throws light on this aspect of his life. This Mémoire tendant à la suppression des péages de Lorraine... proposes the reorganisation here of the Customs and Excise system by the introduction of a single entry and exit tax. The similarity of his arguments to those in De l'Esprit shows the connection between his activities in the Royal service and his philosophy. The common principles behind Helvétius's thought are pragmatism, psychological realism, the primacy of national over individual interest, and egalitarianism.
Musées et lycées parisiens (1780-1830)
Authors: Guénot Hervé
Published: June 2016

Hervé Guénot : Paris Lyceums and Museums (1780-1830).

The decline of higher education was the main reason for the creation of Museums and Lyceums, whose ideology was modernism, belief in progress, a new pedagogical interest, cosmopolitanism, and a desire for liberty and equality. The institutions were important centres of intellectual life, proposing numerous literary, scientific and artistic activities in the form of lectures, classes and exhibitions. But they were also profit-making businesses, financed by aristocrats and by the high fees they charged. Their success was due to the fact that they attracted a public of writers, academics and amateurs, and the high society. The Museums were run by Academicians and well-known scientists, frequently Free-masons, but they also gave some intellectuals a chance to make their reputations.
Note sur l'existence chez Lelarge de Lignac et Descartes
Authors: Azouvi François
Published: June 2016

François Azouvi : On existence in Lelarge de Lignac and Descartes.

Lelarge de Lignac criticised the Cartesian Cogito as being incapable of providing a basis for existence as " mine ", and he refused doubt as being insufficient to destroy the " prejudice that the world exists ". He thus shows the importance, in the mid-century, of the status of subjective existence. The question thus arises as to whether he is an anti-Cartesian.
Les débuts de la maçonnerie en Espagne
Authors: Randouyer Françoise
Published: June 2016

Françoise Randouyer : The beginnings of Freemasonry in Spain.

A theory, dating from 1880 and generally accepted today, holds that Spanish Freemasonry was founded in 1780 by Count Aranda, a minister of Charles III. However, this seems unlikely, for several reasons : the context of the time, with the ever-watchful Inquisition ; the anti-Masonic policy of this king in Naples ; and the character and even life of Aranda. In addition, in the few extant documents, there is hardly any trace of a truly Spanish Masonry, merely a few individuals, usually foreigners, always initiated abroad in traditional centres of international exchanges. There were no regularly constituted lodges at this period (only one, composed of Englishmen, in 1728), and no Obediences. We can only conclude that in 1880 the Freemasons tried to find a precursor in the man who had signed the decree expelling the Jesuits.
La crise de la franc-maçonnerie européenne et le Convent de Wilhelmsbad (1782)
Authors: Hammermayer Ludwig
Published: June 2016

Ludwig Hammermayer : The Wilhelmsbad convent.

From 16th July to 29th August 1782 there met in Wilhelmsbad near Hanau in Hesse-Darmstadt a congress or convent of European — mainly French and German — Freemasons, which has since led to much speculation. It was claimed to have hatched the Masonic plot which fomented the French Revolution. In fact this congress tried to redefine the aims, means and rituals of the Order of Strict Observance, which was going though a serious crisis. There were three main opposing tendencies : hermetico-alchemistic ; Martinist mystico-spiritualism centred in Lyons ; and a rationalistic, Enlightened tendency. The second finally emerged victorious thanks to the firm but subtle guidance of the promotors of the meeting, Prince Charles of Hesse, Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick and the Lyons silk-merchant Jean-Baptiste Willermoz.
Le Musée de Bordeaux
Authors: Coutura Johel
Published: June 2016

Johel Coutura : The Bordeaux Museum.

The Bordeaux Museum, based on the one created by Court de Gébelin in Paris, was the most striking example of the way the Masons came out into the open on the eve of the French Revolution. Its founder, abbé Dupont des Jumeaux, placed the new institution under the protection of Marie — Antoinette. Its activities were recorded in a Recueil dedicated to the Queen and in the first Bordeaux daily newspaper, the Journal de Guyenne. With its public meetings, free classes (in languages, geometry, literature, painting, etc.), exhibitions of engravings and paintings, the Bordeaux Museum contributed to a great extent to the intellectual development of this important provincial town in the late 18th Century.
Antonin Esmonin de Dampierre, magistrat et franc-maçon dijonnais (1744-1824)
Authors: Guyon Patrick
Published: June 2016

Patrick Guyon : Antoine Esmonin de Dampierre, a Dijon magistrate and

Freemason (1744-1824).

The study of Dampierre, a Dijon «noble de robe », takes us into a very different 18th Century from that of the Encyclopaedists. He had no time for his contemporaries' perpetual doubt and vague deism. In the tradition of quietism, he sought a personal contact with God. After being introduced to Freemasonry by a friend, he took an active part in the establishment of the Rectified Scottish Rule in Burgundy, becoming a fervent follower of Willermoz, whom he later joined in Lyons as the Dijon Masons were lukewarm about the new rite. He later dabbled in magnetism and somnanbulism. After the Revolution had taken away his goods and titles, he became a pillar of the Ultra party during the Restoration. Finally the birth of Romanticism found him teaching Madame de Staël in the Coppet circle.
Fleuriot de Langle et l'expédition de Lapérouse
Authors: Henwood Philippe
Published: June 2016

Fleuriot de Langle and Lapérouse's Expedition. Ten unpublished letters

presented by Philippe Henwood.

On 1st August 1785 the two frigates, the Boussole and the Astrolabe, under the command of J.-Fr. Galaup de Lapérouse and P. -A. Fleuriot de Langle left Brest for a long voyage of exploration, prepared and organised with exceptional care. Captain Fleuriot de Langle took an important part in the final preparations (equipment, recruiting the crew), as can be seen from the letters between Count Hector, commander of Brest and the Naval Ministry. There are in addition ten letters, reproduced in this article, from Fleuriot de Langle to his mother and sister, dating from 8th July 1785 (three weeks before sailing) to 27th September 1787 (less than three months before his death in Samoa). They are mostly unpublished and provide interesting details about the voyage, as well as throwing light on their author's attractive personality.
Angélique Diderot et les Caroillon sous la Révolution
Authors: Favier Hervé
Published: June 2016

Hervé Favier : Angélique Diderot and the Caroillons during the French

Revolution.

The Langres Caroillon family, who were artisans, labourers and then merchants, acquired, thanks to Diderot, profitable leases on forges and forests and bought sinecures. Being pro-Enlightenment they welcomed 1789 even though it dashed their hopes of nobility. Destillères played at being a squire while his brother Caroillon de Vandeul became a director of the East India Company, and both indulged in speculation. During the Terror they were arrested after their homes were searched. Destillères and his family were arrested in his mansion, while Vandeul 's wife Angélique Diderot, «daughter of one of the founders of liberty », petitioned the Convention's Committees, claiming his presence at the forges was indispensable. Like all her contemporaries, Angélique Diderot disliked extremes and supported all successive regimes.
Grammaire et réflexion pédagogique (1750-1789)
Authors: Granderoute Robert
Published: June 2016

Robert Granderoute : Grammar and educational theory (1750-1789).

In the second half of the 18 th Century, reflection on grammar in relation to the study of Latin led to solutions which followed, with slight alterations, Dumarsais's preference for usage. We find two positions, at opposite extremes. On the one hand there were those who, while considering grammar as a means of perfecting but not learning languages (for it implies the use of reason, which the child does not possess) , nevertheless judged indispensable the prior acquisition of a minimum knowledge of grammar ; some preferred French rather than Latin grammar. On the other hand, some thought that the principles of general grammar should first be learnt (as the child possesses the faculty of reasoning) ; applied to French, this preserves a previous practice of the language. But, beyond these divergencies, we can see that grammar had regained general favour.
La «crise mystique » du jeune Diderot
Authors: Souviron Marie
Published: June 2016

Marie Souviron : The young Diderot's «mystical crisis ».

It is possible, by an analysis of different texts in conjunction with certain established facts, to get a closer approximation to the date of Diderot's «mystical crisis » ; we can situate it around 1731-2, as his daughter says, during his studies. A «mystical crisis » is not the same thing as a plan for an ecclesiastical career, or as an almost professional study of metaphysical and theological problems, obligatory for all future philosophers. Instead it probably coincided with his desire to become a Carthusian monk and with adolescent problems ; it thus constituted an incident in his emotional life rather than a stage in his intellectual development. Although apparently in line with his education, this crisis in fact marked a break with his childhood faith and with emotionally-experienced faith. Religion henceforth became an object of rational study.
Un provincial à Paris en juillet : extraits du Journal inédit de Nicolas Louet, avocat chaumontais
Authors: Guyard Michel
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.
Paris en août 1789 : une lettre inédite de Ginguené à Écouchard-Lebrun
Authors: David Jean-Claude
Published: June 2016

Pierre-Louis Ginguené (1748-1816), poet, literary critic and journalist, began his literary career with Marmontel, La Harpe, Chamfort and Garat, and can be considered a disciple of the «philosophes ». He was also, however, the close friend of Lebrun, the poet, known as Lebrun-Pindare. He wrote Lebrun a letter on 12th August 1789 which expresses the enthusiasm felt by a disciple of Voltaire and Rousseau for the first revolutionary events.
1789 : l'écho des employés ou le nouveau discours administratif
Authors: Azimi Vida
Published: June 2016

1789 introduced a new age in the history of the civil service in France. Many projects directly affected government employees who were forced, in view of their precarious situation, to demand justice from the National Assembly. These demands took the form of pamphlets, letters and booklets. We can see a certain hostility towards the civil service, perceived as an instrument of state oppression. The administration must be reorganised to produce a new being, the citizen-civil servant as opposed to the subject-employee. This struggle required the expression of social liberty and spontaneous «trade unions ». The defence of professional interest was based on the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, seen as the model for an unwritten charter of employees' rights. This employees' movement of 1789 was to have long-term social repercussions.
Aix-en-Provence en 1789 : le mouvement et la résistance
Authors: Cubells Monique
Published: June 2016

As a result of the dispute over the Provence Estates, the debate concerning the elections for the Estates General, the popular agitation and the events in Paris on 14th July, the oligarchical Aix town council was forced to hold enlarged meetings — even general assemblies of the citizens — , to set up the future national guard and reform slightly its ancient charter. But in spite of these apparent changes, the town council managed to remain unchanged until the February 1790 elections which produced a new council. The influence of the nobles all but vanished and the artisans and rich farmers were no longer totally excluded from the council ; nevertheless the traditional Aix middle classes, composed of lawyers, still predominated and were even represented by the same men.
La question coloniale en 1789 : l'année des déceptions et des contradictions
Authors: Bénot Yves
Published: June 2016

This article, based on four texts — by Brissot, by a journalist in Les Révolutions de Paris, by Grégoire and by Mirabeau — , studies the obstacles facing the anti-slavery movement in the early months of the Revolution. It emphasizes, first of all, a political problem, namely the de facto alliance between the moderate revolutionaries and the slave-trading middle classes in the ports. More important, however, is the analysis (following Mirabeau) of the short-term economic constraints ; a new form of industrial and economic development was the precondition for a coherent anti-slavery policy. But a new idea was gaining ground, that of home rule for the colonies which would form a federation with the mother country.
L'homme nouveau est arrivé. La « régénération » du Français en 1789
Authors: de Baecque Antoine
Published: June 2016

The idea of a sudden historical break predominates in the political imagination of the French Revolution. This break is often seen as a sort of biological revolution, an idealised renewal of human nature through political action. The main illustration of this is the appeal for the regeneration of man, to be heard on many lips. The symbols of a crumbling «barbaric feudalism » are replaced by those of a new world which has brought forth the regenerated Frenchman. Here we attempt to see how — at what moment, in response to which events, in relation to which themes and following which paths — this myth of the «new man » was constructed (or reconstructed) during 1789.
Le récit du 14 juillet 1789 dans les vies politiques (1793-94)
Authors: Guilhaumou Jacques
Published: June 2016

Imprisoned suspects in the years 1793-4 tried to justify themselves by writing their political lives. These documents, which have been preserved in manuscript form, recount their participation in the main events of the French Revolution. References to 14th July 1789 occupy a large place in these accounts, as the initial, and major, event. In addition to the storming of the Bastille itself, the recurrent theme is that of the «people in arms », amongst whom are to be found the protagonists of these Political Lives. However, the retrospective interpretation of July 1789 also depends on the moment of writing, as can be seen in the two Lives written by Antoine Collin, at a few months' distance, which are published as an appendix to the article.
L'écho de 1789 en Allemagne
Authors: Lüsebrink Hans-Jürgen , Reichardt Rolf
Published: June 2016

Two main aspects of echoes of 1789 in Germany are here analysed. Firstly we discuss how information concerning the revolutionary events in France reached the other side of the Rhine, mainly through the press ; a few representative examples of newspaper reports are studied. Secondly, we consider movements of revolt stimulated by the news from France, with a number of case studies concerning both urban centres (Nuremberg, Cologne etc.) and rural areas, in the years 1789-1794.
L'année 1789 dans la Gazette de Montréal
Authors: de Lagrave Jean-Paul
Published: June 2016

The beginning of the French Revolution led, in Quebec, to a general questioning of its «feudal » society that the British conquerors had preserved and the Sons of Liberty had been unable to alter. The Montreal Gazette, edited by the printer Fleury Mesplet (1734-1794), a friend of Benjamin Franklin, reflected the Canadians' favourable reaction to the revolutionary movement. The storming of the Bastille became a sign of hope for the middle classes and caused panic among the church dignitaries and the nobles who had survived the British conquest in 1760. A study of the Montreal Gazette in 1789 reveals the acceleration of the movement for political and social reform in the former «Nouvelle France ».
Diderot dans l'allée des Marronniers. Être matérialiste en 1747
Authors: Souviron Marie
Published: June 2016

A careful reading of the last episodes of the «Allée des Marronniers » in La Promenade du Sceptique reveals that its «curve » follows exactly that of the Pensées philosophiques and extends it by adding representatives of philosophical «sects » who were missing. This text is a step in the direction of the Lettre sur les aveugles and the 1749 letter to Voltaire and, instead of being a «regression » towards deism, it in fact «goes further » as Diderot opens up two new possibilities. One leads to «modern Spinozism » as defined in the Encyclopédie and embodied in the Rêve : materialistic monism with no divinity. The other represents one of Diderot's obsessions : the crimes committed against Atheos'family by the blind man who no longer fears divine punishment pose the problem of how to found a moral system independent of religion, as in Antiquity.
L'homme-machine : mythe ou métaphore ?
Authors: Thomson Ann
Published: June 2016

La Mettrie's Homme machine is still too often considered as the embodiment of «mechanistic materialism » inspired directly by Descartes. This article demonstrates the error of this interpretation. In particular, the reference to a machine, instead of being an explanatory principle, is shown to function as a metaphor. Similarly, the use of Cartesian animal spirits, present in La Mettrie's first works, is replaced in L'Homme machine by more dynamic metaphors for the workings of the brain, to account for human creativity. Far from constructing a mechanistic model of man, La Mettrie's sole aim is to demonstrate that a dynamic matter can account for all human activity ; he admits ignorance as to the exact workings of this material being.
Vision du devenir historique et formes de la révolution dans les Lettres persanes
Authors: Goulemot Jean-Marie
Published: June 2016

Jean-Marie Goulemot : The Vision of historical development and revolutionary forms in the Lettres persanes.

This article attempts to analyze the forms of revolution and the vision of historical development in the Lettres persanes, taking into account the work's structure, political statements and narrative strategies. A rigid law dictates the travellers' accounts and analyses, namely that everything is modified, develops and terminates in nothingness. This is true of political and social forms as of individual destinies, and of the past as of the future. It is the principle behind statements, analyses, events, and in general it is the principle on which the writing of the Lettres persanes themselves is based. It determines the different meanings of the word «revolution » and the political and ideological significance of the work, which is conceived as a form-meaning.
1789 : Montesquieu aristocrate
Authors: Retat Pierre
Published: June 2016

Pierre Rétat : 1789, Montesquieu as aristocrat.

From the newspapers for 1789 we can discover certain general — and hence significant — ideas held about Montesquieu in that period. The beginning of the Revolution was a crucial turning point as he was sometimes quoted among the «precursors » ; but in the crisis of the Estates General he was used by the supporters of the orders and was thus seen by the patriots as an «aristocrat ». His authority was invoked mainly in the moderate and counter-revolutionary press. Large parts of Montesquieu's political thought were demolished with the monarchy of orders and the defeat of the English constitutional model.
Montesquieu patriote ?
Authors: Barny Roger
Published: June 2016

Roger Barny : Was Montesquieu a patriot ?

During the Revolution, the predominant image of Montesquieu was that of an aristocrat. He is on occasion referred to as a patriot but only on minor points or by deforming his thought. The young Saint-Just is an exception, but only during the Constituent (L'Esprit de la Révolution ) and from a relatively conservative point of view. In his 1793-4 works the ideology changes and Rousseau becomes more relevant. The true exception is Marat who refused to see Montesquieu as an aristocrat. He was the only patriot who referred to both Montesquieu and Rousseau as he was attracted by both author's insistence on liberty. Barère also wrote an important work while in hiding after the riots of Prairial, year II, in which there is an intelligent summing up. But Barère is obviously making amends for his activities on the Committee of Public Safety.
Les Éloges de Montesquieu par Barère
Authors: Yamazaki Koichi
Published: June 2016

Koichi Yamazaki : Barère s Eloges de Montesquieu. (A brief analysis by

J. Ehrard of an article that was too long to publish in full).

One Eloge de Montesquieu by Barère was already known ; this article shows, using both the 1806 printed version and manuscripts in Tarbes and Bordeaux, that the future member of the Convention had, just before the Revolution, competed for three successive Bordeaux Academy prizes on this subject. He also shows that the three analyses of the Esprit des lois were to a large extent dictated by contemporary events. In the third Eloge, Barère used the work against feudalism while he had quoted it against despotism in the second one. He nevertheless considered it to some extent to have been overtaken by unprecedented events. The France of 1789 needed «another Montesquieu ».
La fortune bibliographique de Montesquieu. France et Italie, 1789-1815
Authors: Postigliola Alberto , Felice Domenico
Published: June 2016

Alberto Postigliola and Domenico Felice : Montesquieu's bibliographical fortunes in France and Italy, 1789-1815.

This article gives the results of an investigation into Montesquieu's bibliography in Italy during the Revolution and the Napoleonic period, conducted in the main Italian and in some French and British libraries (about fifty in all) and taking account of editions in the original language. We have found hitherto unknown editions and translations and have identified «phantom » editions. The most surprising result is the absence of important Italian translations of Montesquieu during this period, in contrast to the numerous 18th-century translations and the explosion in the 1820s, and in contrast to what happened with, for example, Rousseau's works.
De Montesquieu à Benjamin Constant : la fin des Lumières ?
Authors: Benrekassa Georges
Published: June 2016

Georges Benrekassa : From Montesquieu to Benjamin Constant : the end

of the Enlightenment ?

This study attempts to analyze the supposedly liberal tradition linking the Esprit des lois to the Principes de politique dating from 1802-6, after the revolutionary upheaval and at the birth of a new despotism. Constant works out, through a profound criticism of the notion of «social authority », a liberal position based both on contemporary experience and an unusual reading of Montesquieu and Rousseau taken together. But this position can be seen as a betrayal of the original form of Montesquieu's enlightened ideal and its underlying attempt at liberation. The pacificying and elitist desire to guide and manipulate public opinion in fact leads to a justification of a deep but hidden split in society which is probably in contradiction with the teachings and aims of the Esprit des lois.
La propagande girondine et le livre en 1792 : le Bureau de l'Esprit public
Authors: Dorigny Marcel
Published: June 2016

Marcel Dorigny : Girondin progaganda in 1792 : the Bureau de lesprit

public.

The Roland-Brissot group, in particular Lanthenas, was behind an original doctrine in 1791-2 which aimed at creating wide popular support for the new regime's ideology. The printed word was crucial as it was by newspapers and books, and in particular by their public reading, that new ideas should spread, to counteract the negative influence of tradition, superstition and religion. When Roland became minister in March 1792 these plans were applied on a large scale. He founded the «Bureau de l'esprit public » which was to distribute in the country the «right sort of works » to enlighten the people ; «patriotic missionaries » were recruited and sent out to «support the public spirit » by useful readings ; and a paper was even created, Louvet's Sentinelle. Thus Roland inaugurated a form of «government of public spirit » which continued after his resignation in January 1793.
La lecture en milieu populaire dans le département de Paris
Authors: Monnier Raymonde
Published: June 2016

Raymonde Monnier : Reading among the people in the Paris départements.

In an attempt to study how far the Revolution transformed the cultural habits of the ordinary people in Paris and its suburbs this paper studies the application of the Montagnard plan to regenerate the nation and create a new man. This meant a rational effort to educate and spread their principles. In the field of elementary education, the implementation of the Bouquier law improved still further an already privileged position as almost all the primary schools were created by the end of year II in this département. Catechisms and revolutionary almanachs spread republican morals and schoolteachers became the chief patriotic missionaries ; political events occupied an ever larger place in everyday life ; public readings took up a large part of popular societies' meetings. New revolutionary sociability led to an unprecedented explosion of reading habits.
Le commerce du libelle interdit à Paris (1790-1791)
Authors: de Baecque Antoine
Published: June 2016

Antoine de Baecque : The sale of forbidden pamphlets in Paris (1790-1791).

At the beginning of the Revolution, the book trade depended mainly on printing and selling numerous brochures devoted to political comment. Thanks to pamphlets, politics invaded the Paris streets. Many writings, taking advantage of the complete freedom of the press, outdid each other in profit-seeking violent attacks, denunciations and even pornography. These were what were called at the time «libels ». The Paris authorities tried to take action against this proliferating sub-literature and appointed police officers, mainly in Palais-Royal, to arrest peddlars and seize the anonymous works they were selling. From a study of police archives, the author here tries to bring out the political issues involved in this sale of revolutionary pamphlets.
Les imprimeurs libraires parisiens et la liberté de la presse (1789-1795)
Authors: Andries Lise
Published: June 2016

Lise Andries : Paris publisher-printers and the freedom of the press (1789-1795).

Until 1791 the freedom to sell printed works was controlled by the Paris council. From the end of 1791 until 10th August 1792, for about the only time during the Revolution, there was total freedom to print and sell. However it must be admitted that during the year II, it was mainly journalists rather than publisher-printers who were hit by repression. A study of police archives also gives us a better understanding of the conditions in which brochures were printed and sold, the peddlars' beats in Paris, sizes of editions, prices and titles sold. It gives us a more precise idea of how small printing presses worked, in particular those on the fringes of legality who survived by printing pamphlets.
La Révolution et le premier journal illustré paru en France (1785-1793)
Authors: Kleinert Annemarie
Published: June 2016

Annemarie Kleinert : The revolution and the first French illustrated magazine.

The first illustrated magazine published in France was one of the periodicals that survived the fall of the monarchy in 1792 even though it was pro-monarchist. It changed its title twice between 1785 and 1793, being called Cabinet des Modes in its first year, Magasin des Modes nouvelles from its second to fourth years, and Journal de la Mode et du Goût in its last three years. It was illustrated with coloured engravings. Its articles and engravings allow us to study the importance of the Revolution for its authors. It moved from reticence towards acceptance, then enthousiasm and finally a refusal of the policies of the years 1789 to 1793.
Langue universelle et diversité des Lumières. Un concours de l'Académie de Berlin en 1784
Authors: Schlobach Jochen
Published: June 2016

Jochen Schlobach : Universal language and the diversity of the enlightenment. The 1782 Berlin Academy prize.

The universality of French was generally accepted in 18h century Europe, less because of enlightened philosophy than because of the influence of French absolutism in courts and their culture (theatres, academies, princely education, etc.). Voltaire, who attempted a synthesis of classical aesthetics and «philosophy », represented the Enlightenment's temporary agreement with princes, symbolized by his stay in Potsdam. The Berlin Academy's 1782 prize on the universality of French sparked off a debate in Germany which encouraged the Aufklärer's unwillingness to accept the French language's superiority or suitability for philosophy. Some authors even doubted the usefulness for the French themselves of a universal language and considered that the multiplicity of European languages promoted the obvious national diversity in science, the arts and the Enlightenment.
Les idées de Mme Necker
Authors: Soumoy-Thibert Geneviève
Published: June 2016

Geneviève Soumoy-Thibert : The ideas of Madame Necker.

Mme Necker was not only the wife of Jacques Necker, the hostess of a famous salon and the mother of Germaine de Staël, but she was also a writer. Her work is unified by her need to calm anxiety, which takes three forms. Firstly there is the desire to please, which leads her to elaborate rules for a true art of pleasing, based on sweetness and self-denial. The second anxiety concerns ethics ; in order to reconcile happiness and virtue, she defends order, good deeds and self-sacrifice. Finally there is metaphysical anxiety which means that existence must be founded on principles which are examined by reason, namely God, the soul and liberty. Despite certain contradictions and its extremely fragmented nature, her work is still interesting from the philosophical point of view.
Le Voyage en Sibérie de Chappe d'Auteroche
Authors: Claudon Adhémar Catherine , Claudon Francis
Published: June 2016

Catherine Claudon-Adhémar and Francis Claudon : Chappe d'Auteroche's Voyage en Siberie.

The astronomer, abbé Chappe d'Auteroche was almost the first Frenchman to describe Siberia, where he went in order to observe a comet in 1761. His work was published in 1768 and republished several times ; the only contemporary work comparable to Chappe's is Biischung's Neue Erdbeschreibung (French translation 1768). Chappe's Voyage is interesting first of all for its choice of route (Paris-Tobolsk by road) and it provides information on the little-known geography of Siberia, including maps and all sorts of observations. Secondly, Chappe lists various geographical, climatic and above all sociological 'curiosities'. He is very impressed by the land of Russia, but he has less affection for its inhabitants, whom he finds wild with unexpected reactions — true barbarians in fact. He thus corrects Voltaire and Montesquieu, and his remarks on the relationship between nature and politics are still relevant today.