Description
Book SynopsisBoth an analysis of the Bastille as cultural paradigm and a case study on the history of French political culture
Trade Review"Fresh and new. Lusebrink and Reichardt have produced a fascinating book about the images and representations of the Bastille that have accrued for three centuries... This book cleverly combines innumerable telling anecdotes with a serious historical argument, replete with a quantitative analysis of texts... [T]his wonderful book shows us a French Revolution teeming with life, with heroism, and not least, with absurdity." Journal of Interdisciplinary History "This fascinating book, originally published in German at the turn of the decade, offers a rare view in English of the historical riches which have recently materialized outre-Rhin." Malcolm Crook, French History
Table of ContentsEditors' Introduction vii
Preface xvii
Translator's Note xix
Introduction 1
Genesis of a Political Symbol: The Bastille, 1715-1789 6
The Storming of the Bastille: The Historical Event as a Collective Symbol Action 38
Revolutionary Symbolism under the Sign of the Bastille, 1789-1799: A Prime Example of the Self-Mystification of the French Revolution 79
Bastille Symbolism in Modern France: The Republican Legacy of the French Revolution 205
Final Remarks: On the Origin and Function of a Historical Symbol 241
Appendix: Reports on the Storming of the Bastille, 1789 247
Notes 251
Works Cited 287
Index 297
