Chamfort and the French Revolution
<br/>Sébastien-Roch Nicolas Chamfort remains one of the most enigmatic ‘prompters’ of the French Revolution. This study analyses his rhetorical and political programmes in tandem to reveal how Chamfort’s discourse and politics inform and elucidate one another in both pre-revolutionary and revo...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Voltaire Foundation
2017
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| _version_ | 1826260663394107392 |
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| author | McCallam, D |
| author_facet | McCallam, D |
| author_sort | McCallam, D |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <br/>Sébastien-Roch Nicolas Chamfort remains one of the most enigmatic ‘prompters’ of the French Revolution. This study analyses his rhetorical and political programmes in tandem to reveal how Chamfort’s discourse and politics inform and elucidate one another in both pre-revolutionary and revolutionary periods. It considers his key political texts – his ‘Discours à l’Académie française’, <em>Des académies</em>, the <em>Tableaux historiques de la Révolution française</em> and his posthumous <em>Maximes et pensées, caractères et anecdotes</em> – and exposes how, in each instance, Chamfort’s conception of politics hinges on the adoption and subversion of prescribed discursive forms (reception speech, historical tableau, maxim). <br/> In the ‘Discours’ and <em>Des académies</em>, Chamfort opposes the implicit discursive norm of <em>le bon usage</em> sanctioned by the Académie française, because it represses free expression and at the same time constitutes the Académie itself into an oppressive corporation imbued with neo-feudal values. Chamfort’s subsequent interpretations of revolutionary events in his <em>Tableaux historiques</em>, while making explicit this same radical libertarianism, frame some reservations about the insurgent <em>peuple</em> as a political force. In the end, many of the tensions troubling Chamfort’s politics are resolved by his posthumous <em>Maximes et pensées</em>, whose prevailing principle of <em>honnêteté</em> gives them a rhetorical and political independence from both the <em>ancien régime</em>, centred on notions of <em>honneur</em>, and the revolutionary Republic, founded on a principle of <em>vertu</em>. <br/> Previous studies have tended either to interpret Chamfort’s works from their historical or biographical context, or – by considering exclusively the <em>Maximes et pensées</em> – to subordinate them to an established literary tradition. This innovative reading posits Chamfort’s texts as an exemplary meeting-place of literary practice and political <em>praxis</em> at the time of the Revolution, shedding new light on both the function of literary forms in Chamfort’s politics and the role of Chamfort the writer, as an ideological subject caught up in revolutionary events. <br/><br/> List of illustrations<br/> Acknowledgements<br/> Chronology<br/> Introduction<br/> Chamfort and the Revolution<br/> Form and ideology<br/> 1. Chamfort and the Académie française: forms of language<br/> i. Chamfort’s changing relation to the Académie française<br/> ii. The question of the Académie’s ‘Discours de réception’<br/> iii. The dictionary of the Académie française<br/> iv. Chamfort and the issue of the Académie’s ‘bon usage’<br/> 2. Chamfort and the Académie française: a study in ideology<br/> i. Honour and virtue in Montesquieu’s <em>De l’esprit des lois</em><br/> ii. Ideal and ideology in Chamfort’s ‘Discours de réception’<br/> iii. Ideal and ideology in Chamfort’s <em>Des académies</em><br/> 3. Chamfort’s <em>Tableaux historiques de la Révolution française</em>: a study in form<br/> i. The form of the tableau in late eighteenth-century France<br/> ii. Chamfort’s <em>Tableaux historiques</em>: revolutionary history in tableau form<br/> iii. Tableau form and discursive time: the model of popular ‘spectacle’ in Chamfort’s <em>Tableaux historiques</em><br/> iv. The politics of the tableau form in Chamfort’s <em>Tableaux historiques</em><br/> 4. Chamfort’s <em>Tableaux historiques</em>: an ideology of ‘the people’<br/> i. Chamfort’s sanctification of the Revolution<br/> ii. Chamfort’s aesthetics of ‘the people’<br/> iii. A moralist of ‘the people’: Chamfort’s <em>Tableaux historiques</em><br/> 5. Chamfort’s <em>Maximes et pensées</em>: the form of the maxim<br/> i. The maxim as defined in late eighteenth-century France<br/> ii. The maxim as a general statement<br/> iii. The maxim and the aphorism<br/> iv. Chamfort’s maxims and dialogue<br/> 6. Chamfort’s <em>Maximes et pensées</em>: an ideology of the maxim<br/> i. The ideological function of the maxim<br/> ii. The dual role of <em>caractère</em> in Chamfort’s maxims<br/> iii. The principle of <em>honnêteté</em> in Chamfort’s maxims<br/> Conclusion<br/> Works cited<br/> Index<br/> |
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| spelling | oxford-uuid:16341556-9a07-49b2-992f-9a99e50a5db92022-03-26T10:29:57ZChamfort and the French RevolutionBookhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_2f33uuid:16341556-9a07-49b2-992f-9a99e50a5db9EnglishVoltaire FoundationVoltaire Foundation2017McCallam, D<br/>Sébastien-Roch Nicolas Chamfort remains one of the most enigmatic ‘prompters’ of the French Revolution. This study analyses his rhetorical and political programmes in tandem to reveal how Chamfort’s discourse and politics inform and elucidate one another in both pre-revolutionary and revolutionary periods. It considers his key political texts – his ‘Discours à l’Académie française’, <em>Des académies</em>, the <em>Tableaux historiques de la Révolution française</em> and his posthumous <em>Maximes et pensées, caractères et anecdotes</em> – and exposes how, in each instance, Chamfort’s conception of politics hinges on the adoption and subversion of prescribed discursive forms (reception speech, historical tableau, maxim). <br/> In the ‘Discours’ and <em>Des académies</em>, Chamfort opposes the implicit discursive norm of <em>le bon usage</em> sanctioned by the Académie française, because it represses free expression and at the same time constitutes the Académie itself into an oppressive corporation imbued with neo-feudal values. Chamfort’s subsequent interpretations of revolutionary events in his <em>Tableaux historiques</em>, while making explicit this same radical libertarianism, frame some reservations about the insurgent <em>peuple</em> as a political force. In the end, many of the tensions troubling Chamfort’s politics are resolved by his posthumous <em>Maximes et pensées</em>, whose prevailing principle of <em>honnêteté</em> gives them a rhetorical and political independence from both the <em>ancien régime</em>, centred on notions of <em>honneur</em>, and the revolutionary Republic, founded on a principle of <em>vertu</em>. <br/> Previous studies have tended either to interpret Chamfort’s works from their historical or biographical context, or – by considering exclusively the <em>Maximes et pensées</em> – to subordinate them to an established literary tradition. This innovative reading posits Chamfort’s texts as an exemplary meeting-place of literary practice and political <em>praxis</em> at the time of the Revolution, shedding new light on both the function of literary forms in Chamfort’s politics and the role of Chamfort the writer, as an ideological subject caught up in revolutionary events. <br/><br/> List of illustrations<br/> Acknowledgements<br/> Chronology<br/> Introduction<br/> Chamfort and the Revolution<br/> Form and ideology<br/> 1. Chamfort and the Académie française: forms of language<br/> i. Chamfort’s changing relation to the Académie française<br/> ii. The question of the Académie’s ‘Discours de réception’<br/> iii. The dictionary of the Académie française<br/> iv. Chamfort and the issue of the Académie’s ‘bon usage’<br/> 2. Chamfort and the Académie française: a study in ideology<br/> i. Honour and virtue in Montesquieu’s <em>De l’esprit des lois</em><br/> ii. Ideal and ideology in Chamfort’s ‘Discours de réception’<br/> iii. Ideal and ideology in Chamfort’s <em>Des académies</em><br/> 3. Chamfort’s <em>Tableaux historiques de la Révolution française</em>: a study in form<br/> i. The form of the tableau in late eighteenth-century France<br/> ii. Chamfort’s <em>Tableaux historiques</em>: revolutionary history in tableau form<br/> iii. Tableau form and discursive time: the model of popular ‘spectacle’ in Chamfort’s <em>Tableaux historiques</em><br/> iv. The politics of the tableau form in Chamfort’s <em>Tableaux historiques</em><br/> 4. Chamfort’s <em>Tableaux historiques</em>: an ideology of ‘the people’<br/> i. Chamfort’s sanctification of the Revolution<br/> ii. Chamfort’s aesthetics of ‘the people’<br/> iii. A moralist of ‘the people’: Chamfort’s <em>Tableaux historiques</em><br/> 5. Chamfort’s <em>Maximes et pensées</em>: the form of the maxim<br/> i. The maxim as defined in late eighteenth-century France<br/> ii. The maxim as a general statement<br/> iii. The maxim and the aphorism<br/> iv. Chamfort’s maxims and dialogue<br/> 6. Chamfort’s <em>Maximes et pensées</em>: an ideology of the maxim<br/> i. The ideological function of the maxim<br/> ii. The dual role of <em>caractère</em> in Chamfort’s maxims<br/> iii. The principle of <em>honnêteté</em> in Chamfort’s maxims<br/> Conclusion<br/> Works cited<br/> Index<br/> |
| spellingShingle | McCallam, D Chamfort and the French Revolution |
| title | Chamfort and the French Revolution |
| title_full | Chamfort and the French Revolution |
| title_fullStr | Chamfort and the French Revolution |
| title_full_unstemmed | Chamfort and the French Revolution |
| title_short | Chamfort and the French Revolution |
| title_sort | chamfort and the french revolution |
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