Table 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

Promotional Information

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

About the Author

Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink is chair of French Cultural Studies and Intercultural Communication at the Universität des Saarlandes, Germany. Rolf Reichardt is head of the scholarly reference department, Universität Mainz, Germany.

Reviews

"Fresh and new. Lusebrink and Reichardt have produced a fascinating book about the images and representations of the Bastille that have accrued for three centuries... This book cleverly combines innumerable telling anecdotes with a serious historical argument, replete with a quantitative analysis of texts... [T]his wonderful book shows us a French Revolution teeming with life, with heroism, and not least, with absurdity." Journal of Interdisciplinary History "This fascinating book, originally published in German at the turn of the decade, offers a rare view in English of the historical riches which have recently materialized outre-Rhin." Malcolm Crook, French History