FURTHER READING: 17-18^TH C European History Mary O’Neil, History UW

Feel free to contact me for more reading lists or suggestions: <oneilmr@uw. edu>

Primary sources:

17^th C: Madame de Sevigné, Letters: to her daughter are a great source for attitudes of aristocratic women in 17^th C. France
Madame de Lafayette, The Princess of Cleves (1678) early “psychological” novel about doomed love affair at French court

18^th C: Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther - 18h C. male version of doomed love
Rousseau, Confessions; Emile, or Education, Julie, or the New Heloise
** Biography on his complicated life: Leo Damrosch, Rousseau: Restless Genius

Pierre de Laclos Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) (1782)
disturbing novel, sexually corrupt aristocrats plot to seduce innocent young woman

French Revolution:

Simon Schama, Citizens: vivid post-Holocaust history of Revolution; sees French
Revolution as start of modern political violence of 19^th -20^th C. Europe.

Albert Soboul, The French Revolution, 1788-1799 good one volume history

Alfred Cobban, Social Interpretation of the French Revolution (British Marxist)

R.R. Palmer, Twelve Who Ruled – study of the principal figures of the Terror: especially
Robespierre versus Danton (see also movie Danton)

David Jordan, The Revolutionary Career of Maximilllien Robespierre (1989)

C.L.R. James, Black Jacobins on slave revolt in Haiti inspired by 1789

Olwen Hufton, Women & the Limits of Citizenship in French Revolution

Felix Markham, Napoleon a good biography

Roger Chartier, Francois Furet = major French historians of the Revolution (lots of titles)

Keith Baker, Inventing the French Revolution

Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture and Class in the French Revolution
” “ The Family Romance of the French Revolution (sons against fathers)

Some interesting, readable historical books on various topics:

Christopher Hill, The World Turned Upside Down on radical religious groups in English Civil War:
Levelers, Diggers, Ranters, Shakers, Quakers, Baptists

Natalie Davis, Society & Culture in Early Modern France, great historical essays; see also her Women on the Margins

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Montaillou: Village Occitan 14^th C Cathar heretics in French Pyrennées; entire village arrested
by the medieval Inquisition;; surviving trial records provide documentary basis for a famous & somewhat startling book

Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic popular beliefs in 16-17^th C. England, including magic, witchcraft, astrology etc

Robin Briggs, Witches and Neighbors: neighbors (male & female) perceived as witches in 17^th C. France (Duchy of Lorraine)

Carlo Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a 16^th C. Miller Inquisition trial against a semi-literate miller for theory of creation by spontaneous generation

Peter Hulme, Colonial Encounters: Europe and the Native Caribbean,1492-1797 great chapters on Columbus’ diaries, Smith & Pocahontas

Historical novels (not always a great genre, but these are very good):

Stendhal, The Red and the Black – (1830) set in post-Napoleonic France;
red (army) and black (clergy) as background to 19^th C. coming of age novel

Pierre de Laclos Les liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) (1782) a disturbing novel about a pair of sexually corrupt aristocrats who plot to seduce an innocent, pious young woman. Enlightenment genre of what might now be called very soft core porn -- all innuendo, nothing graphic, but somehow nasty & unsettling (Movie of 1988 -John Malkovich, great at playing the depraved aristocrat, plotting with Glenn Close to corrupt the beautiful Michelle Pfeiffer, just for fun)

Alessandro Manzoni, The Bethrothed (I promesi sposi)19^th C. Italian novel in 17^th C. setting has it all: war, famine, plague, bread riots, unwilling nun, witch trial, outlaw bandit, star-crossed lovers, plot & sub plots (the genre is called picaresque)…

Tommaso di Lampedusa, The Leopard (1958) there is a movie of same title with Burt Lancaster & Clauda Cardinale -- a cinematically beautiful film, but a bit shallow; the novel has a lot more depth. It is set in 19^th C. Sicily, as the nobility finds itself overtaken by history in the form of Italian unification. Written by the last Prince of Lampedusa, who died in 1957, novel published posthumously.

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CLASSIC MOVIES ABOUT THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

La Marseillaise, 1938 Jean Renoir director “At a time when France was plagued with domestic struggles and the threat of German expansionism under Hitler, the film recalls the unity and courage of the French people who rallied to save the Revolution and repel the invading armies of Austria and Prussia in 1792.  Closing frames show volunteers from Marseilles defeating the Austrians and Prussians at the battle of Valmy.” Quote at https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/clio/danton_film-questions.htm

The Scarlet Pimpernel 1934 starring Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, Raymond Massey |A British aristocratic played by Leslie Howard rescues French aristocrats in danger of being guillotined. I haven’t seen later re-makes, but recommend the original.

Napoleon 1927 silent film by Abel Gance Amazing movie about the career of Napoleon – to be seen on a big screen if possible. If you’ve never seen a silent movie, this is the one to look for.

Danton 1983 starring Gerard Depardieu as Danton – a great portrait of the era.
“March and April 1794—and the bitter struggle between Danton and Robespierre over the future course of the Revolution.  Danton claims he speaks for the people in calling an end to the Terror, the machinery of which he helped construct.” Quote from Mt Holyoke website above

Casablanca 1942 not a movie about the French Revolution, but it has perhaps the most famous cinematic scene of singing the Marseillaise, in Rick's bar in Morocco..  After the occupying German officers start singing <Die Wacht am Rhine> - a WWI German anthem -- Ilsa's husband, a hero of the French resistance, has the band and the audience drown them out with a rousing rendition of <La Marseillaise>
Here's a youtube clip <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM-E2H1ChJM >