The Shaping of French National Identity: Narrating the Nation's Past, 1715-1830

ISBN-13: 9781107128095 / Angielski / Twarda / 2020 / 325 str.

Matthew D'Auria

Opis

Casts new light on of the 'official' French nineteenth-century narrative by examining how historians and philosophers conceived of the country's past.

Recenzje

'The Shaping of French National Identity thus sheds light on a chapter of intellectual history never before investigated with such thoroughness, that of the battles between competing visions of national identity that coexisted over the course of the long eighteenth century; the focus of is the respective contributions of Gauls, Romans and Franks in French history, and the reflection on the role of the king, the nobles, and the rest of the population in creating the national imaginary… The volume unveils possible alternative images to that established in the second half of the nineteenth century and illuminates the paths and reasons for the affirmation of the hegemonic narrative. It is an approach to the question of national identity that can be innovative even within a vast and prestigious bibliography. Focusing on the idea of 'national narrative', this approach corrects some of the assumptions implicit in the so-called 'modernist' approaches.' Studi Francesi

Spis treści

Introduction. Narrating the Nation: From the Nineteenth to the Eighteenth Century; Part I: 1. Race, Blood, and Lineage: The Nobility's National Narrative and the History of France; 2. History and Race: The Subject of Boulainvilliers's National Narrative; 3. Debating the Nation's History: From Royal(ist) to Ethnic Origins; Part II: 4. Thinking the Nation's Character: At the Crossroads of Literature, Anthropology, and History; 5. Moral and Physical Causes: Montesquieu's History of Nations; 6. Discussing the Nation's History: Franks, Gauls, and the French Character; Part III: 7. Classifying the Nation: The Past(s) of 'Social Classes' Before and After the Revolution; 8. A Bourgeois National Narrative: On Augustin Thierry's Réforme Historique; 9. Debating the Nation's Past(s): Giving the Bourgeoisie its History; Conclusion.