Teaching Representations of the French Revolution ed. by Julia Douthwaite Viglione, Antoinette Sol, and Catriona Seth

Abstract

Reviewed by: Teaching Representations of the French Revolution ed. by Julia Douthwaite Viglione, Antoinette Sol, and Catriona Seth Carrie F. Klaus Douthwaite Viglione, Julia, Antoinette Sol, and Catriona Seth, eds. Teaching Representations of the French Revolution. MLA, 2019. Pp. [i]-ix; 368. ISBN 9781603294652. $65.00 (cloth). 9781603294003. $34.00 (paper). Few events in world history rival the French Revolution for the myriad ways it is remembered, reappropriated, and, indeed, mythologized, as Lauren Pinzka observes in her contribution to this essential new volume in the Modern Language Association's Options for Teaching Series, in an essay informed by Roland Barthes' theory of mythmaking and Pierre Nora's concept of cultural memory. The mythification of the French Revolution involves an emptying-out of its historical complexity. Among other strengths, this volume seeks to restore, for instructors and their students, many of the rich and varied realities that have been eliminated in the creation of the myth of this revolution. It also offers suggestions for thinking and teaching about the deep and lasting impact of the event not only in France and Europe, but also around the world, in connection with such issues as borders, human rights, mobilities, privilege, and power. Essays examining Holland, Italy, Greece, the United States, Mexico, and Haiti illustrate the global reach of the French Revolution even as they implicitly challenge presuppositions about its primacy. A third strength of the volume are the links contributors identify between Revolutionary themes and current debates over freedom of expression and voice, access to work and fair wages, and religion and secularity in the public sphere. A first section, devoted to historical contexts, includes a narrative chronology of Revolutionary events; the essay on teaching the French Revolution as myth and memory; reflections on how military history can help students understand broader topics and meaningfully engage veterans; and a history of secularity in France as an entry into the study of expressions of Muslim identity in twenty-first century French hip-hop. A second section, on rhetoric and rights, describes teaching the language of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in the United States and Palestine; reading French romantic novels alongside legal records and abolitionist treatises; discussing the French Revolution with students who have [End Page 158] experienced protests, turmoil, and revolutions in their own countries; and studying caricature in France from the Revolution to Charlie Hebdo. A third section presents literary works of the time helpful for understanding the French Revolution, such as the political pamphlet "Le loup philosophique"; Marie-Françoise Kéralio's short epistolary novel Les visites par Mademoiselle D*** K***; Germaine de Staël's longer sentimental novel Delphine; Revolutionary plays; an eyewitness account by German travel-writer J. H. Campe; Victor Hugo's last novel, Quatrevingt-treize; the poem "La Marseillaise noire" published by a writer of color in New Orleans in 1867; and Georg Büchner's Danton's Death and Édouard Glissant's Monsieur Toussaint. A fourth section brings in the arts and mass media, discussing paintings and prints commissioned by the National Convention; the Revolution's effect on technological innovation; household ceramics featuring political emblems and slogans; propaganda and the popular press; the representation of women; and the expanding availability online of visual source material, such as collections of prints and ephemera. The fifth, and most fascinating, section is dedicated to global aspects of the French Revolution and begins with a discussion of how this event led to a sustained examination of history and politics in Britain. One essay in this section offers guidance for bringing the Haitian Revolution into courses on the French Revolution, while another identifies Haitian-produced primary sources that allow students to examine the Haitian Revolution on its own terms and not merely as an offshoot of the French Revolution and Enlightenment. This section also considers world literature, with comments on émigrés and national literatures, advice for moving beyond the instrumentalist use of literary texts, and discussion of connections between the French Revolution and eighteenth and nineteenth century German literary works, Spanish satire, and written sources on colonial uprisings in Latin America. The volume concludes with lists of revolutionary dates, people, and battles, as...