Unacknowledged Legislators: The Poet as Lawgiver in Post-Revolutionary France

by Roger Pearson

Overview

What is the public value of poetry? How do poets envisage their own role and function within society? How do we? Do poets seek to shape public opinion and behavior? Should they? Or do they offer alternatives—perhaps sacred alternatives—to political and religious ideologies? Are they what Shelley in 1821 called 'the unacknowledged legislators of the World'? And what might that mean?

During the decades immediately preceding the Revolution of 1789 the status of contemporary poetry in France was at its lowest ebb. At the same time the perceived power of the writer to influence public events reached a high-water mark with Voltaire's triumphant return to Paris in 1778. In the course of the next century French poetry enjoyed an extraordinary renaissance and flowering, perhaps its greatest. But what of the poet's public influence? In 1881 the people of Paris processed for six hours past the home of Victor Hugo on the occasion of his 79th birthday, and in 1885 an estimated two million people witnessed his state funeral. But who or what were they acknowledging? Poetry or republicanism? Or perhaps their own power? For with each Revolution that passed—1789, 1830, 1848—French poets themselves felt increasingly marginalized.

This study addresses the first part of this story and focuses on the role and function of the poet during the so-called Romantic Period. Beginning with an account of the literary climate in pre-revolutionary France it then maps the changes in that climate wrought by the events of the 1789 Revolution. It describes the new politico-literary agendas set by Chateaubriand and others on the monarchist Right, and by Stael and others on the liberal Left. Against this background it then analyzes in detail the poetic output and public exploits of the three major French poets of the period: Lamartine, Hugo, and Vigny.

The Romantic figure of the poet as prophet and magus is habitually dismissed as a cliche. But by focusing on the role of the poet as lawgiver this book reveals the rich and complex terms in which the public function of poetry was debated in post-revolutionary France—and how amidst the centenary celebrations of 1889, as Romanticism gave way to Symbolism, the poet as lawgiver continued to play a central part in that debate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198754473
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/21/2016
Pages:	646
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Roger Pearson is a Professor of French at the University of Oxford and Fellow and Tutor in French at the Queen's College, Oxford. His research is focused on French literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and his publications include monographs on Stendhal, Voltaire, and Mallarme, as well as translations of Voltaire, Zola, and Maupassant. This book marks completion of the first part of a research project on the Poet as Lawgiver in Nineteenth-Century France, for which he was awarded a Major Leverhulme Research Fellow. He is a Fellow of the British Academy.

Table of Contents

PrologueIntroduction: The Poet and the Law1. Unacknowledged Legislators2. The Poet as Lawgiver in Post-Revolutionary FranceII Avant le deluge (1750-1789)3. Towards a Happy RevolutionIII Apres le deluge: Chateaubriand's Melancholy4. Revolution, Religion, and Poetry5. Politics and WritingIV Apres le deluge: Stael's Enthusiasm6. The Woman Writer as Lawgiver7. The Woman Writer as Lawgiver8. The Lawgiver as Novelist: 'Delphine' (1802)9. The Lawgiver as Poet and Outlaw: 'Corinne' (1807)10. The Lawgiver as Poet: 'De l'Allemagne' (1810/1813)11. Poetry as Self-LegislationV Left or Right?12. Poetry after the RevolutionVI Lamartine's Murmur: Poetry, Politics, and Prayer13. The Poet as Lawgiver14. The Poet as Politician15. The Poet at PrayerVII Hugo's Intimacy: The Private, the Public, and the Visionary16. Private or Public? 17. Olympio18. The Poet as Lawgiver and Visionary19. The Poet as Genius and PromontoryVIII Vigny's Elixir: Pity, Enmity, Posterity20. A Purpose for Sadness: 'Poemes antiques et modernes' (1826)21. Poets and their Enemies22. Words of Honour: 'Les Destinees. Poemes philosophiques' (1838-1864)23. Afterlives: 'Daphne' and the Poetry of the FutureIX Conclusion: Beyond Melancholy, or a Ministry of Poets24. 1789 and after25. 14 July 1889Epilogue

Editorial Reviews

"As rewarding as it is demanding, Unacknowledged Legislators, with its constant challenge to us to rethink poetry, will be essential reading for anyone to whom nineteenth-century French poetry matters, and a satisfying exploration for all those interested in poetry of any place or time." — Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher