Here are the physical books I've used for my research on the period covered so far, i.e. the Enlightenment and Revolution. This 18th Century stuff has not been my main area of research so far so I don't have as many resources as for the rest of the course. If you're in Roanoke, feel free to let me know if you want to take a look at any of these, for your own research or simply curiosity. I'll post more resources as we move forward!
A few of these are 100 to 200 year old books from my own archive of 19th Century Counter-Cultures. Most of these books are in French, and their research value will vary if you don't read French. But they are very tangible touchstones with the human reality of the period, and may be suggestive for research in terms of images, names for further research, and many other clues.
PRIMARY SOURCES
Swedenborg, Emanuel & George F. Dole, Trans. Heaven and Its Wonders and Hell: Drawn From Things Heard & Seen. (2000) West Chester, PA: The Swedenborg Foundation. (Original publication 1758)
Jacob, Bibliophile (Paul Lacroix) & Theodore W. Koch, Trans. My Republic: In Which are Narrated the Adventures of a Bibliophile During the French Revolution and the Part Played Therein by a Rare Book. (1936) Chicago: The Caxton Club. (Original Publication 1861)
Racine, Jean & Richard Wilbur, trans. Phaedra: A Tragedy in Five Acts. (1986) NNew York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. (Original Publication 1677)
IN FRENCH, FROM OLCHAR'S ARCHIVE
de Beauvoir, Roger. Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges. 2nd Ed. (1840) Paris: H.-L. Delloye. Four Volumes.
Claretie, Jules. Camille Desmoulins, Lucile Desmoulins: étude sur les Dantonistes, d'après des documents nouveaux et inédits. (1875) Paris: E. Plon et Cie.
de Parny, Évariste. Oeuvres de Parny: elégies et poesies diverses. Preface by Sainte-Beuve. (1862) Paris: Garnier Frères.
SECONDARY SOURCES
General History:
Breunig, Charles. The Age of Revolution and Reaction, 1789-1850. 2nd Ed. (1977) New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Doyle, William. The Oxford History of the French Revolution. (1990) Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cultural & Intellectual History:
Bénichou, Paul & Mark K. Jensen, trans. The Consecration of the Writer, 1750-1830. (1999) Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
Langer, William L., ed. Perspectives in Western Civilization: Essays from 'Horizon'. Vol. 2. (1972) New York: American Heritage.
Shiner, Larry. The Invention of Art: A Cultural History. (2002) Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Stearns, Peter N., ed. The Other Side of Western Civilization: Readings in Everyday Life. Vol. II: The Sixteenth Century to the Present. (1973) New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Stromberg, Roland N. European Intellectual History Since 1789. 2nd Ed. (1975) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Art & Architecture:
Detroit Institute of Arts. The Age of Revolution: French Painting 1774-1830. (1975) Detroit: Wayne State University.
Toman, Rolf, ed. Neoclassicism and Romaticism: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Drawing 1750-1848. (2006) H.F. Ullmann.
i've just today splashed out on The Consecration of the Writer. huzzah!
ReplyDeleteNice! An awesome book, that traces how Romanticism emerged from a complex network of ideas--and one of the only books in English (albeit translated from French) that looks at the Bouzingo group with real intelligence and respect.
ReplyDeletei really enjoyed that Chateaubriand by the way. i feel as though i've heard a man's voice reading it to me which is strange but pleasing. like a ghost audiobook!
ReplyDeletecurrently reading Les Fleurs du Mal (wading through the introduction, hungry for histories) and also re-reading a little de Sade (Philosophy in the Boudour).
although i find de Sade difficult these days (i'm such a sensitive little flower) i'm trying to gauge his politics, as he was right there in revolution era, locked up for most of his life and something of a political representative (elected to the National Convention).
yet the dialogues between the libertine characters in 'Philosophy' appear to be voicing the antithesis of the Social Contract we've been looking at, placing all importance on the 'I' and not the 'we', expounding extreme liberty in imposing will on others. yet, De Sade is spoken of as a political revolutionary. is this down to his utter loathing of the Catholic Church? i'm confused! :)
That's all the Chateaubriand I've read. I actually got rather impatient with it, a little bit syruppy for me--I think maybe Byron has a cutting edge that I like. It took me about five tries before I 'got' the Fleus du Mal--then I got it, and they're great. What translation are you reading?
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Sade occupies a really strange situation in relation to this whole period and all the ideas of liberty and freedom that were going around. The strange mix of freedom, violence, philosophy, and materialism seems related to the way the Reign of Terror went down... I haven't ever gotten into Sade, but Warren's looked at a lot lately and might have some insight.... {hint, hint...} :-)
loving the Gustav Doré illustrations for Atala btw...
Deletehttp://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Art-/550/i.html?_nkw=chateaubriand
Fleurs: Oxford World's Classics 1993 translation by James McGowan with parallel French text. just looking at the French and 'sounding' the words, i just know it works better on all levels in French - obviously :) After reading the English i then consider the French, slowly, to attempt the real flavour. example from the Insulted Moon...
O moon our ancestors discreetly praised
Ô Lune qu'adoraient discrètement nos pères
Yes, i'm feeling the Byron too, and am interested in his character... tis the first time i have read him! Just so much to take in - i could sit here for the rest of my life reading and not get an inch further into my fantasy reading list.
as for Sade - ah, what sayeth thou Mr Fry?
Pretty much everything Doré does is epic and awesome!
ReplyDeleteThe McGowan translation's the one where I finally 'got it', it's good. And yeah, even though my French comprehension's still pretty damned poor without a dictionary for every other word, I've been reading French verse out loud to myself too, and the rhythm and music of it are beautiful. I've been reading a lot of Petrus Borel and Théophile O'Neddy this way (Vol. II of the reader will have several translations of work by them which has never been printed in English before), and I've been doing it with Baudelaire too.
Byron was one of the first poets I really got into, and is probably partly responsible for my love of all things dark and misanthropic. (Got to give Poe props for that too, obviously). I really want to read Cain...