Allan H. Pasco - Literature As Historical Archive

Literature as Historical Archive Author(s): Allan H. Pasco Source: New Literary History, Vol. 35, No.
3, Critical Inquiries, Explorations, and Explanations (Summer, 2004), pp. 373-394 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20057844 . Accessed: 15/09/2013 18:17
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Literature
as Historical
Allan H. Pasco
Archive
I. Introduction Can serve as a historical archive?1 Although literature legitimately " true not that it is "Everybody does it! as I have heard said quite for it has become how common it is remarkable repeatedly,
historians sources. to adduce novels, and In conversations and poems, more formal plays interchanges as illustrations at conferences, and
that "it is done all and literature readily recognize to work by Lucien Febvre, Robert Darn ton, Terry the time," referring Deidre Lynch, Terry Eagleton, Castle, Felicity Nussbaum, Lynn Hunt, and others.2 To say Susan Dunn, Mary Louise Roberts, Bruce Robbins, as cultural artifact is, of course, not to say that art is regularly exploited that such use of literature that it should be. Some take the position since art is not fact, and one should not confuse should be avoided, even believe, with Plato, that art is a lie.3 Still, history with fantasy. Some exact not normally information would while works provide literary historians of culture
about speeches, laws, wars, or coal production, they do serve particularly
well
streets,
for insight
in houses,
into common
apartments,
opinions
and
and attitudes,
everyday
life in the
hovels.
in revealing reliability of literature individual attitudes has particular importance The

eighteenth-century case. exemplary late France, Few of the and letters, I
and general background in for scholars interested

turn records, to or it as notarial an
consequently civil diaries,
inventories materials
into states
been preserved that leads to unanswered have

of mind, conscious and
if at all, a lack of archival can one gain insight questions. How intact,
unconscious assumptions, attitudes,
opinions, prejudices, Robert Mandrou, Robert Darnton, to unusual have turned archives
and
emotions
booksellers' for discoveries about the and records, popular chapbooks, pornography we do not know, particularly there remains much but regarding period, In fact, we are the attitudes {mentalit?s) of eighteenth-century people. classes that made up very poorly acquainted with the lower and middle it is important As a consequence, the vast majority of the population.
that the people Antoine de Baecque, like publishers' and
of
lived then?4 and others
New Literary History, 2004, 35: 373-394
374
both to develop on new older resources resources. for uncovering
NEW
LITERARY
HISTORY
the
past
and
to find
new
perspectives
The
more
following
extensive
pages will
consideration
look at other
of literature
archives
as a
in preparation
cultural
for a
repository.
the lead of a few cultural Following handled and in answer judiciously,

can bering provide that a reliable reality window is never on pure, the
I will suggest historians, to appropriate questions,

past. Used or carefully?and linear?literature simple, or
that, when literature

remem and the
arts can bring

expect literature
fresh
to be
light to our perception

an exact mirror have
of history. One
a one-to-one
should
relationship
not can by
with find
mimetic objective reality?the fallacy?but it extraordinarily useful. It is a response

or reaction.
the historian/critic to reality, whether
reflection
II. Available
Some historians whet our
Archives
as a literature exploiting for example, "[T]he mass felt no danger." Further the often "French
not please
historical document. of the population more,

men
he
explains,
ignore
for appetites Lefebvre says, [during the Revolution] the French were little Georges decisions
decrees
outrageously
. . . could
impractical
those
of
of
concerned with the National Assembly.

the Assembly that did
them.
Even
did
public
not his
disorders,
trouble observation. them
so
long
as
they appeared
to be
Lefebvre
only
does
transitory, not document
greatly."5 Lacking
Unfortunately, some support,
historians
would
bolster during
worry increase,
his conclusion the recent actions of people by considering are unsettled times of danger. When conditions and people
about while their those own who or their remain family's withdraw lives, and emigration barricade tends themselves to
within
their homes. If the danger is not imminent, reasonable citizens there is go quietly about their affairs and stay away from areas where trouble. Still, making about the past on the basis of what is assumptions on in the error. People of well result in significant present may going do indeed of those the resemble but the differing present, bygone days forces acting on them could have brought individuals to respond in very different ways.6 As a case in point, although most recent suicides have
severe depression at their root, we cannot be certain that similar causes
explain
and the
the important
early nineteenth
increase
in suicides
when
in the revolutionary
endemic malnutrition
period
and
century,
disease Newly
amplify
impacted discovered
such
the classes where subscription

archives as
suicide was more lists and notarial

legislative records,
likely to be reported. records occasionally

court documents,
standard
LITERATURE
AS HISTORICAL
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375
that provide and handbills armature. Particularly during
with about broadsides, important tracts,
police history
Revolution, and
posters, reports, pamphlets, of the day with a disciplining

printers that give inundated us Paris information
the the
books
pamphlets, occurrences and
make
it quite easy to harvest active citizens. We politically

published correspondence,
about information also have records

and speeches
the limited number of of legislation and the

of notables, but we
memoirs,
have values,
"silent
very social
little means
of gaining insight into the beliefs, mind-sets, of what might be called the and constraints, passions
Occasional resources, like Jacques-Louis M?n?tra's
majority."
on the artisan class. The diary, Journal of My Life, open a peephole a in that they provide also have Gounon family papers importance a of notables of rather complete who, family provincial description in in the 1770s and themselves '80s, found though very successful we in what records still 1792. Nonetheless, starting significant danger on the level of everyday life. have provide little information are frustrated by the limited number of personal Cultural historians
documents that remain from the late eighteenth century. The explana
tions for this dearth only is there the very natural to the need for secrecy, as discard what has little value, tendency to the systematic illustrated by the Gounon impetus family, added destruction of private papers. During the Terror citizens could be sent to the guillotine when they were known to have received a letter, however innocuous, condemned
a scarcity addition Michel of must Vovelle
are
several. Not
from suspect people to death for political

parish question has registers the argued
or who had been who had emigrated reasons. The historian has to deal with
in
and written and artifacts, individually of other documents. reliability quasi-official that and funeral orations sermons, prayers,
provide period
non-jurant confiscate
insights into society,7 but such material of emptying churches, Constitutional, conflicting
and priests, the Church's a secular land, government a new impose that was organization,
accurate
is suspect in this or jurant, and

attempting elect to priests,
take for itself many of the church's functions. Official records like were often mobs. Fire moisture did even and reports destroyed by police more damage. Most often we simply have no explanation for why the
documents are missing, and we are forced to draw reasonable conclu
and
sions from what Phan become
remains.
The
I increasingly approached.8 sentences mention that the also the of might registers recording courts in Cambrai are missing ecclesiastical from 1774.9 We do not know are not with the other in the Archives why. They simply registers are common du Nord. Such lacunae in D?partementales unexplained
the period's archives.
legal records considered irregular as the Revolution
by Marie-Claude
376
Sometimes the unsatisfactory state of records
NEW
LITERARY
HISTORY
can
be
explained
by
on death, inaction. Statistics for simple have so only after 1825; those on migration compiled that we are left with assumptions if not guesswork. In many variables to remove many record-keeping decided 1792, the National Assembly duties from the parishes, with the idea that such responsibilities were the administrative example, were decision
task of the secular government, which was, unfortunately, so ill-prepared
or
to accomplish and insufficiently financed that it was simply unable the new duties. Jacques Dup?quier without "[T]he says gov equivocation, ernments that succeeded each other from 1789 until 1799 were inca reliable statistics."10 Starting with the resignations of pable of producing on July 10, 1792, there was even a the Feuillant ministers when period
France ated. had Some no priests government continued at all.11 Non-jurant to chronicle the clergy events of seldom their parish, cooper not
to the new order but as well simply refusing to swear allegiance turning a deaf ear to official demands to cede recording duties to the appropri ate government official and warning their flocks against observance of
the new law.12 Others kept records that suffered the ravages of mobs, and
even to the still others tried to do as they were instructed, point of no at woe to to a records all. this of statistical tale And, keeping bring were in records the disorders of 1871. conclusion, many public destroyed
Of documents course, are anyone often who missing has and done archival If research the gaps knows are not that too in disorder.
are justified in generalizing great, data. After all, today we fragmented

sources appropriate must be overview interpreted or narrative. and, We do
we
from existing and incomplete understand that all historical

fit not into simply some list all sort cases of of, an say,
then,
the reasons
cases, whatever
for suicide
notes
during
remain,
the Revolution;
and the police
we
study
to
the reported
give several
reports,
examples
tions, minimum
and
a considered
or of conclusions information,
conclusion
are, and
or opinion.
however, the problems
Such
generaliza
without by incom a
opinions, amount
impossible caused
plete
and example,
and missing
early how many
records
become
French
especially
archives. resulting deaths
acute
We
in late eighteenth
have to wonder, carbon monox for
nineteenth-century "accidental"
from
were ide poisoning in the dark about

individual responses
in reality suicides. In particular, we are left virtually and lower classes of the period, about the middle
to the riots, famines, and festivals, and about day-to
day life during

of documents
the Revolution.
remaining to us,
Because
most
of the paucity
about
and unreliability
those who were
information
"notables" (from k menu peuple, lespetites gens, through the artisans, to much of the growing middle class), which constituted perhaps ninety Different archives need to is nonexistent. five percent of the population, not
LITERATURE
AS HISTORICAL
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377
the people felt, how they were affected by the were influenced if so, how?they whether?and, by those were taking place in and around Paris. events that world-shaking be exploited Revolution, to reveal how
III. Historicizing
Literature
to compre literature has not been ignored in the endeavor Though hend the past, Sarah Maza has said, "[T]he use of properly 'literary' texts by historians still for the which remains is an interesting subject,
most part unexamined."13 There are nonetheless a number of scholars
claimed that Febvre and his colleagues light the way. Lucien a period was impossible without a sense of the of consideration adequate way people felt about the small and large events of the day. To this end, a history that includes study of the arts, which are "of Febvre proposed who
inestimable value, on the condition naturally . . . that we observe the
same critical precautions

study and use of. . . figurative
in the manipulation
art."14 His Le
of literary
de
texts as in the
au XVIe
probl?me
l'incroyance
si?cle: La religion de Rabelais attempts to cast a bright light on an entire age It makes fascinating by working with the writings of Rabelais. reading, as a reliable too far he he doubtless when takes Rabelais goes though Febvre's learning, lens for the rest of the period. While intuition, and sense his is make work it very persuasive, plain good impossible not to source an to to do with the him that his limits elite that had little suspect more
Febvre's
general
use of
culture. With
such materials
the exception
was quite
of his Religion
My
de Rabelais,
is not
restrained.
objection
that Febvre
work, studies half-a-dozen, other archives, which or
looked
continues cultural and,
to literature,
to be the Very history.15 without
but that he depended

practice indeed few of many refer to
too much
scholars even of as
on one
cultural many as from of novels
their it is far
overwhelming are conclusions easy to find
corroborating very suspect. one or two or Given ten
material thousands plays and
alternatives,
too
support almost any position. How to into the necessary gain reliable insights we what about Given learned have the period? over the last thirty years, is there a means indication of social realities in literature?
In one area, at least, subsequent scholars
that could
many literary works are attitudes of a particular of texts nontransparency a trustworthy of finding
have moved far toward
doing away with Robert Mandrou
that arise from the way Febvre uses art. are more and Genevi?ve B?lleme than convincing not other historians when all? they look at numerous?though surely literature (de colportage), those inexpensive, exemplars of peddler roughly the limitations
chapbooks of horoscopes, saints' lives, almanacs, home rem
printed
378
NEW
LITERARY
HISTORY
edies, prognostication, legends, and fairy tales making up the Biblioth?que bleue that itinerant salesmen a sold throughout France. They provide better grasp of the potential of art as history by arguing that the peddler
literature successfully expands our understanding of the attitudes and
beliefs works
classes. There is no question that such of thousands. indeed, by the hundreds substantial wealth for the printers that produced them.16 They produced on numerous the conclusions based of By drawing study examples of the are and Mandrou B?lleme Because bleue, Biblioth?que quite convincing. a are more examined of their wide much works, array they findings a if than had few. compelling they investigated only as a means of reading literature the hearts and minds of Using individuals of long ago has, of course, its requirements. There is no of the lower ("popular") sold phenomenally well,
doubt, as Chevalier necessity usefulness, of warned, care however, in that turning for, to have "you to such paraphrase ... to know how does Darnton to not listen."17 negate documents Robert
The their
discussing
fairy tales, they provide

Regime.18 Without
points
of entry
every text
into the mental

coming to us
world
from the
of the Old
past must
exception,
with discretion, be considered critic who keeps its function,

most Marlboro contexts, Man for as a example, symbol of
knowingly tradition,
it would lung cancer,
interrogated by a well-trained and genre firmly in mind. In

be a mistake or Proust's to interpret "little section the of
yellow wall"
another
in terms of cowardice.
representations of
As Bruce
servants
Robbins
from at
points
least as far
out,
back
for
as
example,
Terence
literature
and Plautus
fall for
through
part
eighteenth-century
into two categories:
English
the
(and French)
clever trickster
the most
not want to make too much and the buffoon. One would of their to "realistic portrayal."19 Without it is easy literary background misinterpret
ironic passages or to ascribe irony where none was intended, to ignore
the importance
objects or
of repeated
and
elements,
Once
tomisconstrue
one has adequately
traditionally weighted
read the text as
images,
so on.
a single, individual creation, it needs to be viewed in its social context.20 Not infrequently, it is because of some element or relationship active in a work of art that we notice important though previously ignored aspects of our civilization. first conventions
visual art) often
As Richard identified
turn out
and puts it, "Forms, regularities Johnson in literature (or certain kinds of music or
a much wider social currency."21
to have
IV. The Though thoughts, hundreds feelings, of fears,
Finances tireless hopes,
of Publication recorded pens eighteenth-century in novels, and attitudes plays, and
LITERATURE
AS HISTORICAL
ARCHIVE
379
has attracted few readers in the poems, the resulting literary production last 150 years. The novels and plays would have little interest today, were in it not that in their time they did attract readers and spectators
significant numbers and thus indicate that writers were not alone in
reflected the demands of their their obsessions. Just as the chapbooks so too did the of novels and the late century. plays eighteenth public,22 An important, ever-expanding the literary segment of society supported creations
puts
by purchasing
means of more
books
or
and
theatre
tickets. As Roger
readers
Chartier
indicated
it, "By
less massive
purchasing,
their preferences;
production itself."23
thus their tastes were

Indeed, flesh-and-blood
in a position
readers
to influence
and
book to
spectators
assured
watching
life for fiction

characters act
when
out
their hard-earned
their lives on stage
money
or page.
was devoted
In preceding periods, authors could get by if they satisfied a wealthy or a small cadre of like-minded people, and they tended to write patron for an elite. But from the mid-eighteenth it was no longer century common a patron who would pay for the to discover for a scribbler honor of patronizing had changed. Now, suc publication. Publishing on mass markets cessful writers depended of people who would pur wares. Novelists chase or rent their published and playwrights in
were To to others, In 1838 be spectators. appeal hand. required more many Balzac to precise, others, summed attract writers and up the consumers, had attract practice to an whether create audience already works with more readers that would in half-a or
particular
money than
century
the
old:
"The destiny
and the
of French
literature
Publishers
is today fatally
and theatrical
linked
producers
to
bookstore
newspaper."24
welcomed
on to build a only those writers who could be counted the rather and among following large rapidly growing general public. and bankruptcy novels, like producing Publishing plays, was expensive, awaited those who could not successfully predict public taste. If a writer or play, if publishers or producers were created a particular fiction to their financial investment of time, equipment, and willing gamble to bring such creations to the public, in order if people personnel to experience the end products, if such works were actually paid
republished, same society one and, can often, reasonably to reflect expect the same the creations reality. By to speak a to the studying single,
large sample of novels and plays, scholars should be able to replicate like good scientific experiments each other's work, much permit replica tion. When with historical and critical acu discernment approached an literature becomes reliable archive as its public men, increasingly a a mass to from limited to the elite for it responded audience, changed
demands served as of its readers. and Those subventioned patrons upper-class books people and who plays had were previously no longer
380
literature. Paying capable of controlling took over the financing, and the mere
purchase individual and thus support sensed novels, some poems, aspect, readers
NEW
LITERARY
HISTORY
customers fact
and some
from
that people
all the classes to continued

that some
makes it clear plays sort of resonance,
that attracted them. Novelists and playwrights something form to public attitudes, and insecurities, yearnings. Jacques Le Goff rightly insists that in most periods "literary and artistic works obey laws that are more or less independent of their temporal application, were giving
environment."25 century literature But, as becomes suggested above, at the end as of an the particularly accurate eighteenth indication of
reality, for art was turning

broad-based audience
from patronage
writers and
to a growing
artists were
and
forced
increasingly
to please.
that
literature was becoming "mass media," and as Le Goff has Consequently, also said, "Mass media are privileged vehicles and matrixes for [insight]
into society's mindset."26 Phrased more simply, literature was turning
into popular literature, that is, novels, poems, and plays that depended on their ability to attract a mass audience. If a creative work sold, it did so because to the desires and needs of the people it responded that it, often by the cartload. bought
Titles escape. how-to and People books texts also and leave read no for doubt that readers information. that clear. sought Mandrou's On turning reasonable amusement consideration to the novels and of of
almanacs
makes
the period
commentaries
and
on
on
noting
the virtually
society,
universal
it seems
reflections
of and
contemporary
to conclude
that literature be both verisimilar that people demanded to their own world. One of the topics that most interested
its own culture. Daniel Roche draws attention to the
and connected this public was

of Mercier
works
and Restif
fiction, between social ent
particularly,
is a lived reality,
since,
real
though
whole
their writings
that and establishes the
have a strong dose of

notable . . . Fiction, ... of distance fantasy, incoher the
each
"reconstructed
critique, self-taught a reality homogenous
experience, erudition system. . . .
intertwine [T]heir
story. to make
moral
presuppositions,
mixture
so that they take reality, . . . [make them] the way unimportant into consideration of the people of Paris."27 But it was not just the witnesses irreplaceable a literature represents and Restif; all of the period's works of Mercier events The heroes and the well be invented, reality. might recognizable of fiction and the effort to transpose lived people
but within the work's context, the attitudes, the background, the hopes
and fears, and considerable life. the stuff of customary

Because literature, aspects of realism we their can world, was assume such
detail
an that
often
give every
part looked in of to actuality,
indication
of being
important people it as it was
eighteenth-century to elucidate novels to explain things
to reveal
LITERATURE
AS HISTORICAL
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381
so that
turmoil that
they would
saw and
be more
sensed and
able
around they
to understand
them.28 wanted and Everyone to know
and
cope with
was well how affect
the
it was them.
they was France
aware
happening,
what
changing, it was
more:
becoming,
how
it would
art featuring flower-bedecked, peasants enjoying perfumed was no in love fields ballets of Elysian longer elegant languorous in the past, it attractive. Most often, if writers situated their adventures was a European of or, better, a French history that dealt with problems Classical
current interest. Increasingly, literature treated the events of the present.
While
manuals
in
Enlightenment
immersion
of literary history discuss ideas and the "green"

the actual works of
at length the introduction of to literature, of real nature

and revolutionary
pre-romantic
literature portray
across
to demonstrates that writers were struggling incontrovertibly the reality that surrounded them. The plot and, increasingly
eighteenth century, the characters and their personalities
the
were
realistic.29 Where
it can be verified,
reflects a the perhaps actual surprising
there
customs,
is no doubt
attitudes, and
that the
facts between of
background generally the contemporary world,
correspondence
literature understand
constitutes
and
a
society the world

very useful
that around
leaves
no
to our
them.
to doubt that readers wanted In short, the study of literature

attempts to gain a comprehen
addition
sive view of the late eighteenth
century.
V. Readers,
Texts,
and
Society
was affected by the explosion of the populace of Just how much we not rate In at do know the the end of the fact, publications? literacy century. The reading public was growing eighteenth rapidly, but it is
difficult to be exact about numbers. Several scholars have assumed that
an individual's Genevi?ve
of Frenchmen names, fourteen even their and was
ability to sign his or her name indicates reading skills. B?lleme 1786 and 1790, forty-seven percent says that between
and whereas percent, higher twenty-seven a century respectively.30 artisans among percent before Roger and of it was Frenchwomen only twenty-nine claims Of that could sign percent the rate as
Chartier shopkeepers.31 were
course,
B?lleme
signing
points
and
out,
nothing
I rather
proves
suspect
a necessary
that there
relationship
many more
between
readers
reading.
I have known of several people who could read, though they signed with an "X." Professor Emile Talbot tells me his grandfather was in this category. Professor Francis Noel Thomas offers a contrary example: his grandmother could sign her although such data would indicate.
name, she could not read. Perhaps a more adequate indication of the
than
382
numbers
NEW
LITERARY
HISTORY
of people who could read are the numbers of books being at of Etienne Garnier's stock his death in 1789, inventory printed. for example, included 443,069 It is that he would chapbooks. unlikely such unless to sell them. believed he he would be able print quantities runs Garnier's and other publishers' of the print Biblioth?que bleue were often substantial. B?lleme cites one of 18,500 copies, though most were between documents of 2,000 and 5,000. Emmet Kennedy printings to a from 500 in 60,000 "anywhere country whose copies."32 This at the time is estimated to be no more than twenty-eight population to the more million In respect novel people. lengthy and numerous publications, Angus Martin, Vivienne G. Mylne, and Richard Frautschi's du genre romanesque fran?ais, 1751-1800 the documents Bibliographie The in novels increase irregular but significant and in republication?through translation,
Large numbers of people were reading, or,
in published?in original, the last half of the century.

expressed another way, a
large percentage practice of oral the groups influence where

to
of the population could and did read. The widespread as a social indeed, have spread reading activity would, of print even further, although it seems unlikely that works were read aloud could have been sufficiently
the plethora of publications.
numerous
explain
Novels,
mass
especially,
They
were
were
a popular
often
form
quite
that was designed

long, fictions fertile which gave
to engage
authors the
audience.
space for extended

a
insights,
of provide
ideas, and opinions.

attitudes, marvelously long
Accordingly,
are more portrayals
ifwe want
useful of mind-sets than
deeper understanding other for they genres,
and
cultural
(1802),
manifested
reality. As Mme "History only makes

by the power of
to Delphine de Sta?l says in the preface us aware of the big strokes that are
circumstances, but it cannot make us
into the intimate impressions which, by exerting influence on penetrate the will of certain individuals, has determined the fate of everyone."33 The cumulative "fiction" into atti insights of theatrical and novelistic life are tudes, habits of thought, customs, and the details of ordinary true by the people often not just verisimilar but true, or, at least, believed of the time. Though Hayden White that argues history is a story that to invert that insight and suggest I want reveals the storyteller, that stories frequently reveal history, especially its motivations and cultural
reality. Perhaps only through the arts can one open a perspective onto
historical
and
patterns
of attitudes,
hundreds numerous
behavior,
of late
fashions,
and optics
of viewing
novels and I can
appreciation. now read Having not to mention plays,
memoirs
eighteenth-century and letters
by
notables,
safely say that,

actions are "made
in general,
up," and
only
even
the characters
those actions
and
are
their foregrounded
maintained
rigorously
LITERATURE
AS HISTORICAL
ARCHIVE
383
is verisimilar while
if not the true.
either
and facts
within
the bounds
To attract and be
of what
hold possible
or within
and when
the
system which maintains

actions.34 must of necessity
verisimilitude
permitting
attitudes Even
unrealistic
many authors
logical events
of the are
readers,
inventive, they cannot fail to retain enough of contemporary particularly to establish a relationship with the invention. Fantasy for readers reality did exist, and the successful Utopian and exotic tales leave no doubt of
its attraction, but even stories of the supernatural were most often set
takes her readers on the Voyages deMilord solidly in reality. Mme Robert to Lisle and Guillaume C?ton dans les sept pianettes (1765-66) Grivel, is of both real but the inconnu (1783-87), unquestionably subject
France. Diderot later encapsulated the whole matter: "He who would
than he who would take what Iwrite as the truth would be less mistaken into works of art take it as a fable."35 Often the social attitudes integrated realities like incest. As I the hidden need to be ferreted out, especially in Sick Heroes, in regard to the novels and plays from 1750 to argued set up incestuous over half of all works of literature when 1850,
relationships, it almost certainly reflects a social concern and corre
sponding conditions
occurrence numerous reflecting
reality, especially were ripe for

significant, works of art the incestuous is gives
when such
for more the
we
same
know
from
other
or
archives of
that
in is
relationships.36
reference reason whether
Frequency
literary
to believe the characters
relationship that literature are merely
reality,
raised
and
or truly related by blood, as together, as in Paul et Virginie (1788), ou Sand's les Fran?ois le Champi (1848), C?cile, passions (1827), injouy's
many others.
The
mentions riots, for
accuracy
many which
of
events, there
literature
like the
is to some
execution
degree
of Louis
indicated
XVI or substantiation.
when
the bread One
it
is considerable
extraliterary
might
even
assume
when
that other
is a
literary realities
of external
could
proof. as
also be found
Sometimes,
in society,
of course,
there
paucity
once we have an insight,

tation in other archives.
it is possible
Certainly, art
to find
solid, reassuring
archive
documen
makes its
a historical
most
in uncovering contributions patterns or in unexpected convincing contrast that have else of evidence corroborating discovering points new the be invalu and ideas about where. Such past may perspectives and able, since they are among the few windows onto the relationships
of a period's people and their culture. In other cases, when
mind-sets
be significant little external support exists, the material may nonetheless of suicide begin and useful. Though we cannot prove the importance no doubt that it had a ning in the 1760s, for instance, literature leaves on an for it becomes common, increasingly major impact people, emphasized literary event in eighteenth-century literature. As time has
384
passed,
documentary
NEW
LITERARY
HISTORY
scholars
like Cobb,
to
Ratcliff,
shore up
and Merrick
such implications.
have discovered focus

that
other
evidence
The
necessity
a way of Latin
of multiplicity
working. textus, As one meaning
of example
would "weaving"
and
of
significance
"text" derives create an
imposes from the
expect, given or "web," texts
always
intricate tapestry of relationships an intimate part that are, in addition, of the social web. Such embedded creations indicate attitudes, literary
no matter how fantastic the main characters and their actions may be.
Major that literature
shown century interrelated society are extremely complicated, of experience that are frequently (or icons or images) complexes I for of A la Proust's recherche du temps perdu, think, replicated. example, which was organized around the belief that his fictional "life" coheres from start to finish because of the elements recall that, in repeating, and
others tates an in the narrator's that extension unique recalls life. a world The to taste the of the madeleine and the resusci gatherings narrator,
writers
of our own
from Proust
to Foucault
have
at Combray with Aunt L?onie are rejuvenated at every level of society as the characters form other circles of intimates. The church steeples of reverberate with the mention of every bell, and the orange M?s?glise to Mme Verdurin. Almost ties Oriane juice served chez lesGuermantes into the entire any thread of leitmotifs may be followed tapestry of to its society through which is inseparably joined Proust's masterpiece, innumerable with social realities that we know to be true, relationships or the like the description of a dying aristocracy attitudes conflicting
toward war with Germany.37
Of course, A la recherche du temps perdu is exceptional.

typical of their society in its resemblance to all other artworks not that every allows form aspect us to contemporary society. Perhaps an extension forms that eventually
It is nonetheless
an of envisage intimate literature part or
a whole,
and
it is, to be
are
sure,
true
that not
all details, that proves "philological

assure that
not
all
traits, not
that
all
the
relationships
interesting.
Furthermore,
nothing
assures
investigator will Spitzer admitted

provide no
remark the element in regard to his own

rationale to
Leo truly significant. circle" that he could

someone else would
step-by-step
an unquestionably choose awareness of having been
"The first step is the significant struck by a detail, followed by a conviction that this detail is connected with the work."38 As several well basically out in respect to cultural scholars recently pointed studies, regarded
there are "no guarantees about what questions are important to ask
element.
within given contexts or how to answer them: hence can be or even privileged temporarily employed with
confidence, semiotics, yet none can be eliminated out of hand. deconstruction, ethnography, interviews,
methodology total security and

Textual phonemic analysis, analysis,
no
LITERATURE
AS HISTORICAL
ARCHIVE
385
analysis, survey research can all
psychoanalysis,
rhizomatics,
content
Is the salient element or insights and knowledge."39 important provide it occur in relationship regularly found with particular attitudes? Does the Guided other contexts? methodology, appropriate by whatever
investigator must remain sensitive to linguistic change a hundred and cultural
differences,
of the present.
thus avoiding
Scholars
interpretations
who were "in one
of the past exclusively

accord"
in terms
years ago
were
to be It is equally important for example. able to take the insight gained from one passage and consider whether in the text in hand. If the object or quality is indeed itworks elsewhere to compare the a consistent it may be illuminating of the work, part as they fit into the whole and to consider whether various contexts the detail is a consistent presence. anything besides not in a Honda Accord,
Sensitivity rated, while to the contexts them where as well viewing the elements repeated to other in relation works, are incorpo is essential.
With works
larger
in other literary a suspicion that the repetition may be important the inquiry shifts to the way the motif fits into the and elsewhere,
social context. Is this association, indeed, also found in other
works?
in different kinds of contexts? Given that all these texts occur in phenom relationship with other sociological synchronie and diachronic ena and that they form a complex elements of interlocking reflecting the world of the day, significant extensions will exist to and from other works of literature and will key some aspect of the larger field of society. Salient
other of the
elements
the
will
form
creations
extensions
and in
that connect
those of other
similar
writers.
contexts
As readers
in
author's
to textual to other from context, element, conceptual journey new occur. At to and discoveries and contexts, back, may society, insights some recurrent and should be the together patterns gathered point, a as a constellation either almost that will considered certainly configure or a reaction to that the The social reality. larger reality particular one must to whatever variant remain the better, open sample, though exist. meanings make
fact that important details of novels and plays form relationships text opens of testing the possibility inevitably to a complete or web of relationships a literary a complex if within interpretations: to find we a to should be able social is the valid work response reality, The that lead
similar elements, objects, attitudes, or experiences in other creations
and
obvious
in other
parts
of
but
the social
a professional
fabric. The
historian
relationship
or, in other
may
not
be
a
to anyone
instances,
example of a plethora of sweetly literary critic. Take Carolyn Steedman's literature that bring in nineteenth-century European pathetic orphans to For Steedman, with them certain expectations. they were designed make readers hope the children would eventually find the warmth and
386
love for of a home. For Consequently, of readers they French constitute popular a
NEW
LITERARY
HISTORY
topos
that
destines more
them com
death.40
literature,
they
monly
require, numerous
initiate
"rags to riches"
a without glance
narratives.
at relevant in
Such
statistics literature
topoi
makes do
invite,
not
indeed
that an
interpretation: children
it clear reflect
parents
in fact, those numbers in orphans; had not changed signifi But for the waifs several hundred years. may point to growing cantly that too requires confirmation from though sympathy for children, increase children
fostered
It may also be that that the presence of abused several vantage points. in fiction grows from feelings of rejection and abandonment
by contemporary childcare practices.41 Testing is essential, since
The fact that Mme de Sta?l's interpretations a divorce does not mean in Delphine, for example, wanted that L?once or was the that divorce outside did, everyone important particularly of the latter possibility world of the novel or of the author. Assurance is,
however, central sets, one increased event. can divorce. Even reach While when then, no many if the reliable misreading revolutionary examples conclusions do not texts elicit about a danger, have divorce as mind period com a particular how the constant
our
are not
infallible.
perceived
remains
parison
and or within
will maintain
society of between and
a focus
will
on
the contexts
out Should and
within
there the
the literary work

conclusions. be no the Focus, consistent element
congruence
relationship
import, the
help is essential. detail or
weed
erroneous
pattern
context,
is doubtless
Often
of no real interest
presence or
for cultural
of
inquiry.
detail recurring in many
it is the
absence
a mere
the key to a mental that provides works set, as when in paintings done under noticed the paucity of children
or, more recently, my own awareness of the remarkable
Philippe Aries the monarchy,

number of times
divorce attitude
ismentioned toward
in late eighteenth-century such life that recurs with With broad reading, possible tested when can become repeated
intriguing. in migration
literature. Often frequency that
it is an
perceptible skillful interpretation,
substance.
it gains and comparison, knowing more conventional against
archives, such insights similar kinds of events,

that recur are especially historians
types, quite convincing. Personality themes, motifs, images, and symbols

To cite an concentrate example, sociologists on such "push and factors"
specializing
as the desire
and secure
to spread Christianity,
markets, new sources of
scientific
curiosity,
and
the need
the
for new The
raw materials,
opportunity a marked,
for investment,
period's Utopian
as well
and
as larger political
exotic novels,
and diplomatic
reveal
strategies.
however,
instead
source of anguish in the profound transformation repeated at life that drove level of and French every personal public occurring to in elsewhere the world. consider options Unambiguously people frequently
LITERATURE
AS HISTORICAL
ARCHIVE
387
of military social turmoil, financial and the
expressed, problems,
there heavy
are
as well unfair
the
importance taxation,
if not
conscription,
Revolution itself that reveal their own and their families'

of the century and suffered
the instability, rapid change, and fear for the end futures as the French approached
revolutionary changes in many aspects of
reflect the canonized factors do not directly "push I have found no supportive letters, though I have factors," for which anxieties that brought discovered letters that described the personal to Z. the "push Davis that Natalie believes abandon France.42 emigrants toward planning" marks the change between early modern and modern their lives. These
France.431 would counter that for literary personages and, by extension,
for French people for the potentially

of the social mood
an inability to plan and prepare with any confidence a significant reflection tumultuous future constitutes
of late eighteenth-century France.
VI. The
literature
Conclusion is particularly
and revealing,
revolutionary
as a means
age
of
in France
examining
fruitful
not
for using
but a
a writer,
period,
and
important eighteenth
the social
in suggesting characteristics
the realities and causes for some of the more of the age. Particularly toward the end of the was as part of in when century, importance reading gaining
novels, poems, and plays provide an invaluable tool
fabric,44
for plumbing
Whether were less such
the hopes
obsessive
and fears,
observers to society,
the dreams,
as Mercier reflect as were the the
the realities
and social publishers Restif reality, or
of a people.
those who were writers
inescapably
explicitly a part
of
attempting their
and
producers
who
invested
to read
in their convictions
or watch particular the repeated
that others would

artistic elements creations. or
seek and procure

The more or frequent, structures,
the
right the more
numerous
opinions
the more
period.
likely that writers were

the same ideas,
dealing
images,
with one or more

objects, descriptions,
truths of the
or fantasies
When
reappear
in numerous
concluding both When

meaning attitude, the A results study of or
works by different in authors, one is justified to that they were French of time. the important people or of occurrence and congruence of content frequency
in events or respect to subject matter, is more of and the detail, reason culture. reality in of character?there reflection conscious patterns, to accept
occur?whether types as an
accurate, a
meaningful society's
art uncovers
unconscious
to look not only for aesthetic all its glory and shame. It is important but for insights into the period's Elements that are pleasure people. in the same and different works by the sometimes obsessively, repeated,
388
same can and then different be measured artists have against particular other
NEW
LITERARY
HISTORY
facts
significance. we know
These about
constants the time.
the lines and in a broad context, Reading including and interpretations, in a critically sophisticated and reading between
of tropes, and conventions, generic to codes, considerations, society. Though recurrent may some of patterns, bring these new artistic metaphorical gies, "fiction"
data aware way,

strate to are less
other
and
understanding creations
successful
from
an aesthetic
or minor
social realities
group, whether
of the period.
major
to reveal the point of view, all are useful It is indisputable the that fictions of a social
works, to some degree reveal and define
a people
the certain As of
for what
an
and who
must,
they are. When

of course, be
making
rigorously
broad
applications,
to be
numerous
contexts acceptable be clear,
compared
should
the
interpretation. recurrences
in a wide
array
of works
and
the
frequency
element.
of
repetition
increases
are keys
the
to the
likelihood
importance
that numerous
of
the repeated
writers and,
Iteration
the dreams, readers had actually held the views, dreamed by extension, as does the corroborating the realities that they describe, and perceived or producer the fact that some profit-oriented publisher thought to who the work for would others would many pay appeal particular or seeing it. During this period particularly, wide privilege of reading appeal. Such spread buying of literary works attests to their popular or well are little adulterated critical either indications by hyperbole an the for works selected which reduces "elite," by prizes publicized a as of affirmation. of reflection pure book-buying popular reliability the work had since it proves is even more significant, Republication resonance a in with succeeded public (precisely establishing previously the reason the popular Biblioth?que bleue has such importance). People of novels. When the same objects, filled theatres and soaked up mounds
images, descriptions, attitudes, or structures reappear in numerous
works
are
it is only a small step to deduce that itwas a authors, by different or two works of of French One mind-set the contemporary part people.
not enough to make reasonable, if tentative, conclusions, for
conclusions
recent cultural
based
on
such a limited
may well give
sample,
a
as is all too common

inaccurate picture.
in
studies,
skewed,
There
is indeed safety in numbers. touch when Raw facts of history can be revitalized with a human of the fantasies, beliefs, historians have a better understanding fears, see and loves of the people. Such attitudes are crucial to the ways people their actions. Novels, plays, poems, their world and go far in explaining
and essays, many of which include extensive social commentary, can
bring
writers
considerable
as important
depth
to history
and
and
the study of culture.

as minor as Mme de
French
Genlis
as Beaumarchais
LITERATURE
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389
the society around them at considerable length. As frequently described indeed the entire Annales school, and Lucien Febvre, Robert Mandrou, literature is especially others have demonstrated, important for making come breadth and detail. Michelle Perrot puts it alive with history . . . may be consulted as historical "[NJovels legitimate succinctly: more sources sources because reveal than other the ideals of they fully authors."45 Or, as Natalie Z. private life that fascinated their perspicacious Davis expands on the thought, "[A] book or a proverb not only could speak for its author or reader, but could be a clue to relationships among groups of people and among cultural traditions."46 It does not
matter or more whether purely the document is Because historical. primarily ideas aesthetic, do not cultural, exist in a personal, vacuum,
history birth.
cannot
be adequately
interpreted
outside
the society
that gave
it
or critic would No well-trained historian today deny that creative of that tapestry created by works form a significant, well-integrated part a period's economic, and and values. It is the way beliefs social, political think and feel about a society that characterizes them and individuals their times, marking from people that preceded their differences and followed them. This is true for all periods, but I would go further and of the late eighteenth argue that, especially for investigation century is Given the limited number essential. France, literary study absolutely
primary essays of sources, the period a broad can education add extraordinary in the novels, richness plays, to our poems, understand
in of
and
ing of these people

against pertinent French anxieties another historical archives, and in
of long ago. In short,

and allows sociological us to go for by works, far in
the literature
without
of the day, tested

other of the the to or
sensing,
example, or
perceiving treatment the people's the South
neglecting the character of children, to and escape
represented whether world,
divorce, to America,
longing Pacific
Asia,
elsewhere. such significant Discovering chance of reflecting the reality of the

sample, significant congruence, and regular
attitudes that stand a good time requires a large literary

testing against other sources.
Both
offer
the financing
reasons for
of publication
trusting late
and
the growing
numbers
novels,
of readers
poems, and
eighteenth-century
"fictive" reality is tested against other archives plays, particularly when a multiplicity and when of examples historians demand that reveal
congruence of significance.
University
of
Kansas
390
NEW
LITERARY
HISTORY
NOTES
from those that have previously interested different or in The "History and Literature: Reproduction Signification," ed. Robert H. Canary and Writing Literary Form and Historical Understanding, of History: of Wisconsin Kozicki "Le Press, 3-39; Jean Serroy, (Madison: 1978), Henry University no. 2 (1993): 243-50; roman et l'histoire au XVIIe si?cle avant Saint-R?al," Studifrancesi37, and Herbert The History in Literature: On Value, Genre, Institutions (New York: Lindenberger, is somewhat scholars. to the period when been drawn Press, 1990), have, for example, University a novels other like from and scientific became distinct and genre genres history biography Form in History and Fiction treatises. Leo Braudy, Narrative (Princeton, NJ: Princeton in the others took place that these distinctions Press, 1970), agrees with most University Columbia the ways literature differs from history. Aristotle century. He goes on to analyze eighteenth (Poetics, chap. 9) and many, many others have taken up the latter issue. See, for just a few in Canary and "Narrative Form as a Cognitive Louis O. Mink, Instrument," examples, collection The Writing Kozicki's 129-49; David H. Walker, "Literature, History ofHistory, Studies 25 (1995): 35-50; Paul Hernadi, "Clio's and Factidiversiality,"/?wrw?/ of European as Translation, New Literary History 7, no. and Criticism," Fiction, Historiography and Empirical Critical Inquiry 2 (1976): 247-56; Murray Krieger, "Fiction, History, Reality," and P. M. Wetherill, "The Novel and Historical Discourse: Notes 1, no. 2 (1974): 335-60; on a Nineteenth-Century 117-30. Journal Perspective," of European Studies 15 (1985): Le probl?me de l'incroyance au XVIe si?cle: La religion de For example, Lucien 2 Febvre, and Other Episodes Rabelais (Paris: A. Michel, 1968); Robert Darn ton, The Great Cat Massacre Cousins: in French Cultural History Books, (New York: Basic Thermometer: Eighteenth-Century Culture and the Invention and Civilization: The Press, 1995); Masquerade University CA: Stanford Fiction Culture and (Stanford, English 1984); Terry of the Uncanny Castle, The Female (New York: Oxford in Eighteenth-Century 1 The I pose question Lionel Gossman,
Carnivalesque Press, 1986); Felicity University in Eighteenth-Century and Empire Torrid Zones: Maternity, Nussbaum, Sexuality, English The MD: Johns Hopkins Narratives Press, 1995); Deidre (Baltimore, University Lynch, Culture, and the Business of Inner Meaning Economy (Chicago: of Character: Novels, Market The Rape of Clarissa (Oxford: Blackwell, of Chicago Press, 1998); Terry Eagleton, University and Los Angeles: The Family Romance 1982); Lynn Hunt, (Berkeley of theFrench Revolution The Deaths of Louis XVI (Princeton, of California Press, 1992); Susan Dunn, NJ: University without Sexes: Recon Civilization Roberts, Press, 1994); Mary Louise University of Chicago Press, 1994); structing Gender in Postwar France, 1917-1927 (Chicago: University The Servant's Hand: Bruce Robbins, (New York: Columbia English Fiction from Below Princeton University literature It should be emphasized Press, 1986). reasons. in different ways and for different Carrard. terms, from . . . status of fiction is always in doubt. referential "[T]he term in is about historical the short literature change specific Uses of "This Is Not a Book Review: On Historical (Philip Stewart, the feelings, points of view, and studies culture object of much that I owe each of these scholars and turns to the last reference, the next
(note 3), to Philippe In more modern 3 [EJvidence derived
inherently problematic" Literature, "Journal ofModern History 66 [1994]: 524). 4 I do not intend with these terms to curtail excessively of perception that are the ultimate and experience patterns and
of pleasure, Simon During writes of "questions cultural history. fantasy, corporeality, to The Cultural Studies affect, desire, identification, (introduction critique, transgression" of & Kegan Paul, 1993], 19);J. M. Roberts, Reader, ed. Simon During [London: Routledge and "states of mind, conscious and unconscious attitudes, prejudices, assumptions, emotions" Press, 1978], [Oxford: Oxford 155); Clifford (TheFrench Revolution University Geertz, of "customs, usages, traditions, habit clusters," as a set of "control mechanisms?
LITERATURE
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391
of behavior" (The Interpretation of 44); Fred Inglis and Stuart Levine, and Institutions and "Art, Values, and Relevance," American Quarterly 24 Culture: An Essay in American Studies Methodology of "experience," that is, "the deployment of a unity and Michel Foucault, [1972]: 131-65); some traditional, some new, which rest on religious, made up of rules and norms, judicial, as well as changes are brought to in the way individuals medical institutions, pedagogical, to their sense and value to their conduct, to their duties, to their pleasures, attribute to their dreams" and sensations, sentiments (Histoire de la sexualit?, vol. 2 [Paris: Gallimard, 1984], course, 10-11). essential, Each of these factors as I argue below, or whatever, beliefs, that constitutes represents to understand It is, of worthy goals for investigation. that each of these attributes, mind-sets, set or web of integrated of the enormous in a moment 1793-1799,
. . . for the rules, instructions recipes, governing plans, Cultures: Selected Essays [New York: Basic Books, 1973], of "values" (Culture Studies [Oxford: Blackwell, 1993]
heterotopias, relationships 5 Georges
is but
of society. trans. John Hall Stewart and & Kegan Paul, 1964), 2: 271. See, also, Roderick (London: James Friguglietti Routledge as a political considered that "the Revolution, event, rarely intrudes Phillips, who notes life" (Family Breakdown in Late Eighteenth-Century into the levels of family and personal Lefebvre, the particular The French Revolution: From France: Divorces writes in Rouen 1792-1803 in a particular instance, and lack of self-consciousness indicates Press, 1980], 2). As Philippe Aries [Oxford: Clarendon "The fact that today we can no longer behave with the same as our two sixteenth-century in the same situations sincerity of attitude has come between them and us" that a change
a part culture
princes
Complexe, 6 Compare
Le Goffe histoire, ?d. Jacques [1978; repr., Paris: are mine. all translations indicated, David Hume: "It is universally that there is great uniformity acknowledged, in all nations the actions of men, and ages, and that human nature remains still the among . . Would . and operations. same, in its principles inclinations, you know the sentiments, the temper of the and course of life of the Greeks and Romans? Study well and actions ("L'histoire and English: cannot be much mistaken to the former most o? in transferring are so much to the latter. Mankind you have made with regard new or strange times and places, that history informs us of nothing in A Critical Edition, ed. Tom (An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: Press, 2000], [Oxford: Clarendon 64). et ambigu?t? "Pertinence du t?moignage Vovelle, litt?raire," Id?ologies You which de s?duction en languedoc the the this L. &
precisely La nouvelle des mentalit?s," otherwise 1988], 168). Unless
French
observations, same, in all particular" Beauchamp 7 Michel Mentalit?s
1986). Scientifique, to La d?sunion du couple sous l'ancien r?gime: 9 introduction Alain Lottin, L'exemple du nord, ?d. Alain Lottin de Lille, (Lille: Universit? 1975), 28. 10 Jacques Dup?quier, "La population fran?aise de 1789 ? 1806," in vol. 3 of Histoire de la ed. J. Dup?quier de France, 1988), 64. (Paris: Presses Universitaires population fran?aise, "La connaissance and Ren? le M?e, See, also, the volume's study by Dup?quier preceding des faits d?mographiques de 1789 ? 1914," 15-30. 11 Robert Darnton, The Kiss of Lamourette: Reflections in Cultural History (New York: W. W. Norton, 1990), xiii. and theFamily in Eighteenth-Century France (Ithaca, NY: Cornell 12 James F. Traer, Marriage Press, 1980), 95. University in Recent Works 13 Sarah Maza, "Stories in History: Cultural Narratives in European American Historical 1495. Review 101, no. 5 (1996): History," et l'histoire: "La sensibilit? Comment la vie affective reconstituer Febvre, Combats pour l'histoire (Paris: Armand Colin, 1953), 234-35. to a single work, more 15 Of course, as Stewart suggests, by limiting oneself is precision to Philip of History: A Reply "The Objects see, also, Lynn Hunt, (537-38); possible Stewart, "Journal ofModern History 66 (1994): 541. Lucien d'autrefois?" 14
(Paris: Maspero, 1982), 45. 8 Marie-Claude Phan, Les amours ill?gitimes: Histoires du Centre National de la Recherche (Paris: Editions
(1676-1786)
392
NEW
LITERARY
HISTORY
De la culture populaire aux 17e et 18e si?cles: La biblioth?que bleue de Troyes Robert Mandrou, La bible bleue: Anthologie d'une B?lleme, 1985); and Genevi?ve (1964; repr., Paris: Imago, litt?rature 'populaire' (Paris: Flammarion, 1975). la premi?re moiti? Classes laborieuses et classes dangereuses ? Paris, pendant 17 Louis Chevalier, 16 du XIXe 18 Darn tended 115. si?cle (1958; repr., Paris: Hachette, 1984), he goes further: "Bon mots and ballads 18. Elsewhere, ton, The Great Cat Massacre, in print, preserving to vanish But books fixed themes and be forgotten. them, their effect. Even more books them, and multiplying important, incorporated or an irreverent aside was one power. An anecdote book. The transformation into print actually altered into large-scale trivial elements narratives, seemingly
diffusing them in stories with
broad persuasive a caf?, another in a printed thing in its meaning, because books blended
which
into philosophy often opened and history" (TheForbidden Best-Sellers up perspectives France 1995], [New York: W. W. Norton, 190). See, also, his review of Pre-Revolutionary in History, Modern History 58, no. 1 (1986): 218 "The Symbolic Element article, "Journal of to the interpretive of sensitive 34. Natalie Zemon Davis has been particularly importance see her short discussion literariness; of literature for a historian, influence (New York: Modern 19 Bruce Robbins, of how "The Historian she has managed the potentially disruptive and Literary Uses," Profession 2003 21-27. 2003), Fiction from Below (New York: Columbia
Press, University 20 Cary Nelson?who and limit meaning "alliance,"
Association, Language The Servant's Hand: English 1986), 36-37. recognizes
their meaning is the product
a "merging" in At the Intersection: Cultural Studies and Rhetorical Studies, and Contextualization," Reading, neither of these Rosteck ed. Thomas 1999], [New York: Guilford, 213-14). Although as Jan can ever be more isolated from the other, than partially varieties of interpretation as Social Facts and Value in his Aesthetic Norm classic Function, argues Mukarovsky cogently (trans. Mark Languages, a chronological E. Suino, University Michigan of Michigan where sequence the Slavic Press, 1970]), the "relatively literary At text
that texts "shape that in literary studies critics believe that studies while "[c]ultural typically maintains internally," for an of social, interaction"?calls and political cultural, Studies: Rhetoric, Close of the two ("The Linguisticality of Cultural
no. 3 [Ann Arbor: Dept. of Slavic Contributions, I would rather say that there should be autonomous as one may cultural fit remains isolated domain" (Nelson, as possible it is until it into the much larger
of 215) "Linguisticality," as an aesthetic understood
complex.
that point,
Reader,
in What Is Cultural Studies? A Is Cultural Studies Anyway?" ed. John Storey 1996), 94. (London: Arnold, De la culture populaire, 23. 22 Mandrou, et et histoire des mentalit?s: "Histoire intellectuelle 23 Roger Chartier, Trajectoires De la culture Revue de synth?se 3, nos. 111-12 (1983): 298. See, also, Mandrou, questions," in the Romantic Age, Sick Heroes: French Society and Literature 23; Allan H. Pasco, populaire, of Exeter Press, 1997), 3-6. 1750-1850 (Exeter: University 24 25 Balzac, Les 1976-81), Le Goff, employ?s, vol. 892. and Pierre 7, La com?die humaine, Une Biblioth?que de la Pl?iade (Paris:
system of cultural relationships. "What 21 Richard Johnson,
Gallimard,
Jacques objets, ed. J. Le Goff to open history
Neither 37-50). such materials. 26 27
in Faire de l'histoire: Nouveaux histoire ambigu?," is willing (Paris: Gallimard, 1974), 3: 87-88. Vovelle to sensitivity et ambigu?t?," in respect to the arts, especially ("Pertinence a way to test the reliability of that use literature provide he nor the others "Les mentalit?s: Nora
Le Goff, 87-88. "Mentalit?s," Le peuple de Paris: Essai Daniel Roche, Paris: Fayard, 1998), 63.
sur la culture populaire
au XVIIIe
si?cle (1981
;repr.,
LITERATURE
AS HISTORICAL
ARCHIVE
393
28
Georges
May,
Le dilemme du roman au XVIIIe
critique (1715-1761) and Enlightenment is one 120-21. Realism Press, 1993), (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Century France University common In 1765, Fran?ois-Georges of the most novel. claims of the eighteenth-century saw with my own eyes what I recount" "Imyself Desfontaines announces, (Lettres Fouques de Sophie et du chevalier de **, pour servir de suppl?ment aux Lettres du Marquis de Roselle, par M. de ***, 2 parts [London and Paris: Esclapart, Bernardin 1765], vi); in 1788, Jacques-Henri de Saint-Pierre insists that the story is "true for the principal events" (Paul et Virginie, ed. Pierre Trahard assures Baston
si?cle: Etude sur les rapports du roman et de la CT: Yale M. Kavanagh, Haven, Press, 1963); Thomas (New University in Eighteenth the Shadows of Chance: The Novel and the Culture of Gambling
1964], [Paris: Gamier, 201); in 1790, the abb? Guillaume-Andr?-Ren? at the outset that he will be "simple 8c true" (Narrations d'Oma?, insulaire de la mer du sud, ami et compagnon de voyage du capitaine Cook, Ouvrage traduit de l'O-Ta?tien, par M. K***, ?f publi? par le Capitaine L. A. B., vol. 1 [Rouen: Le Boucher le jeune, and Paris: author himself Buisson, claims, 1790], 1); in 1792, Fran?ois-Am?d?e "[T]he Doppet witnessed ou le messager de la ligue d'Outre-Rhin, the things he tells" (Le commissionnaire contenant l'histoire de l'?migration fran?oise, les aventures galantes et politiques arriv?es nocturne, aux chevaliers et ? leurs dames dans les pays ?trangers, des instructions sur leurs projets fran?ois, et des notices sur tous lesmoyens tent?s ou ? tenter contre la constitution, par un contre-r?volutionnels, fr?res, "In my sa qui fait confession g?n?rale et qui rentre dans sa partie [Paris: Buisson & Lyon, Bruyset Mercier de Compi?gne asserts, 1792], vii); in 1793, Claude-Fran?ois-Xavier humbly tale Iwill at least have the merit of being true" (Ismael et Christine, nouvelle historique,
Fran?ois
nouvelle edition [1793; repr., Paris: Louis, Year III (1795)], 10); in 1799, Pierre-Jean ou Histoire calls his story "this true story" (P?m m?tamorphos?, de Gilles Baptiste Nougaret son s?jour dans cette ville centrale de la Claude Ragot, pendant o? l'on voit, R?publique fran?aise, avec le r?cit de ses aventures merveilleuses, les ruses, tromperies, astuces, finesses, etc., etc., qu'il y a tous les citoyens sont en butte. Ouvrage qui peut faire suite aux Astuces et ?prouv?es, et auxquelles de Paris, etc. etc., et r?dig? d'apr?s des m?moires authentiques [Paris: Chez l'auteur et tromperies Year VII (1799)], insists that "Realism Desenne, i); and so on. Carolyn A. Durham [is] the of the eighteenth-century novel," great innovation though she quotes Philip Stewart to put the matter in proper perspective: "However extravagant, however however much unlikely, itmay strain tory Becomes claim it is all true" ("The Contradic novelists] credulity, [eighteenth-century La religieuse and Paul et Virginie," Eighteenth Coherent: Century 23, no. between the literature As and 3
[1982]: 232).
I am only interested in the relationship of course, realism varies though, through to public is whatever verisimilar conforms 29 contemporary reality, Ren? Rapin said, "The from Jean-Pierre Cavaill?, opinion" (quoted et histoire "Galanterie de moderne': De la lecture des vieux Jean Chapelain, 'l'antiquit? si?cle 50.3 romans, 1647'," Dix-septi?me [1998]: 401). 30 B?lleme, Bible bleue, 25. ages. Father 31
trans. Lydia G. Cochrane The Cultural Origins of theFrench Revolution, Roger Chartier, Press, 1991), 68-70. (Durham, NC: Duke University et litt?rature de au 18e si?cle," "Litt?rature 32 Genevi?ve B?lleme, populaire colportage in Livre et soci?t? dans la France du XVIIIe si?cle, ed. G. B?lleme and others, 2 vols. (Paris: A Cultural History 1. 65; Emmet Mouton, 1965), (New Kennedy, of the French Revolution Haven, 39-49. CT: Yale University Press, 1989), 47. See, also, Mandrou, De la culture populaire, 17,
to 33 Mme Germaine de Sta?l, preface Necker ed. Simone Delphine, Balay? and Lucia 2 vols., Textes Litt?raires Fran?ais Omacini, Droz, (1802; Geneva: 1987), 81. I take this conclusion 34 1 of C. S. Lewis, from chapter (New York: Surprised by foy Harcourt he discusses the invention of fantasy. For a bibliography of Brace, 1955), where as it would be today, see Sick Heroes, 217-24. my own reading, though only half as long
394
NEW
LITERARY
HISTORY
35 36 37
Denis
B?nac
lefataliste Diderot, (1796), reprinted Jacques 1962), 505. (Paris: Garnier, "Incest in the Mirror," Sick Heroes, 108-32. Pasco, the Age of Names See, also, Pasco, "Reading Essays
in
uvres
romanesques,
ed. Henri
in A
la recherche
du
temps perdu," Russell &
Comparative Literature 46 (1994): 267-87. 38 Leo Spitzer, and Literary History: Linguistics Russell, 1962), 26-27. 39
in Stylistics
(New York:
to Cultural Lawrence and Paula A. Treichler, introduction Cary Nelson, Grossberg, and Treichler Nelson, Studies, ed. Grossberg, (New York: Routledge, 1992), 2. 40 Carolyn Forms of History, "Women's and Autobiography: Steedman, Biography Histories of Form," in From My Guy to SdFi, ed. Helen Carr (London: Pandora, 1989), 98-111. 41 42 Pasco, Pasco, "The Unrocked "On Making 247-61. Sick Heroes, 31-52. Cradle," Tahitian and Otherwise," Quarterly Review 77, no.
Mirages,
Virginia
of Family Life in Zemon Some Features "Ghosts, Kin, and Progeny: Davis, 106, no. 2 (1977): 87-114. France," Daedalus Early Modern 44 James Smith Allen, Popular French Romanticism: Authors, Readers, and Books in the 19th Lire Press, 1981); and Fran?oise Parent-Lardeur, Century (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University ? Paris au temps de Balzac: Les cabinets de lecture ? Paris, 1830-1850 (Paris: Ecole des Hautes Etudes George a similar, en Sand Sciences Sociales, and Baudelaire, Louis Chevalier Balzac's 1981). quotes contemporaries, at the accuracy of La com?die humaine, and takes who marvel Revue himself: "La com?die humaine, document d'histoire?" to the Great War, of Revolution 4 Private MA: History of Life (Cambridge, David Powell points out, "[T]he historical little studied" ("The Historical surprisingly From theFires
2 (2001): 43 Natalie
very strong position 232, no. 1 (1964): 27-48. Historique 45 Michelle Perro t, "The Family Triumphant," trans. Arthur Goldhammer, ed. Michelle Perrot, 134. Similarly, Harvard University Press, 1990), content Novel: of the novels themselves and has Fiction been History as Fiction
Febvre, essays, see, in addition, suggestive same volume, his "Une vue d'ensemble: Classes
laborieuses, esp. 69-259; Mandrou, trans. R. E. Hallmark Se Meier, in Historical (New York: Holmes 1976); Psychology, ? la Le de l'historien (Paris: territoire Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, R?tif," "L'ethnographie ed. H. Aram Veeser and The New Historicism, 2: 337-97; Gallimard, (New York: 1978),
as History," The Historian 43 [1994]: 13). For et l'histoire," "La sensibilit? and, in the 221-38; et psychologie," Histoire Chevalier, 207-20; to Modem France, 1500-1640: An Essay Introduction
see James Smith Allen, overview, 1989). For an excellent "History and the Routledge, and Theory 22, no. 3 (1983), in Modern Novel: Mentalit? 233-52. Fiction," History Popular 46 Natalie Zemon Davis, Society and Culture in Early Modern France: Eight Essays (Stanford, that "[literature CA: Stanford University Greenblatt observes Press, 1975), xvii. Stephen as a of the concrete within manifestation this system in three interlocking functions ways: behavior shaped, History," University Maspero, significant reflective believe has much of and as itself its particular author, as a reflection those upon of Chicago like Leon the expression of the codes by which behavior From More codes" (Renaissance Self-Fashioning: is to
Shakespeare
[Chicago: University As Marxists 1493-1515.
in "Stories Press, 1980], 4). See, also, Maza, [Ann Arbor: (Literature and Revolution Trotsky of Michigan [Paris: Press, 1960] ), and Georg Luk?cs (Balzac et le r?alisme fran?ais of the reality of its time and a is both a reflection literature 1967] ) insisted, influence In my own study here, I am interested the future. only in the to has left some with no reason literary works. Poststructuralism it with sufficient is ever directly reflective; nonetheless, precautions us about the past. on of
capabilities that literature to teach

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Literature as Historical Archive Author(s): Allan H. Pasco Source: New Literary History, Vol. 35, No.

in revealing reliability of literature individual attitudes has particular importance The

and general background in for scholars interested

consequently civil diaries,

been preserved that leads to unanswered have

that the people Antoine de Baecque, like publishers' and

lived then?4 and others

New Literary History, 2004, 35: 373-394

the lead of a few cultural Following handled and in answer judiciously,

I will suggest historians, to appropriate questions,

that, when literature

arts can bring

light to our perception

mimetic objective reality?the fallacy?but it extraordinarily useful. It is a response

the historian/critic to reality, whether

historical document. of the population more,

concerned with the National Assembly.

transitory, not document

Unfortunately, some support,

the classes where subscription

suicide was more lists and notarial

likely to be reported. records occasionally

posters, reports, pamphlets, of the day with a disciplining

pamphlets, occurrences and

it quite easy to harvest active citizens. We politically

about information also have records

the limited number of of legislation and the

from suspect people to death for political

is suspect in this or jurant, and

sions from what Phan become

legal records considered irregular as the Revolution

are justified in generalizing great, data. After all, today we fragmented

from existing and incomplete understand that all historical

were ide poisoning in the dark about

day life during

same critical precautions

but that he depended

overwhelming are conclusions easy to find

corroborating very suspect. one or two or Given ten

material thousands plays and

doing away with Robert Mandrou

fairy tales, they provide

into the mental

with discretion, be considered critic who keeps its function,

interrogated by a well-trained and genre firmly in mind. In

IV. The Though thoughts, hundreds feelings, of fears,

Finances tireless hopes,

of Publication recorded pens eighteenth-century in novels, and attitudes plays, and

thus their tastes were

life for fiction

all the classes to continued

makes it clear plays sort of resonance,

reality, for art was turning

and connected this public was

have a strong dose of

critique, self-taught a reality homogenous

experience, erudition system. . . .

and fears, and considerable life. the stuff of customary

important people it as it was

eighteenth-century to elucidate novels to explain things

they was France

of literary history discuss ideas and the "green"