WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE- news journal UPDATE - (en) France, Monde Libertaire - History Pages No. 119: Writing the History of the French Revolution (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Two books have been published on the ways in which the French Revolution was written. The first focuses on contemporary literary representations of the event, while the second is devoted to its writing up to the 1930s. Olivier Ritz offers an analysis of history as it was being written. He revisits the main contemporary texts of the Revolution, period by period, to show how this revolutionary episode was written. He emphasizes the power of the narrative at a time when printed material was enjoying unprecedented circulation. He highlights the extraordinary freedom of expression used by journalists, chroniclers, and participants in the events. The analysis of the storming of the Bastille should still be included in major journalistic accounts. The press then became a political weapon. It was used to sway public opinion, as evidenced, for example, by the campaign to defend the revolution and the recruitment of volunteers. Letters then aligned themselves with one side or the other to assert their point of view. Numerous texts demonstrate that this period was extraordinary and exceptionally rich, and the catalyst for an extraordinary mobilization. One of the main legacies of the French Revolution was ultimately freedom of the press.

Guillaume Lancereau examines the historiography of the Revolution. Writing its history at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries was a major political and historical issue. Until the end of the 19th century, reactionary, even counter-revolutionary, historiography held sway. It was not until the centenary commemorations in 1889 that the literary landscape shifted. The staunchly republican historian Alphonse Aulard offered a form of rehabilitation of the revolutionary episode. Writing history became a central issue in which professional historians initially struggled to find their place, caught between post-monarchist writing and the Marxist vision, revised in light of the October 1917 revolution. While it is now possible to analyze all its elements, the least that can be said is that history remains subject to political and memorial contingencies; this book shows that this is nothing new...

A Literary History of the French Revolution
Olivier Ritz
Gallimard 2026 406 pp. EUR10.50

The Cult of History: Writing the Revolution, 1889-1940
Guillaume Lancereau
CNRS Editions 2026 372 pp. EUR25

https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=8892
_________________________________________

Link: (en) France, Monde Libertaire - History Pages No. 119: Writing the History of the French Revolution (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca