Narrative, catastrophe and historicity in eighteenth-century French literature

This book explores how communities use stories of catastrophe to explain their origins, imagine their future, and work for their survival. It argues that these stories are central to how communities claim a position within history and offers a privileged insight into how a modern French historical consciousness was formed. It also examines the tension between a desire to place the imagined community beyond catastrophic times and a fascination with catastrophe in its revelatory or regenerative aspect.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 384 pages
Publication date: 14 February 2022
Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Communities have a unique way of telling and retelling stories of catastrophe to explain their origins, imagine their future, and work towards their survival. This book argues that these stories are essential to how communities claim their place in history. It explores this crucial question through narratives produced in eighteenth-century France, a period of great change and development. During this time, a new understanding of modern national history was being elaborated. The book delves into the question of who belongs to the modern era and who is relegated to a gothic, barbarous, or medieval past. It examines the complex relationship between narrative temporalities and historicities, tracing how visions of the past, present, and future are shaped by stories of real and imagined catastrophes.

Ultimately, the book argues that the temporality of catastrophe offers a privileged insight into how a modern French historical consciousness was formed. It explores the tension between a desire to place the imagined community definitively beyond catastrophic times and a fascination with catastrophe in its revelatory or regenerative aspect. This historical perspective is valuable in understanding the presence of this tension in the stories of catastrophe that we tell in our own complex and tumultuous present.

In conclusion, this book provides a rich and insightful exploration of the role of stories of catastrophe in shaping communities and their historical consciousness. It sheds light on the complex relationships between past, present, and future, and offers valuable insights into the formation of modern French historical identity.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781800856004