The Bastille: A History of a Symbol of Despotism and Freedom

Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink; Rolf Reichardt

Published by Duke University Press 1997

The Bastille

A History of a Symbol of Despotism and Freedom

Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink and Rolf Reichardt
Edited by: Steven Laurence Kaplan and Keith Michael Baker
Translated by: Norbert Schürer

In the series Bicentennial Reflections on the French Revolution

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822382751

Overview
Contents

About this book

This 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.

Author / Editor information

Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink is chair of French Cultural Studies and Intercultural Communication at the Universität des Saarlandes, Germany. Rolf Reichardt is head of the scholarly reference department, Universität Mainz, Germany.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Editors' Introduction Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	xvii
Translator's Note Publicly Available Download PDF	xix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
I. Genesis of a Political Symbol: The Bastille, 1715-1789 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	6
2. The Storming of the Bastille: The Historical Event as Collective Symbolic Action Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	38
3. Revolutionary Symbolism under the Sign of the Bastille, 1789-1799: A Prime Example of the Self-Mystification of the French Revolution Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
4. Bastille Symbolism in Modern France: The Republican Legacy of the French Revolution Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
Final Remarks: On the Origin and Function of a Historical Symbol Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
Appendix: Reports on the Storming of the Bastille, 1789 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
Works Cited Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	287
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	297

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Pages
- Main content: 326
Illustrations
- Other: 45 halftones, 4 charts, 8 tables, 1 map

eBook

Published: July 18, 1997
ISBN: 9780822382751