Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment in France

Robert Darnton

Published by Harvard University Press 1968

Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment in France

Robert Darnton

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674030190

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About this book

Early in 1788, Franz Anton Mesmer arrived in Paris and began to promulgate an exotic theory of healing that almost immediately seized the imagination of the general populace. Robert Darnton's lively study provides a useful contribution to the study of popular culture and the manner in which ideas are diffused down through various social levels.

Reviews

A fascinating study of the effects that the theories of the notorious Viennese physician, Franz Mesmer, had upon social and political thinkers during the two decades preceding the French Revolution. This book is a skillful exploration of the various psychological factors that made mesmerism a widely accepted attitude… [The book] will interest literary scholars as well as historians since mesmerism is examined as a phenomenon that bequeathed an attitude that found its expression in the writings of the preromantics and the romantics.
-- Virginia Quarterly Review

This is an excellent book and one of singular interest both to the historian of science and to the French historian.
-- Isis

[An] excellent and exemplary study in the history of ideas. Based on a thorough study of manuscripts, pamphlets, and journals, learned in its broad setting and persuasive in its internal logic, supported by richly relevant quotations and reproductions of contemporary engravings, Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment in France provides a commendable model for those interested in the way ‘true’ and ‘false’ ideas interact and broadly influence behavior.
-- Science

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Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Preface Publicly Available Download PDF	vi
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	x
1. Mesmerism and Popular Science Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	2
2. The Mesmerist Movement 3. The Radical Strain in Mesmerism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
4. Mesmerism as a Radical Political Theory Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	106
5. From Mesmer to Hugo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	126
6. Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	160
Bibliographical Note Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
Appendix 1. Mesmer's Propositions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
Appendix 2. The Milieu of Amateur Scientists in Paris Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	178
Appendix 3. The Societe de !'Harmonie Universelle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	180
Appendix 4. Bergasse's Lectures on Mesmerism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
Appendix 5. The Emblem and Textbook of the Societes de !'Harmonie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	186
Appendix 6. An Antimesmerist View Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
Appendix 7. French Passages Translated in the Text Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Copyright year: 1968
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 232

eBook

Published: July 1, 2009
ISBN: 9780674030190