Commemorating the Dead in Revolutionary France: Revolution and Remembrance, 1789-1799

Description

From the fall of the Bastille in 1789 to the coming of Napoleon ten years later, the commemoration of the dead was a recurring theme during the French Revolution. Based on extensive research across a wide range of sources, this book is the first comprehensive study of the cultural politics of commemoration in Revolutionary France. It examines what remembrance meant to the people who staged and attended ceremonies, raised monuments, listened to speeches and purchased souvenirs in memory of the Revolution's dead. It explores the political purposes these commemorations served and the conflicts they gave rise to while also examining the cultural traditions they drew upon. Above all, it asks what private ends did the Revolution's rites of memory serve? What consolation did commemoration bring to those the dead left behind, and what conflicts did this relationship between the public and the private dimensions of remembrance give rise to?

Review of the hardback: 'This is an important book because it demands so forcefully that we re-examine basic assumptions about the Revolution.' Paul O'Brien H-France Forum Review of the hardback: '... get[s] us closer to an understanding of the phenomenon of commemoration than any of the explanations formulated so far'. Peter Jones French History Review of the hardback: '... eloquent, absorbing and most welcome ... This is an important book, not simply recommended reading for specialists but of interest to all modern historians.' Malcolm Crook History Review of the hardback: 'Clarke is especially effective when he charts one phenomenon, site, or person over time. The analysis of the state funerals (or pantheonization) held for Mirabeau, Voltaire, and Rousseau is illuminating, especially as the juxtaposition of the three events held in April 1791, July 1791, and October 1794 allow us to watch how the pantheon - and the Republic's founding fathers - underwent a change in meaning during successive regimes.' Eighteenth-Century Studies