Reading #1: Response Prompts, Gaps, and Errata

Errata:

Thanks to Tomislav for pointing out the first mistake/typo of the reader--it mentions that the Declaration of the Rights of Man is partially based on the U.S. Constitution; it should have said the Declaration of Independence (as it does in the blog post, which tipped Tom off). The Constitution was being being written concurrently with the Rights of Man.


Gaps in the Reading:

There's a lot I wish I could have included, but couldn't due to various combinations of a short deadline for preparing the book, limited public-domain resources in translation, and space considerations. Some of them:

I already really regret not having included any Voltaire, in dialogue with Rousseau. Had I more time, I would have found something appropriate from Candide, and maybe Zadig as well; and some entries from the Encyclopedie would have been very nice too. Some representation from Diderot would have rounded it out nicely.

I'd have liked to have included Everiste de Parny, who I suspect would be interesting to compare to Béranger (coming up in Reading #6); I haven't had a chance to look into him as much as I'd like, though I know John M. Bennett has been checking him out lately…

There also ought to be more Classicist paintings (there will be a few more in Vol. 2). I'm going to try to assemble an online album of Classicist painting this week and post it to the blog. Music, too, is something that could not be fit into the curriculum as a regular presence but which I would love to explore here.

In addition, there is little in the anthology dealing directly with the history of the Revolution, which Brian will be covering with the CHS students through a combination of lecture, independent research and presentations. Here's the obvious first place to look.

A few potential prompts for somebody to take up if you'd like (or just do/respond to whatever else grabs your interest):

• Locate a passage or two from Voltaire and/or Diderot that creates a dialogue of similarities and differences from the Rousseau.
• Share a few entries from the Encyclopedie (Voltaire's contributions can found here).
• Locate a passage or two from other texts by Rousseau that are not in the reader, and shed light on some other aspect of his thought.
• Compare some points of the 1st and 2nd Declaration of the Rights of Man, or those documents and the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
• Compare the Declaration of the Rights of Man to Olympe de Gouges' 1791 feminist response, Declaration of the Rights of Woman
• Find or assemble a basic timeline of the French Revolution.
• Locate a few sources regarding any topic that you're interested in, and their state prior to the Revolution (popular culture, music, linguistics, occultism, technology, etc. etc.)
• Share a resource or your own knowledge regarding pre-Revolutionary politics, religion, science, feminism, abolition, decadence, etc.
• Post several poems, or several pieces of music, or several paintings or sculptures, or several architectural projects produced between 1750 and 1789.
• Discover and share a resource concerning a little-known Person, Group, or Subculture of the 18th Century.
• Post one or more question or suggestion for further research that the rest of us may be able to help answer.

Post these as comments or as your own posts as you see fit (and let me know if you have technical trouble doing so). Probably comments will work best if you're responding directly to a text from the reader, and a new post if you're presenting a new resource to discuss.