La représentation de la Révolution française : l’impact de l’œuvre de Carlyle sur la société britannique et la façon dont elle se représentait

Abstract

Not only did the impact of the French Revolution in Britain come from the events themselves, but it also largely stemmed from the power of the written word. The country’s identity, institutions and social fabric were potentially dependent on the ‘literature of power’ wielded by its political thinkers. Thomas Carlyle’s The French Revolution (1837) came at a crucial juncture. He preceded the professional historians who aimed mostly for a ‘literature of knowledge’. And yet, the chronological distance enabled him to propose an innovative and unique form of ‘literature of power’ on the Revolution. While keeping up with the violent imagery of earlier representations, he proceeded to re-humanise the mob, seeking justifications through rational arguments and original metaphors alike, emphasising the inevitability of what was akin to a natural disaster. As a result, the British reader could no longer think himself above a similar experience. Thanks to the reassuring blanket of time elapsed, the possibility of a British revolution on the French model could bear thinking about with less violent rejection, but also with a certain frisson and still a potential sense of foreboding. Carlyle took up the opportunity to hint at Britain’s social problems of the 1830s, producing in the end a powerful text in social history.