Century France Research Articles

Jacqueline Audry’s Colette films: post-war quality style with a feminist edge

ABSTRACT Jacqueline Audry was that rare phenomenon, a woman film director in mid-twentieth century France. Drawn to Colette’s work by her appreciation of the latter’s style and close affinity with her values, Audry fought the initial reluctance of producers and went on to make three films based on Colette’s fictions, all with the author’s approval and the first, Gigi (1949), with her active collaboration. Very much in the ‘quality’ style, these entertaining costume dramas set in the prosperous, liberal era of the Belle Époque gave cinematic form to Colette’s stylistic verve and implicitly feminist philosophy. Audry’s Colette films tell stories of young women on a quest for self-realisation against the constraints of a patriarchal society and are laced with an (often humorous) irony in their representation of gender roles. Audry’s case, this article aims to show, demonstrates that the quality style so reviled by the New Wave could in fact be a form of cinema that effectively combined popular appeal with the seriousness of a subtly progressive feminist politics.

Art and Monist Philosophy in Nineteenth Century France from Auteuil to Giverny by Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer

Art and Monist Philosophy in Nineteenth Century France from Auteuil to Giverny by Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer

ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННАЯ ИСТОРИОГРАФИЯ СОВЕТСКОГО ВРЕМЕНИ О СОЛДАТСКИХ ВОЛНЕНИЯХ В ПЕРВЫЙ ПЕРИОД ФРАНЦУЗСКОЙ РЕВОЛЮЦИИ

The issue of discontent among the rank and file and non-commissioned officers of the French Army in the first period of the Revolution and the unrest caused by it in 17891791 has been relatively rarely mentioned in historical works since1917. Soviet historiography usually turned to the traditional forces of social protest in 18th century France: to the movements of the most massive part of the society - the peasantry – and to the socio-politically active urban plebeians. The army, which was under the control of mainly conservative and often downright reactionary generals and officers, was seen more as an agent of suppressing popular uprisings than as a weapon in the fight against outdated orders. Yet, the question of soldier unrest during this period and especially the Nancy Mutiny in 1790 was explored in the Soviet period. Nevertheless, around these events many mythologies arose and they have not been dispelled to this day. A glance at the Soviethis historiography of this issue should be the first step towards a special and in-depth study of the soldier riots in France in the initial period of the Revolution.

Jews, Lordship, and the Experience of Power in Early Eleventh Century France

ABSTRACT The article explores the views of Jews in the early eleventh century on issues of rulership and power through analysis of a Hebrew text known as the ‘1007 Anonymous’. The article opens with a discussion of this work’s account of practices of lordship, showing that its protagonist is presented as a lord. It then turns to examine papal involvement in the power struggles that characterised France, concluding that the protagonist’s appeal to the papacy was at the time a common practice. It moves on to analyse anti-Jewish rhetoric and its underlying political messages, presenting it as a manifestation of power narratives. Finally, the article reframes the Hebrew account as evidence of Jewish attempts to cope with the rise of new practices of rulership in early eleventh century France, and as depicting a Jewish-Christian dispute over the symbolic role (or lack thereof) of the Jews within this political dynamic.

The Problem of the Human Nature in the Context of the Argument against Priestly Celibacy in the 18th Century France

The Problem of the Human Nature in the Context of the Argument against Priestly Celibacy in the 18th Century France

Symbolist Androgyny: On the Origins of a Proto-Queer Vision

This article focuses on artistic and aesthetic practices within the idealist and symbolist movements of the late 19th century in France. It investigates how artists and art critics embraced androgynous imaginaries derived from Greco-Roman antiquity and the Platonic myth, transforming them into tools for social and sexual emancipation and giving rise to a proto-queer vision. An analysis of the art of Alexandre Séon, Odilon Redon, Jeanne Jacquemin, and Léonard Sarluis, in conjunction with the symbolist theories of Joséphin Péladan, Gabriel-Albert Aurier, and Émile Verhaeren, reveals an idealistic pursuit grounded in the union of the masculine and the feminine through the act of creation. Through the examination of artworks, contemporary critical discourse, and the personal correspondence of these art figures, this study posits that the androgyne serves as a heuristic model for a queer art history. The ideal androgyne, as theorized in Freud’s psychoanalytic writings, can function as a methodological paradigm in art studies as a tool for visualizing and conceptualizing homosexuality in art.

The Iconic Apache: Early 1900s Paris and the Making of a Criminal Bogeyman

Abstract This article describes the creation of a criminal icon, the Paris Apache, brandished as a threat by the press and conservative politicians alike at the turn of the twentieth century in France. Archival analysis points to the theory that this figure of street crime was turned into a criminal ‘bogeyman’. The iconic Apache bogeyman allowed those manipulating it to focus the general public’s fears and attention on factual violence (crimes, assaults and misdemeanours) of which the structural causes (political instability and socio-economic inequalities) were masked by framing the criminal icon as solely responsible. This bogeyman role, embodied by the Apache in the past, is also examined in the present and analysed critically from the perspective of cultural criminology.

Labor scarcity, technology adoption and innovation: evidence from the cholera pandemics in 19th century France

To analyze the impact of labor scarcity on technology adoption and innovation, this study uses the differential spread of cholera across France in 1832, 1849 and 1854, before the transmission mode of this disease was understood. The results suggest that a larger share of cholera deaths in the population, which can be causally linked to summer temperature levels, had a positive and significant short-run effect on technology adoption and innovation in agriculture but a negative and significant short-run impact on technology adoption in industry. These results can be explained by the positive impact of labor scarcity on human capital formation.

19세기 프랑스의 동성애와 여성상: 툴루즈-로트렉의 〈입맞춤〉과 『그녀들』을 중심으로

19세기 프랑스의 동성애와 여성상: 툴루즈-로트렉의 〈입맞춤〉과 『그녀들』을 중심으로

Marriages of love and convenience: The French dating market and the revolution of romantic love (19th-20th century)

ABSTRACT Did love conquer marriage between the 19th and 20th centuries in France? Does a personal choice imply a free choice? To date, no study has had access to sources that are both numerous and sufficiently stable over the vast period of the 19th and 20th centuries to allow a comprehensive examination of the simultaneous emergence of the love marriage norm and its impact on spouse selection. This paper sets out specifically to explore the issues of spouse selection and the eco-intimate changes in marriages, highlighting the evolution of the love marriage norm, using the archives of matrimonial agencies and advertisements from the 19th and 20th centuries. While the writings of the time debated the merits of marrying for money versus marrying for love, the dating market was serving a bourgeois clientele in search of homogamy. The study of agency operations shows how these marriages first unite two families and two heritages from the same milieu. This good match is seen as a necessary condition for mutual affection. When, in the 20th century, matrimonial ads more systematically enabled individuals to search for their spouse themselves, without the help of their family, these economic stakes did not disappear, but underwent a significant evolution. They are now put on the same level as moral and physical criteria. While homogamy was still preferred, it was no longer considered the only condition for a happy union.

Dykes and ‘nature’. Results of a survey on the perception of dykes and their evolution in 21st century France

The traditional paradigm of dyke management focuses on water defense. This article analyzes the perception and representation of coastal and river dikes among a sample of 828 residents and users. Five scenarios for the evolution of dikes were proposed to the respondents. Among these scenarios, maintaining the dikes in their current state is the most desired, while vegetation is the least rejected. In contrast, the scenarios of reinforcement and opening/lowering the dikes encounter notable rejection. This surprising refusal of reinforcement could indicate a shift in the perception of dike management in France, while the rejection of their opening remains consistent with the limited development of soft coastal and river defenses. Furthermore, the respondents' choices are strongly influenced by their relationship with nature, even though they refer to a nature that is anthropized and tamed. These results are important for developing scenarios for the evolution of dikes in the face of climate change challenges and for better communicating with audiences that are often unreceptive to innovations.

Pre-Reformation and Reformation Influences on the Development of European Literary Languages

The pre-Reformation and Reformation social and religious movements contributed to the development of biblical and religious as well as journalistic and polemical writings, which had a significantly positive impact on the increase in functional efficiency and standardisation of European languages. Translations of The Bible played a special role in the development of European languages as texts with the highest linguistic prestige. Not only did Luther’s Bible (1522–1534) contribute to the unification of German literary language, but its 16th-century translations had an outstanding influence on the development of Dutch and the Scandinavian languages, i.e. Danish, Swedish and Icelandic. The language of Protestant translations of The Bible was regarded in the 16th–17th centuries in France and England as a model of stylistic excellence. Prior to the 16th century, there were fairly rich Celtic writings (Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Cornish), but they were undoubtedly greatly enriched between the second half of the 16th century and the first quarter of the 19th century by Protestant translations of The Bible and other religious texts. The translation work by the Czech brothers (ideological supporters of the Reformation) – Blahoslav’s New Testament (1564) and the Kralice Bible (1579–1593) – is a symbol of the linguistic prowess of the 16th-century Czech language as well as the basis for its rebirth in the 19th century. The linguistic consciousness of the Slovaks was long influenced by the Kralice Bible. Hungarian and Polish Reformation translations of The Bible enriched the history of these languages considerably. A number of European languages owe their actual literary beginnings to the Reformation: Finnish and Estonian (Finnish languages), Latvian and Lithuanian (Baltic languages), Upper Lusatian, Lower Lusatian and Slovene (Slavonic languages). In Croatia, prints financed by Reformation supporters appeared in the 16th century. The Serbian Orthodox New Testament (1847) by Karadžić and The Old Testament (1868) by Daničić were published by the Protestant publishing house of the British Bible Society in London, which also published a translation of the Bulgarian Catholic Slaveykov Bible (1871).

FROM JEAN CALAS' SENTENCE TO FAKE NEWS

This article is an excerpt from the research on Discourse Analysis in the media and fake news: the disinformation that destroys lives and from the Tinder Olympics: An analysis of the Construction of Ethos in the Promotion of the Self from Dominique Maingueneau. It investigates the importance of media tolerance in the digital age, focusing on the case of Jean Calas, a French merchant who was tried and killed for untrue news, and Voltaire’s ideas about liberty and equality. Analyzes how fake news and False information on social media impacts fairness and tolerance. The work uses literature review and analysis of recent cases to explore ways to promote responsible media tolerance, emphasizing the importance of not being passive in the face of injustices or human rights violations. The results indicate that challenges of intolerance, exacerbated by social media, persist. The analysis highlights the seriousness of the consequences of the spread of disinformation and information and false information, to show the importance of developing critical skills to protect democracy and human rights. The need for critical and conscious education to verify information and promote dialogue and tolerance. The study also addresses the historical and politico-religious context of 17th century France, illustrating the consequences of religious intolerance and Voltaire’s struggle for justice in the case of Jean Calas. The lack of academic studies on fake news and the platforms that facilitate its circulation is discussed. The article concludes by emphasizing the continued relevance of the struggle for tolerance, especially on social media, and the need for an informed and responsible approach to build a just and equitable society by combating disinformation and promoting peaceful coexistence in a diverse and connected world.

Crafting racism, civilization, and margins through plaster busts of Icelanders

ABSTRACT In the mid-nineteenth century, Iceland’s small population under Danish rule tried establishing itself as part of Europe's civilized and progressive population. The production of racist texts and images that emphasized Iceland's natural place with ‘progressive’ European nations reflect Iceland's relationship with colonialism and the anxieties of being categorized with colonized others. The paper focuses on plaster casts of Icelandic faces, which were a part of collections meant to showcase racial diversity in the late nineteenth century in France and Spain. The analysis of the making and commercialization of the busts reflects one of the multiple ways Iceland was engaged in a world of imperialism and colonialism, underlining Iceland's ambiguous status in mid-nineteenth century Europe as a marginal European country. This status shaped Icelandic identity during the 19th and twentieth century, characterized by a strong need to position themselves as civilized subjects.

Palimpsestic political thought: the intellectual impact of the French succession crisis, 1584

ABSTRACT The seminal works of Jean Bodin (c.1530–96) and François Hotman (c.1524–90), the Six livres de la République, and the Francogallia, were written and re-written over the turbulent course of the French wars of religion (1562–1629). Whilst conventionally these works are understood to represent fixed, and opposing, theories of monarchy (absolutist versus constitutionalist), this article explores them as they transformed in response to the changing circumstances of French politics, and especially the succession crisis of 1584. Theories of monarchy were in flux in this period, and so the political thought of the late sixteenth century in France was in a constant state of mutation. This raises questions about the ways in which intellectual historians read ideas ‘in context’, even as those ideas, and those contexts, shift. What did it mean, to have a theory of monarchy in the French sixteenth century?

Décolletage disputes in early modern France

ABSTRACT This article looks at moralistic reactions to the fashion of décolletage during the seventeenth century in France. No previous research has focused on this specific movement, the scope of which is larger than has previously been acknowledged. A series of publications and sermons took aim at plunging necklines, particularly in church settings. Far from being isolated and discrete episodes, the wave of sermons and works condemning the fashion may be contextualised as part of a concerted campaign initially orchestrated by the secretive Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement. The anti-décolletage rhetoric coincides with the increasing participation and presence of women in culture and society and may be interpreted as an attempt to regulate female agency. The article concludes that this body of clerical works established a blueprint of victim-blaming that has proved to be enduring. Moreover, it gave such sentiments the stamp of religious respectability.

Soundscapes of Liberation: African American Music in Postwar France. By Celeste Day Moore

In Soundscapes of Liberation, Celeste Day Moore has woven together a compelling book that sheds new light on the Black (American) experience in twentieth century France. Her critical intervention is to show that although the circulation and reception of Black music in postwar France seemed emancipatory, the reality was more complex. Moore outlines the tensions between an idealized rhetoric of racial freedom in France and the real erasures and stereotyping that characterized the transmission and reception of music of the African diaspora. She uses approaches from social and cultural history, popular culture studies, sound studies, and French colonial and postcolonial studies. Moore’s nuanced account of the emancipatory and constraining effects of soundscapes is central to understanding the complexity of “race” and racialization in France. She focuses on the time period after the Second World War although, as she points out, these characteristics are typical of earlier periods and continue to this day.

Alain Badiou a Life and a System of Thought:

"L'histoire des idees", has a nominal existence in the period of the Enlightenment, that is to say, it has its origins in the 19th century in France. From the moment of its appearance and establishment as an independent field, it maintained a close and complementary relationship with philosophy. At present, the History of Ideas is a field in dialogue with History, Historiography, Philosophy and even Psychoanalysis. It is necessary to return to the French intellectual terrain, to the living history and intellectual production of our time in order to analyze the contribution that French philosophers make to the history of Ideas in the 21st century. Specifically, to pay special attention to the system of thought created by the philosopher Alain Badiou. The present document, which emerges as an initial and introductory kick-off to a more complex project, is a general reading and analysis of some of Badiou's contributions to contemporary philosophy.

Чуднівська кампанія 1660 року на сторінках рукопису К. Гоффмана «Історія Яна Казимира»

The purpose of the article is to determine the scientifi c value of a part of the un- published manuscript by the Polish researcher K. Hoff man, dedicated to the Chudniv campaign of 1660. Th e methodological foundations of the study are based on the application of theoreti- cal principles of historical cognition (objectivity, historicism, comprehensiveness, systematicity and alternatives) and specifi c historical methods (problematic-chronological, systematic analy- sis, historical-comparative, retrospective, synchronous and diachronic). Th e scientifi c novelty is an attempt to clarify and analyze the structure, content, and approximate time of appearance of the work “History of Jan Kasimir” for the fi rst time in historiography. An important aspect of the research is the study of K. Hoff mann’s views on the events of the Chudniv campaign. Conclu- sions. It was found out that the manuscript “History of Jan Casimir” by K. Hoff mann is an original work written in the 40s of the 19th century in France. Th e researcher saw the reasons for the resumption of the military confl ict in 1660 in two aspects: 1) the reluctance of the Ukrainian authorities and society in general to fulfi ll the terms of the Treaty of Hadiac; 2) increasing the foreign policy infl uence of Muscovy on the lands of Cossack Ukraine. K. Hoff man rightly drew attention to the mistakes of the strategic and operational scale of the Russian General Staff when planning off ensive actions. Despite the unfortunate course of events in the initial phase of the campaign, the situation for the Moscow-Ukrainian army was not critical and had a chance to change in their favor aft er the withdrawal to Chudnov. Th e author considered the Battle of Slobodyszce as one that did not determine the winner, pointing out signifi cant casual ties on both sides. Th e signing of the Chudniv Agreement and the surrender of V. Sheremetiev’s army were an undeniable triumph of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. At the same time, a negative consequence of the expedition was the terrible situation of the Polish army, which suff ered heavy losses during its conduct.

An ancient coronavirus from individuals in France, circa 16th century

ObjectivesAt the time when the COVID-19 pandemic was responsible for more than six million deaths worldwide, the antiquity of coronaviruses remains undefined. We investigated individuals buried during the 16th century in France for the direct and paleoserological diagnosis of the coronavirus. MethodsThe 2011-2012 excavation of Abbey Saint-Pierre in Baume-Les-Messieurs, France uncovered 12 skeletons of individuals from the 13th to the 18th century. The total proteins extracted from dental pulps were subjected to microbial paleoserology, targeting SARS-CoV-2, human-associated coronavirus (HCoV)-229E, and OC43 antigens and for coronavirus peptide research using metaproteomics, in parallel to negative controls. ResultsThree peptide sequences totaling 36 amino acids indicative of a coronavirus were retrieved from the dental pulp remains collected from two individuals buried circa 16th century, in whom paleoserology confirmed a specific immunological response against modern-day SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-229E. ConclusionWe provide serological and proteomic evidence for a betacoronavirus with no modern correspondent, infecting populations in the 16th century, extending the antiquity of coronaviruses by more than three centuries. Historical, archaeozoological, and paleoproteomic data suggested close contacts between these two individuals and domestic swine, cattle, and poultry, suggesting an ancient zoonotic coronavirus. Coronaviruses have been undesirable companions of populations long before the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak emerged.