Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France
Robert Darnton's work is one of the main reasons that cultural history has become an exciting study central to our understanding of the past.\ His latest book vibrates with the strange political and literary energies of ancien régime France. The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France traces the merging of philosophical, sexual, and anti-monarchical interests into the pulp fiction of the 1780s, banned books that make fascinating reading more than two centuries later.\ French...
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Robert Darnton's work is one of the main reasons that cultural history has become an exciting study central to our understanding of the past.Publishers WeeklyIn this NBCC finalist, cultural historian Darnton examines subversive French works of the 1780s, arguing that these underground books were as influential as more classic Enlightenment fare. (Apr.)
List of Tables, Maps, and FiguresList of IllustrationsIntroductionIForbidden Literature and the Literary Market1Philosophy Under the Cloak32Best-Sellers22IIKey Texts3Philosophical Pornography854Utopian Fantasy1155Political Slander137IIIDo Books Cause Revolutions?6Diffusion vs. Discourse1697Communication Networks1818The History of Political Libel1989Reader Response21710Public Opinion232IV"Philosophical Books": A Short AnthologyTherese Philosophe, ou memoires pour servir a l'histoire du P. Dirrag et de Mlle Eradice (Therese Philosophe, Or, Memoirs About the Affair Between Father Dirrag and Mademoiselle Eradice)249Probably 1748; probably written by Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, marquis d'ArgensL'An deux mille quatre cent quarante, reve s'il en fut jamais (The Year 2440: A Dream If Ever There Was One)"Amsterdam, 1771" Louis-Sebastien Mercier300Anecdotes sur Mme la comtesse du Barry (Anecdotes About Mme la comtesse du Barry)337"London, 1775," probably written by Mathieu-Francois Pidansat de MairobertNotes391Index429
\ New York TimesA gripping portrait of the social, literary, and political dynamics at work in prerevolutionary France.— Michiko Kakutani\ \ \ \ \ Los Angeles Times Book ReviewDarnton's book is a revelation and a delight. Read him and you will understand the true meaning and value of humanistic scholarship, of the way it opens windows to worlds closed down by time.\ \ \ Publishers WeeklyIn this NBCC finalist, cultural historian Darnton examines subversive French works of the 1780s, arguing that these underground books were as influential as more classic Enlightenment fare. Apr.\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalWith this volume, Darnton consolidates his position as one of the most innovative and influential historians of 18th-century France. For over 25 years, Darnton Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of European History, Princeton has been studying reading habits and book selling during the period often referred to as the Enlightenment. The present work is published conjointly with a companion volume, The Corpus of Clandestine Literature in France, 1769-1789. The latter gives statistical details for what Forbidden Bestsellers covers more descriptively. The gist of what Darnton says is that philosophes like Voltaire and Rousseau had far less impact on French readers than did the anonymous authors of scandalous, libelous, treasonous, and/or pornographic works, most of which were smuggled into France from the Netherlands, Switzerland, or the German states. Taken together, they had a corrosive effect on all established values and practices and thus contributed to the outbreak of the French Revolution. Very highly recommended for all libraries.-T.J. Schaeper, St. Bonaventure Univ., N.Y.\ \
