French History Research Articles

The current four volumes of Michel Foucault’s Histoire de la sexualité: a review of the state of research, 2022

By providing a review of the present state of research regarding French historian of ideas Michel Foucault’s (1926-1984) current four-volume series Histoire de la sexualité, this essay highlights an acceleration in tempo after the publication of an edited fourth volume (Les aveux de la chair) in 2018. After providing an overview of the manuscript development of Les aveux de la chair, and the emergence of a pattern regarding the structural and chronological composition of Histoire de la sexualité, namely that the series should effectively be read backward from the first volume La volonté de savoir to the thematically last volume L’usage des plaisirs, several developing themes in the most recent scholarship on Histoire de la sexualité are noted and annotated. The report concludes with a presentation of two notable features of the current four volumes, namely its unconventional composition and existing historical gaps, regarding the Carolingian and post-Carolingian periods, later Middle Ages, Renaissance, Reformation, and Counter-Reformation.

On the French Origins of Samuel Moyn’s the Last Utopia

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to provide an account of an important yet overlooked source of inspiration in Samuel Moyn’s contributions to the historical turn in the field of human rights studies. It examines the impact of an earlier French debate that occurred within a reflection group for political thought, headed by the French historian François Furet, on Moyn's scholarship. A notable similarity between the French debate that emerged in the late 1970s and the historical turn in Anglophone scholarship a couple of decades later is the emphasis on the temporal dimension of human rights. However, the French debate placed greater emphasis on the effects of human rights on a society's capacity to orient itself temporally, while Moyn and his intellectual adversaries primarily addressed genealogical questions. The article highlights the different temporal aspects of the human rights debate emphasized by these two debates: as a politico-temporal issue (as seen in the French debate), and primarily as a historiographical problem (as exemplified by Moyn’s approach).

How Icelandic Is French Law? A Few Remarks about the Discovery and Usage of Icelandic Antiquities in French Legal Historiography during the Nineteenth Century

How Icelandic Is French Law? A Few Remarks about the Discovery and Usage of Icelandic Antiquities in French Legal Historiography during the Nineteenth Century

Custom, Law, and Monarchy. A Legal History of Early Modern France

Journal Article Custom, Law, and Monarchy. A Legal History of Early Modern France Get access Custom, Law, and Monarchy. A Legal History of Early Modern France By Marie Seong-Hak KimOxford: Oxford University Press. 2021. 289 pp. £75. ISBN: 978 0 19 284549 8. Julian Swann Julian Swann Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK j.swann@bbk.ac.uk Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar French History, crad021, https://doi.org/10.1093/fh/crad021 Published: 15 June 2023 Article history Received: 06 February 2023 Published: 15 June 2023

French Literature of the British Isles after the Norman Conquest: A Digital, Data-Driven Investigation

Abstract According to the traditional model, the use of French in Great Britain was fundamentally tied to the Norman Conquest of 1066. The language of the conquerors rapidly replaced English within administrative and cultural domains, and it maintained its foothold in these domains until the thirteenth century, when English began to regain prestige. Yet research of the past few decades has shown that this model is significantly flawed. This article is aimed at supporting an ongoing revision of this model through a quantitative approach centred around a catalogue of manuscripts containing French literature and copied in the British Isles. The results presented here indicate clearly that, in the century following the Conquest, English literature was being produced in much greater quantities than French literature. Indeed, the peak of French literary production did not occur during the century following the Conquest, but rather during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Perhaps even more surprisingly, the analysis presented here reveals that in the centuries following the Conquest, works in French circulated most commonly with works in other languages — especially Latin. The approach adopted here thus sheds light on the history of French while decentring the canonical works that typically lie at its heart.

Book Review: Tyler Edward Stovall, White Freedom: The Racial History of an Idea, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2021.

The book is the last published project of late Fordham University professor Tyler Stovall. All his previous work was devoted to French history, but in his last book he opened up the scope of his analysis to include the United States in order to explore how ideas of freedom in the modern world have been racialized (5), eventually becoming what he calls “white freedom”, the belief (and practice) that freedom is central to white racial identity, and that only white people can or should be free (11). Stovall published a well-researched and beautifully written book in order to explain this paradox (an apparently all-inclusive notion, such as freedom as understood in the modern world being restricted to a certain category of people and denied to the rest of humanity).

Recent Books and Dissertations on French History

This bibliography is designed to introduce readers to recent publications on French history, broadly defined. It is organized according to commonly recognized periods, with works that bridge multiple categories listed under “General and Miscellaneous.”

Inside the History of the World: Syntheses of Literary Form between Prose Poetry and China

AbstractWhat is the international literary history behind Xi Chuan's Chinese prose poems, and what is the literary history behind translating them into English as prose poems? Did Hegel's belief that poetry can be “translated into other languages without essential detriment to its value” contribute to the birth of prose poetry, through a synthesis with poetic form? If so, what does this notion say about Hegel's idea that China lies “outside the World's History”? In the light of the historical association between China and prose poetry in the literary history of French (Judith Gautier, Victor Segalen, Henri Michaux) and English (Allen Upward, Nathaniel Tarn, Ron Silliman, Bob Perelman, Joan Retallack, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Tammy Lai-Ming Ho, Sarah Howe, Ken Chen, Cathy Park Hong, Eleanor Goodman, Jennifer Kronovet, and Nick Admussen), I discuss prose poetry as an outcome of what Joyelle McSweeney and Johannes Göransson call a translational “deformation zone,” to argue that translating Chinese prose poetry demonstrates China to be inside, not outside, the history of the world.

SSFH Society News

The Society for the Study of French History (SSFH) supports postgraduate research by funding students to carry out archival research as well as helping them to attend and/or present work at conferences. These awards are open to all postgraduate students registered at a UK university who are carrying out research on an aspect of French history, and reports from successful applicants clearly indicate the tremendous range of research interests supported by the Society. The Society also supports conferences on French history as well as Visiting Scholars to UK and Irish Universities. In this edition we present reports from recipients of Postgraduate Research Grants and Covid Support Grants for Early Career Researchers. The edition further includes details on recent and forthcoming books in the Studies in Modern French and Francophone History series with MUP, for which members of the SSFH are entitled to a 35% discount. More information on the postgraduate awards (and on the full range of bursaries and prizes offered by the SSFH) is available from the Society’s website: www.frenchhistorysociety.ac.uk.

New Paradigms in French Historiography, or the Same Old Ones?

This article presents some recent trends in French historiography that concern the relationship between history and literature. Among the recent developments are “experiments” carried out by a few historians, which are characterized by an explicit determination to focus on narrative, along with a willingness to share one’s own historical subjectivity. By going through some of the examples from this approach, this article highlights how these literary reflexes make important contributions. However, it also points out the weakness of this proposed method of making history on epistemological grounds. That is, it abandons the form of historical writing that requires distance and an appreciation that history’s vocation is to propose solid but uncertain propositions (to paraphrase Zemon Davis). By insisting on emotional and sensitive understanding, the knowledge gained from these experiments only questions the scientific aspects of history and history itself. This recent trend is not exactly new, as it evidently links up with some of the consequences generated by the linguistic turn.

Le cas de « Terre-Noire » dans la saga des Nuits de Sylvie Germain

Terre-Noire, the family hamlet of the Péniel clan in the saga Nuits by Sylvie Germain, probably corresponds to a heterotopia crisis: a place reserved for family members only. Foucault explained different heterotopias in 1967, and places such as Terre- Noire perfectly exemplify his postulatse. Terre-Noire continues to be the scene of family dramas and is the setting for a troubled and traumatized clan. It is the first of literary places marked by Germain and it bears witness to family history, and above all to French history, during the two Great Wars. The place changes, undergoes metamorphoses and sometimes even suffers partial destruction, recreating on a small scale the destruction and violence present in European cities during wartime. Conflicts reach Terre-Noire with their share of suffering and mourning, and the Péniel family space embodies the place of war by presenting all the features of a deadly space. The heterotopia represented by Terre-Noire questions the notion of time, inseparable from considerations by 20th century geocritics. Also, heterotopia establishes a peculiar heterochrony which must be understood through questioning the force of the memory of the place, both in its fictitious aspect induced by the literary form, and in the historical turn of the story.

Russian-Belarusian relations of the late 1990s – early 2000s: the view of French researchers

The article identifies and analyzes the views of modern French researchers on the relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. The study of the works of French scientists makes it possible to analyze Russia's foreign policy not only in relation to its closest neighbor, the Republic of Belarus, but also in relation to the entire post-Soviet space. The subject of the study is the relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus in the late 1990s - early 2000s. The article is an attempt to fill the gap in French historiography and analyze the relations between the two former Soviet republics through the prism of French studies. The article also examines the assessments that French authors give to integration associations in the post-Soviet space, as well as to the interaction between the two states in the military and economic spheres. The study is relevant due to the fact that it is the first time the French works devoted to Russian-Belarusian relations in the post-Soviet period have been analysed. Historical, narrative, and comparative-historical methods of historical research were used as the main methods. The author comes to the conclusion that, according to the majority of French researchers, since the collapse of the USSR, relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus have been the strongest and most stable compared to other former Soviet republics, despite the obvious great dependence of Belarus on Russia. Moreover, the participation of both countries in the same integration associations and the creation of a common Union State not only speaks about the similar interests of both countries, but it further strengthens the relationship between them.

Matthew D’Auria. The Shaping of French National Identity: Narrating the Nation’s Past, 1715–1830.

What is a nation? All French historians know how Ernest Renan answered that question in 1882, though it’s actually a little more complicated than most typically remember. But what was the French nation before being a soul, a spiritual principle, an act of will? And where did it come from? As it turns out, there were many competing origins and essences of French national identity before the Third Republic ironed out the wrinkles in its roman national. Was it a tale of Frankish conquest, or of a small village of Gauls resisting you-know-who? Should it be about aristocratic notions of honor and sacrifice, or bourgeois ideals of individual enterprise and common good? Did it come from one ethnic group or another, or maybe a synthesis of three? Or was it in fact all down to climate, or character—no, wait, class!? As Matthew D’Auria explains in his engaging book, The Shaping of French National Identity: Narrating the Nation’s Past, 1715–1830, France was all of these for different people and at various moments during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. And it was out of this heteroglot discourse of origins that one voice rose above the others to establish that “our ancestors [were] the Gauls.”

Myth, memory and Maison close: representing sex work on screen

ABSTRACT The maison close [brothel] in French history and culture, particularly during the nineteenth century because of its representation in art and literature, could be argued to be a lieu de mémoire [site of memory]. In light of the gaps in material that gives direct voice to women in sex work, especially during this period, the maison close could equally be termed a lieu d’oubli [site of forgetting]. In contemporary popular culture, the brothel has become a popular setting for fiction, as with the Canal+ series Maison close (2010, 2013), set in 1870s Paris. The series reflects a fascination with sex work in popular culture, as well as offering a commentary on the legal standing of sex work between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries. This paper interrogates the extent to which Maison close attempts to offer alternative or more nuanced visions of history than simply categorising sex workers as victim/criminal/femme fatale, informed by abolitionist debates during its production and emerging critiques of the Nordic Model of sex work. It also analyses how the series provides an alternative vision for sex workers, and workers more generally, that moves from exploitation to collective action and attempts to increase their agency.

On Theological Promise

This was the public address in the Alte Aula of Heidelberg University on the occasion of the reception of the 2022 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Awards for Theological Promise. The essay reflects on the theme for which these awards are given, namely “God and Spirituality – widely conceived.” The argument employs the methodology of “sites of memory,” made famous by French historian Pierre Nora. It the form of a walking tour of such sites in Heidelberg, it reflects on different ways of understanding “God and Spirituality,” represented by several public intellectuals from the academic history of Heidelberg. In the process, it constructs an approach to the notion of “theological promise” which is then briefly spelled out as conclusion at the end of the argument.

The Ligue des Droits de l'Homme and the ‘Right to Life’ in the 1930s

This article examines the debates within the French Ligue des Droits de l'Homme on the adoption in 1936 of a Complément (Complement) to the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. The Ligue questioned the relevance of the 1789 Declaration when social dislocation, economic distress and fascism challenged democracy. New rights, principally the ‘right to life’ (droit à la vie), the fundamental right from which all others flowed, were pronounced. The article examines the values and principles informing the Complément to address why a declaration of new rights was seen as a proper response to these crises. Aspirations for a radical transformation of the social, political and economic order were expressed in a genre and a language of rights deeply embedded in French history. The Complément continued the work of 1789, assuming a form through which this transformation could be imagined.

French as a US Heritage Language in a Multilingual World

This article examines the role of French as a heritage language in the United States within the context of a multilingual world and a framework of respect for other languages and cultures both locally and globally. As more than 10M Americans are of French ancestry and 2M speak French in the home in the US, French language and Francophone culture are part of American history and cultural identity. In addition, French is a global language spoken by 300M around the world, so French language skills and understanding of Francophone culture are also part of the global skills set. The history and current status of French in the US along with French language and Francophone cultural organizations, French language learning, and organizations and initiatives aimed as valuing the French language and Francophone culture in the US are examined. The article concludes with a discussion of the future of French, the importance of partnerships, the role of advocacy, and an affirmation of the importance of French language and Francophone culture in a globalized multilingual world and an increasingly multilingual American society.

A Note from the New Editors

In August 2022 the editorship of French Historical Studies passed from Kay Edwards and Carol Harrison (University of South Carolina) to a new team, Christine Haynes and Jennifer Ngaire Heuer. As we take the helm of this journal, which has been publishing since 1958, we are humbled by the trust placed in us by the search committee, Jeff Horn, Jean Pedersen, and Roxanne Panchasi, and the Executive Board of the Society for French Historical Studies, especially its president, Bryant (Tip) Ragan. We are deeply conscious of the responsibility we are assuming to serve our community of scholars, by continuing to publish the highest caliber of scholarly work on the history of France, defined in the broadest sense, chronologically, geographically, and thematically.In assuming the editorship of FHS, we are awed by and grateful for the example set by our predecessors, especially Kay and Carol. During their eight-year tenure they not only maintained the long tradition of publishing four stellar issues per year but also undertook a number of important initiatives, including shortening the time involved in the peer review process; making the journal more international, in its reviewers as well as its authors; and undertaking a thorough redesign of the journal, both print and electronic, including the addition of beautiful cover illustrations. We all owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude for their brilliant and enthusiastic guidance of the journal during their tenure.We are also incredibly grateful to the journal's managing editor, Laura Foxworth, who has agreed to stay on. Although many authors and reviewers may not know her role in the editorial process, it is central, and we have already benefited enormously from her smart and sound guidance. We are excited to work with her—and also the production and marketing staff at Duke University Press, still an ideal home for the journal—in the coming years.As an editorial team, we are closer in our scholarly specializations than Carol and Kay. Christine (University of North Carolina at Charlotte) is a dix-neuvièmiste who has written about a wide range of aspects of the cultural, political, economic, and military history of the long nineteenth century (1789–1914), including a book on the post-Napoleonic occupation of France. Jennifer (University of Massachusetts Amherst) also works mostly on the revolutionary era writ large, with special interests in gender, family, war, race, culture, and citizenship. However, we are both eager to get to know a wide variety of scholarship and scholars of all eras of French history. Although we teach at different institutions, we have experience collaborating and are grateful that email, Zoom, and the journal's online system, now transitioning from Editorial Manager to ScholarOne, enable us to work together so easily at a distance.Under our leadership, FHS will, above all, remain committed to publishing outstanding research, including in an annual special issue and regular forums. However, while individually authored articles based on primary research will remain the mainstay of the journal, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected such research, and will continue to do so, likely in ways that we cannot fully anticipate. At the same time, persistent discrimination and violence against people of color in the United States, in France, and elsewhere emphasize the need for our profession and its publications to work harder to include more voices, both of historians today and of historical subjects in the past. Building especially on discussion of this theme at the annual meeting of the Society for French Historical Studies in March 2022 in Charlotte, North Carolina, we intend to continue to make this journal more inclusive, in ways that are complementary to our sister societies, such as the Western Society for French History and the French Colonial History Society, and their publications. As we all recover from and adapt to the events of the last few years and to whatever comes next, we will be open to creative possibilities, such as new sorts of historiographical, pedagogical, collaborative, and hybrid conversations. In feeling our way forward, we will rely even more heavily than our predecessors on you, the journal's readers, authors, and reviewers. Now more than ever, this journal—and our society more generally—depends on you for its existence. Please support our scholarly community by subscribing to the journal, submitting your work, agreeing to review manuscripts, serving on the editorial board, and dropping us notes with comments and suggestions at french.historical.studies@gmail.com.

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Inaugural Address of Emmanuel Macron

The French incumbent president Emmanuel Macron has won the election in 2017 and became the youngest one in French history. His inaugural address could be considered as a good text to do some researches. Critical discourse analysis is an objective method to analyze some texts, but it usually cannot be used alone. With the help of Halliday’s systemic functional grammar, this paper aims to analyze French president Emmanuel Macron’s inaugural address in 2017, mainly from three functions of discourse, in order to conclude language features of Macron’s address and to better understand this kind of political passages.

Meister and Jupille

AbstractIn 1885 Louis Pasteur successfully treated two boys from different parts of rural France, Joseph Meister and Jean-Baptiste Jupille, with his experimental rabies vaccine. Arguing that the boys played an important role in shaping images of Pasteur and his vaccine in French culture, this article reconstructs their long relationships with the scientist and then traces their evolving cultural representations during the Third Republic up to 1940. Meister, a young child from Alsace who sought salvation in Paris, was particularly assimilable to nationalist narratives that Pasteur himself encouraged. Jupille, in fighting with a rabid dog to save young children from attack, could provide an exemplar of the selfless yet virile male adolescent whom late nineteenth-century authorities sought to produce. Both boys' stories produced associations that reflected favorably on Pasteur and the Pastorians, yet each also held an independent appeal at particular moments in modern French history.