Rolf Reichardt

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. Lüsebrink and Reichardt use this semiotic reading of the Bastille to reveal how historical symbols are generated; what these symbols’ functions are in the collective memory of societies; and how they are used by social, political, and ideological groups. To facilitate the symbolic nature of the investigation, this analysis of the evolving signification of the Bastille moves from the French Revolution to the nineteenth century to contemporary history. The narrative also shifts from France to other cultural arenas, like the modern European colonial sphere, where the overthrow of the Bastille acquired radical new signification in the decolonization period of the 1940s and 1950s. The Bastille demonstrates the potency of the interdisciplinary historical research that has characterized the end of this century, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, and taking its methodological tools from history, sociology, linguistics, and cultural and literary studies.

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. Lüsebrink and Reichardt use this semiotic reading of the Bastille to reveal how historical symbols are generated; what these symbols’ functions are in the collective memory of societies; and how they are used by social, political, and ideological groups. To facilitate the symbolic nature of the investigation, this analysis of the evolving signification of the Bastille moves from the French Revolution to the nineteenth century to contemporary history. The narrative also shifts from France to other cultural arenas, like the modern European colonial sphere, where the overthrow of the Bastille acquired radical new signification in the decolonization period of the 1940s and 1950s. The Bastille demonstrates the potency of the interdisciplinary historical research that has characterized the end of this century, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, and taking its methodological tools from history, sociology, linguistics, and cultural and literary studies.

Ca. 30 Hefte (Band 10 der Reihe "Ancien Regime, Aufklarung und Revolution)

Aus dem Inhalt Philosophe, Philosophie - Einleitung: "Philosophe" Grundbegriff der Aufklarung - Abestzung einer Interaktionsrolle von gesellschaftlichen Konventionen: Der "philosophe" als Stoiker und Misantrhop (etwa 1680 1730) - Konstitution des Subjekts der Aufklarung: Die Rolle des "philosophe" als Konvergenzpunkt von Reflexion und gesellschaftlichem Handeln (etwa 1730 1751) - Eroberung des Publikums: Der publizistische Kampf zwischen "philosophes" und "anti-philosophes" in der aufgeklarten Offentlichkeit (etwa 1751 1776) - Selbstapotheose der Jahrhunderts und vorrevolutionare Radikalisierung: Die "philosophie" als modische Lebensform und ihre Auffacherung (1776 1788) - Beschworung und Distanzierung der Vergangenheit: "Philosophie" und "philosophes" im revolutionaren Selbstverstandnis (1789 1799) Terreur, Terroriste, Terrorisme: - Aspekte des sozialen Wissens um "Angst uind Schrecken" im Ancien Regime - Entwicklung und Verbreitung des Terreur-Begriffs von 1779 bis zum 9. Thermidor des Jahres II - "Terreur" zur Kennzeichnung der Regierungspraxis vor dem 9. Thermidor - "Terreur" als Epochenbegriff - Der Terreur-Begriff in der innenpolitischen Auseinandersetzung nach Thermidor - "Terreur" als aussenpolitisches Mittel - Der Terreur-Begriff in der Wertung der Jakobinerdiktatur nach Thermidor"