Critics of the Enlightenment: Readings in the French Counter-Revolutionary Tradition [Hardcover]

Christopher Olaf Blum (Editor, Translator), Philippe Beneton (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 30, 2004

Blum's elegant translatioins of texts hertofore difficult or impossible to find in English allow Anglophone readers to profit from the counter-revolutionaires' insights about social and cultural matters of perennial importance, such as the necessary roles of religion, family, and local communitites within any larger political society--matters of pressing concern to the counter-revolutionaries of our own time.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

For the Anglo-American world, Edmund Burke is the touchstone of counter-revolutionary thought, but in this volume, Christopher Olaf Blum shows that in attempting to vindicate the principles that had, at its best, animated the Old Regime, and in critiquing the institutions and beliefs associated with the New Regime, the French counter-revolutionary tradition is unparalleled. To understand adequately what Georges Bernanos called the "spiritual drama of Europe," it is a tradition that must be grappled with.

Critics of the Enlightenment makes available new translations of representative selections from some of the leading French conservative thinkers of the nineteenth century: François de Chateaubriand, Louis de Bonald, Joseph de Maistre, Fredéric Le Play, Émile Keller, and René de La Tour du Pin. The selections span much of the nineteenth century, from Chateaubriand's 1814 pamphlet against Bonaparte to La Tour du Pin's 1883 essay on the theory of the corporate state. The volume, therefore, not only includes responses of the French conservatives to the French Revolutions of 1789 through 1815, but also testifies to the continuing elaboration of this critique against the background of the troubled nineteenth century. Blum's introduction sets these selections within the contexts of the events giving rise to them and the lives of their authors. The French political philosopher Philippe Bénéton supplies the book's foreword.

Blum's elegant translations of texts heretofore difficult or impossible to find in English allow Anglophone readers to profit from the counter-revolutionaries' insights about social and cultural matters of perennial importance, such as the necessary roles of religion, family, and local communities within any larger political society-matters of pressing concern to the counter-revolutionaries of our own time.

About the Author

Christopher Olaf Blum was educated at the University of Virginia and the University of Notre Dame. He is Associate professor history at Christendom College and resides in Front Royal, Virginia, with his wife and son. his essays and reviews have appeared in the Downside Review, Faith & Reason, the Journal of Education, Logos, and Sacred Architecture.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 357 pages
• Publisher: Isi Books (July 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932236139
• ISBN-13: 978-1932236132
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,307,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Solid Survey, October 27, 2005

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JC (Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Critics of the Enlightenment: Readings in the French Counter-Revolutionary Tradition (Paperback)

Prof. Blum's thick volume is a good addition to the library of any scholar of the enlightenment period.

The book introduces English speaking readers to six French Catholic writers, providing a well written introduction to the writers and then a selection of each author's writings.

These are the lost voices of the French Revolution, counter-revolutionary thinkers who focused their attention on the permanent things while providing elegant arguments for their principles. Theses voices were largely ignored by their contemporaries, let us not make the same mistake by looking over this engaging translation.

The writing is academic, but not unapproachable, and I would recommend this especially to college / graduate students looking for a supplement to their French History classes--most professors will gloss over these thinkers, if they are mentioned at all.

So pick it up if French History your thing, as it is an invaluable reference.