The Bastille: A History of a Symbol of Despotism and Freedom (Bicentennial Reflections on the French Revolution) [Paperback]

Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink (Author), Rolf Reichardt (Author), Norbert Schürer (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Bicentennial Reflections on the French Revolution | Publication Date: July 18, 1997

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fresh and new. Lusebrink and Reichardt have produced a fascinating book about the images and representations of the Bastille that have accrued for three centuries... This book cleverly combines innumerable telling anecdotes with a serious historical argument, replete with a quantitative analysis of texts... [T]his wonderful book shows us a French Revolution teeming with life, with heroism, and not least, with absurdity." Journal of Interdisciplinary History "This fascinating book, originally published in German at the turn of the decade, offers a rare view in English of the historical riches which have recently materialized outre-Rhin." Malcolm Crook, French History

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Duke University Press Books (July 18, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822318946
• ISBN-13: 978-0822318941
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,460,896 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An important book on the Bastille as a concept, March 8, 2010

By 

Jim Chevallier "Author of "Suicide Monolo... (North Hollywood, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bastille: A History of a Symbol of Despotism and Freedom (Bicentennial Reflections on the French Revolution) (Hardcover)

Anyone looking for a book on the workings and history of the Bastille as a physical entity and working legal institution should know that this important and excellent book really is not on the Bastille itself - for that you would do better to look at, say, Linguet's Memoirs of the Bastille (which provides a detailed look at life inside the castle). Lüsebrink and Reichardt are far more concerned with how the IDEA of the Bastille, and in particular the idea of its downfall, has been handled since the 18th century and coming into modern times. The book is, in other words, more like a case study of public opinion and how it absorbs and transforms an event than it is on a particular prison; it is, as the sub-title says, a history of a symbol - "A History of a Symbol of Despotism and Freedom" - and far less of the thing being symbolized. It does however include some useful tables, including one that breaks down the imprisonments for religious and literary reasons and another that compares key elements of the most famous memoirs of being incarcerated there, and the first two chapters do linger on or near the Bastille as it actually was. The third chapter - the bulk of the book - then explores the Bastille as an example of the "self-mystification" of the Revolution. This chapter does not limit its scope to France or even to the Revolutionaries - it seems that Louis XVI's public approval of the castle's destruction was part of what won the event (including its more sanguinary aspects) approval in the German press, for instance. Nor was the event's influence merely symbolic or literary - subsequent demolitions in Marseille and Lyons took it as a model. The fourth chapter - on "Bastille Symbolism in Modern France" - begins by exploring some of the later works on the Bastille (and again providing a useful chart comparing these). Here we also learn how the 14th of July was transformed from a "subversive day of commemoration to a national holiday". The chapter brings us up to the current day when "the Bastille myth, which had just about been declared state ideology, has lost much of its virulence." Those seeking the rich roiling of criminal histories and violent popular confrontations will find little of these here, but readers who want to understand how established ideas come to us and to trace the evolution of a symbol in the same way one traces how a dinosaur evolved into a canary will find this journey well worth taking.