EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
The French Revolution
Peter McPhee, The University of Melbourne
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E What were People of 18th Century France Reading? Notes taken on August 22, 2014 by Edward Tanguay |
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what were people in 18th century France reading?
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Encyclopédie
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this work had a price that only a thin section of society could hope to afford
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Rousseau
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his most radical and revolutionary works were not comparatively popular
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Émile, ou De l’éducation
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Du contrat social ou Principes du droit politique
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Daniel Mornet in the 1900s reviewed 500 libraries of people from 18th century, found one copy of The Social Contract
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most popular works
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Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse
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romantic novel of sensibilities, a novel of manners
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we have no best seller lists from there 18th century
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two kinds of books:
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received full public permission from regime
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received only tacit permission
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included the more radical works
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1980s Robert Darnton research on "bad books"
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found that there was a pirate industry of producing inexpensive copies of revolutionary works outside of France and getting them into the borders
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in Britain and Neuchâtel, Switzerland
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looking at illegal books tells you want people really wanted to read
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25,000 pirate editions of the Encyclopedie existed
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not only cheap pirate editions shipped into France, but another genre of books
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low-quality books with political and pornography themes
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"Venus in the cloister, or the nun in the nightshirt"
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the Falsity of Miracles
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Social Contract (Rousseau)
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one can conclude that people wanted to get their hands on obscenity, ribald literature, and banned Enlightenment works
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the authorities tended to group these together and called them "bad books"
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what was particularly explosive was that the obscene soft porn literature was targeting the noble class, the clergy, and indeed, the king himself
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Louis XVI married Marie-Antoinette
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he was 15, she was 14
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under French Royal law, there can only be a king of France, not a Queen
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it takes them 8 years to produce a child and it's a girl
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finally in 1781 a son is born
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he died in 1789
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mockery of the king's sexual incapacity became politically explosive
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not just the alleged impotency of the king but it suggests that the regime itself is in trouble
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Marie Antoinette becomes a target of this mockery as well
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these underground authors suggest in their writings that she is such a strong woman that she has effectively emasculated the king
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this seems to symbolize what has gone wrong with the regime in general
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since the king was there by the grace of God, this mockery was also religiously explosive
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Louis is also mocked that he rather goes hunting than run his realm
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he keeps a diary of the birds and animals that his hunting party kills, averaging 20-30 per day
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on lists that were found of what bookstores ordered from foreign book producers, there were:
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The Little Suppers at the Hôtel de Bouillon
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"little suppers" were euphemisms for sexual orgies
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Louis XV's private life
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Louis XV's orgies
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the devil in the baptismal font
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Rousseau's latest book
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Marie-Antoinette's hobbies
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the allegation that comes through this literature is that the aristocracy can no longer fight, conduct foreign policy, nor make love
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Chevalier d'Eon
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commonly seen dressed as a woman
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rumors that he cross-dressed
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fought in the army
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was a perfect occasion for these writers to mock the aristocracy and monarchy
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Enlightenment writers such as Diderot would dabble in this type of ribald literature when they needed the money
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Paris
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literature is widely distributed
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a literate city
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the vast majority of people could read and write
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women are less literate
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information was commonly passed via market places
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countryside
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85% of France lived in small, rural communities
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50% of men, 25% of women could sign their marriage acts
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colporteurs went from village to village selling printed literature for people to read aloud at family gatherings
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"Bibliotheque bleue"
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medieval horror stories
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witches, superstitions, spells
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anything but Enlightenment literature
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Almanach
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secular information
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e.g. how to watch out for pickpockets
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rather than about the lives of the Saints
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had nothing to do with the Enlightenment
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hence one can conclude that the Enlightenment was an urban phenomenon
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but one of the major movements of the French Revolution was The Great Fear, the fear of the peasant revolt
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this can't be explained in terms of the peasants having Enlightenment ideas such as Rousseau or the Encyclopedie
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the could afford these works
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the illegal books weren't circulating to any significant extent through the countryside which were mocking the monarchy and the court