School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemA "mild and conciliating spirit"?: historiographical representations of Cardinal Fleury, 1743-1997( 1998)This thesis examines historiographical representations of the French statesman, André-Hercule, Cardinal Fleury, from his death in 1743 until the present day. While he has only been the subject of two biographies, many historians and other writers, both well-known and almost forgotten, have expressed an opinion of the character and administration of the cardinal-statesman. Fleury’s image has changed significantly over time, although, interestingly, nearly all historians agree on two things: that he was a peaceful man, with a strong desire to avoid war; and that he was never a heroic figure able to capture the popular imagination. From the ‘virtuous minister’ in ancien regime France, he acquired, between the Revolution and the Third Republic, the reputation as a weak, vacillating and talentless minister. The rehabilitation of the cardinal’s reputation began under the Third Republic, where historians were increasingly willing to concede that under Fleury’s regime, France made significant economic and foreign policy advances. But the minister’s positive image reached a zenith during the inter-war period, where, convinced of the need for peaceful solutions rather than armed conflict, conservative historians portrayed Fleury as a prudent, intelligent, even ‘great’ minister, the equal of his cardinal-minister predecessors Richelieu and Mazarin. In the two decades following World War Two, Fleury was almost forgotten by historians, although in the 1970s, with the rise of the popular biography, he again became the subject of some interest. In the last decade, a small number of historians has examined Fleury’s role in court politics and foreign policy. While they do not quite describe Fleury in the almost hagiographic terms of the 1930s, they agree on Fleury’s abilities as a minister, and as a master of court politics. The thesis concludes that representations of Fleury, or indeed, of any historical figure, depends on a variety of political and intellectual/methodological factors, as well as the individual beliefs of the writer. It is also clear that representations of Cardinal Fleury are likely to continue to evolve in the future.
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ItemIf ever time was: the social and scientific perception of time in England and France in the 1830's( 1984)This work examines the relationship between perceptions of time in social and scientific texts in England and France in the 1830's. I stipulate that 'social' texts include productions in political economy, history, education, and popular culture; ‘scientific’ texts include work in geology, astronomy, physics and natural theology. My conclusion is that a single perception of time spanned 'establishment' social and scientific texts in both England and France at this period, where 'establishment' is defined as adherence to the current social order. This single perception was opposed by an inverse perception located in 'radical' texts, where 'radical' is defined as expressed desire for subversion of current social order. The perception of time I ascribe to establishment texts is an oppositional structuring of 'single universal time'. Single universal time can be taken as the perception that 'time' is a series of points along a line, that the same 'line' can be used to order historical, natural, and psychological events (it is single), and that different observers will agree on the ordering of events (it is universal). In Part 1, I shall try to loosen up the reader's intuitive idea of time, which is probably not so different from this one. Having done this I introduce the two main themes of my history: the oppositional structuring of this time, and the quest for/denial of origins that modulates this structure. Finally, I introduce the methodological tools that I employ, which tools are largely semiological. In Part 2, I compare the social time of establishment science with the natural time of radical science; and conclude that one can be seen as a mirror image of the other. What I mean by this is that both subscribe to a 'single universal time', but that the first frames it in oppositional terms that permit the perpetuation of class society, where the latter pictures this time as a unified force breaking down barriers. The social time and the natural time referred to are so precisely inversions one of the other that they seem to speak to each other. I argue that this 'unexpected' connection between social and scientific time is a feature of the appropriation by science of the social terrain previously the domain of religion. I shall maintain that there are sufficient structural similarities between the social time of 'establishment' science and the natural time of 'radical' science to see both as speaking to a discourse about the nature of the 'political economy'. In Part 3, I shall look first at the natural time of establishment science, and show how it, too, can be fitted into this analysis. I have separated this section off, because the argument is for internal reasons more complex and therefore a familiarity with the tools I use will be helpful. In the second section I shall try to show how a natural time generated out of 'political economy' and operating ideologically can also frame real exploration. I argue that the same features that invest the natural time of establishment science with its ideological message allow it to serve as an exploration of the real world. The apparent contradiction between 'social' ideology and 'natural' enquiry is, I maintain, dissolved at the level of 'political economy', the latter being defined as the point of intersection between nature and society.
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ItemThe identity of the École de Paris in painting and criticism, 1939-1964( 2002)The Identity of the École de Paris in Painting and Criticism, 1939-1964 reconstructs and analyses the history of the group of painters presented in exhibitions and discussed in the contemporary press as the "École de Paris". The Ecole de Paris was a "phantom" school which had neither enrolled students nor official teachers. This dissertation examines the manner in which this phantom school was discursively produced. Through a close analysis of the art criticism which sought to establish and define the identity of the school, the dissertation shows that the École de Paris dominated the production and reception of painting in postwar France. Such a project had powerful historical and ideological motivations. The dissertation establishes that the resuscitation of the École de Paris upon the Liberation of the city in 1944 was driven by the urge to reconstruct a harmonious artistic community and a powerful national tradition in the wake of the war. Indeed, the École de Paris became the most important site for the debates over the validity of foreign contributions to the national tradition of painting, the resurgence of the avant-garde, the role of abstract painting in comparison to traditional realism, and the imbrication of Cold War politics with culture. It was a complex and contradictory discourse involving art critics, painters, curators, and art dealers, each of whom fought to establish a different version of the École de Paris. Charting the critical arguments and the mutations of painting style which constitute the Ecole de Paris reveals that the school performed a dual role: it was both the motor for a new avant-garde in the form of lyrical abstraction, and a reactionary force, fighting for figuration as the foundation of an unchanging national tradition. The dissertation establishes that the style known as non-figuration became the preferred strategy or mediation in Ecole de Paris painting. Non-figuration sought to reconcile the extremes of modernity and tradition, abstraction and realism. The prevailing opinion has been highly critical of the Ecole de Paris for its repetition or pre-war avant-garde innovations and a "middle-of-the-road" ideology. However, the Ecole de Paris is most constructively understood as a zone of conflict, which catalysed the passionate dissection of the most difficult artistic and political issues or the period. The dissertation traces the history of the postwar Ecole de Paris from its Liberation rebirth until the early 1960s, by which time reconciliation was no longer an option and the primacy of painting was being challenged. The hegemony of Ecole de Paris painting came to an end as the tensions between the emphasis on individual originality and the conservative desire to reconstitute a collectivity, fragmented the Ecole de Paris beyond repair. This dissertation finds that the conflicts which swirled around the paintings, artists and critical writing of the Ecole de Paris provide exemplary representations of the crisis between nationalism and cosmopolitanism in French postwar history.
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ItemRepublican socialism and revolution in France: La Republique of Eugène Bareste, 1848-1851( 1999)There is wide acknowledgment that the press was closely involved in the establishment of the French Second Republic, and that it remained a significant feature of the life of the Republic. La Republique, however, has not been analysed within the extensive historiography of the period. This thesis, then, is an analysis of a leading newspaper and its role in the Second Republic. La Republique was founded by Eugene Bareste amidst the turmoil of the February Revolution which resulted in the declaration of the French Second Republic. The newspaper appeared daily from 26 February 1848 until 2 December 1851 when it was closed down by the coup d'Etat of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte. Bareste was not an active member of the opposition press during the July Monarchy and, whilst several leading figures of that press became members of successive governments, Bareste did not and thereby avoided compromising his independence through being involved in the actions of any government. In fact, he refused the opportunity to stand as a candidate for the National Assembly in 1848 on the grounds that he wanted to stand apart in order to be free to pursue his self-imposed task of educating the people in the ways of 'republican socialism' and the need to develop institutions appropriate to the Republic. La Republique became the most widely read newspaper of the era with daily sales of more than 50,000 copies at its peak. At that time each copy of a newspaper was usually read by, or was read to, at least ten people and thus the paper could have been accessed by upwards of half a million readers. Due to a lack of archival material, there is no way of knowing precisely who these readers were but from the contents of the paper it appears they were the petite bourgeoisie, shopkeepers, teachers, artisans, workers in all industries, some agricultural producers and rentiers. La Republique enjoyed undoubted popularity but little other than its pages survive. It was edited by a man about whom we know little more than occasional details slipped into his writings. The thesis therefore seeks to recover a 'lost' newspaper of great importance which in its breadth and style can be seen to foreshadow the press of a later generation. As a newspaper of political opinion and information, La Republique embodied a number of common elements and strategies across its life which enabled it to survive in the face of severe repression enacted by a Presidential regime and an Assembly composed largely of notables who feared the power of the press. Bareste' s editorial skills and his business acumen were such that he kept his paper in circulation when others around him failed. His success was made possible because his republican socialism was in fact a broad church that had many distinctive nuances which corresponded to the mood of its wide readership. Thus the thesis also reveals the existence of a hitherto unacknowledged stratum of republican socialists to whom La Republique presented an acceptable alternative notion of society. This analysis marks off Bareste and his newspaper from orthodox historical interpretations and challenges elements of the historiography of the French Second Republic.