The Bastille - A History of a Symbol of Despotism and Freedom

This book is both an analysis of the Bastille as cultural paradigm and a case study on the history of French political culture. It examines in particular the storming and subsequent fall of the Bastille in Paris on July 14, 1789, and how it came to represent the cornerstone of the French Revolution, becoming a symbol of the repression of the Old Regime.

List of contents

Editors' Introduction vii

Preface xvii

Translator's Note xix

Introduction 1

Genesis of a Political Symbol: The Bastille, 1715-1789 6

The Storming of the Bastille: The Historical Event as a Collective Symbol Action 38

Revolutionary Symbolism under the Sign of the Bastille, 1789-1799: A Prime Example of the Self-Mystification of the French Revolution 79

Bastille Symbolism in Modern France: The Republican Legacy of the French Revolution 205

Final Remarks: On the Origin and Function of a Historical Symbol 241

Appendix: Reports on the Storming of the Bastille, 1789 247

Notes 251

Works Cited 287

Index 297

About the author

Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink and Rolf Reichardt

Summary

Both an analysis of the Bastille as cultural paradigm and a case study on the history of French political culture

Product details

• Authors: Hans-Jurgen Lusebrink, Hans-Jurgen Lusebrink, Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink, Rolf Reichardt, Rolf Reichardt
• Assisted by: Hans-Jorgen Losebrink (Editor), Rolf Reichardt (Editor), Norbert Schurer (Translation), Norbert Schürer (Translation)
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 18.07.1997
• EAN: 9780822318941
• ISBN: 978-0-8223-1894-1
• No. of pages: 328
• Dimensions: 144 mm x 229 mm x 25 mm
• Weight: 503 g
• Series: Bicentennial Reflections on the French Revolution; Bicentennial Reflections on th; Bicentennial Reflections on the French Revolution; Bicentennial Reflections on th
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Europäische Geschichte, Geschichte allgemein und Weltgeschichte