The Bastille: A History of a Symbol of Despotism and FreedomThis book is both an analysis of the Bastille as cultural paradigm and a case study on the history of French political culture. It examines in particular the storming and subsequent fall of the Bastille in Paris on July 14, 1789 and how it came to represent the cornerstone of the French Revolution, becoming a symbol of the repression of the Old Regime. Lüsebrink and Reichardt use this semiotic reading of the Bastille to reveal how historical symbols are generated; what these symbols’ functions are in the collective memory of societies; and how they are used by social, political, and ideological groups. To facilitate the symbolic nature of the investigation, this analysis of the evolving signification of the Bastille moves from the French Revolution to the nineteenth century to contemporary history. The narrative also shifts from France to other cultural arenas, like the modern European colonial sphere, where the overthrow of the Bastille acquired radical new signification in the decolonization period of the 1940s and 1950s. The Bastille demonstrates the potency of the interdisciplinary historical research that has characterized the end of this century, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, and taking its methodological tools from history, sociology, linguistics, and cultural and literary studies. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
The Bastille 17151789 | 6 |
The Historical Event as Collective Symbolic Action | 38 |
A Prime Example of the SelfMystification of the French | 79 |
The Republican Legacy of the French Revolution | 205 |
On the Origin and Function of a Historical Symbol | 241 |
Reports on the Storming of the Bastille 1789 | 247 |
Notes | 251 |
Works Cited | 287 |
297 | |
Other editions - View all
The Bastille: A History of a Symbol of Despotism and Freedom Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink,Rolf Reichardt No preview available - 1997 |
Common terms and phrases
14 Juillet 14 July ancien régime anonymous Archives August Bastille relics Bastille stones Bastille symbolism Beffroy de Reigny Bibliothèque Nationale cannons celebrations citizens Citoyens city hall conquerors conspiracy contemporary Count de Lorges Courrier crowd département despotism Discours prononcé dungeons Dusaulx engraving Estampes etching events of 14 Faubourg Saint-Antoine festival Fête figure fortress France French Revolution German governor Histoire Humbert Ibid imprisonment Jacobin club jour Journal journalistic Journée king la Bastille Latude Launay Launay's lettres de cachet liberation Liberté Linguet Louis XVI March Marseille Mémoires Mirabeau Moniteur monument Napoléon Bonaparte National Assembly National Guard newspaper official Palais-Royal Palloy's pamphlet Parein patriotic Peuple Pierre Pierre-François Palloy political popular Prise prisonniers published razing Reichardt Renneville reports reprinted republican Révolution française revolutionary Révolutions de Paris royal sequence social Société speech storming symbol Bastille texts tille tion Titon-Bergeras tower tyranny Vainqueurs victims victors vols Voltaire