HST 295‐01 ST The Making of Modern France Fall Semester 2011 Monday, Wednesday, Friday 1:15‐2:05 p.m. Alumni Recitation Hall 314 COURSE INFORMATION Dr. Kelly J. Maynard, Grinnell College Department of History Office: Mears #305 Office Phone: (641) 269‐4465 Office Hours: MWF 2:15‐3:00 at the Grill, TR 10:00‐10:45 in Mears 305, and by appointment Email: [email protected] COURSE DESCRIPTION Between the eighteenth century and the twentieth, France underwent a breathtaking series of metamorphoses which, in the political realm, encompassed everything from absolute monarchist rule to two Napoleonic empires and five republics. In this course we will trace the political, social, intellectual, and cultural catalysts and consequences of this tumultuous development. We will consider the legacy of Enlightenment and Revolutionary ideologies, shifting notions of citizenship and national identity, social and cultural responses to modernization, and the international crises of the twentieth century. We will pay particular attention to perspectives of class, race, and gender throughout the course. Additionally, we will interrogate some of the historiog raph ical discussions that have contributed to the telling of the story of the making of modern France. HIS 295‐01 ST/Maynard/MMF/F11/p.2 COURSE REQUIREMENTS This course takes the form of a fluid combination of lecture and discussion. Working complementarily with textbook readings, our lectures provide the historical framework for the material we cover. For the most part, however, our meetings center upon discussion of assigned readings and viewings, and it is through the free and open exchange of ideas that we all benefit the most from the class. Your preparation and engagement, then, are crucial to its success. Because discussion figures so heavily in the way we spend class time and wrestle together with the course materials, I sometimes send out discussion questions via email before we meet as a tool to help us focus on common themes and issues. Please come to class awake and on time with the appropriate reading materials in hand. You are expected to attend class regularly, except in case of dire emergency. By definition, every absence from class has a negative impact upon the overall quality of our conversations. Your grade will be impacted accordingly. After three uncommunicated absences you will receive an F for the participation portion of the course grade. After four uncommunicated absences you will fail the course entirely. In addition to the two short mid‐term and one final exam requirements for this class, each student must complete a short research project on the theme “Echoes of the Revolution .” You work closely with the professor on the development of your project, and it culminates in a research paper of 8‐10 pages as well as a short presentation on your findings. This assignment will be explained in detail early in the semester, and the relevant deadlines for its successful completion are indicated on the syllabus. Your overall grade will be calculated according to the following formula: Participation 30% Mid‐Term Exams (2@ 15%) 30% Research Paper 15% Research Presentation 5% Final Exam 20% Students with any form of documented disability are encouraged to contact me early in the semester so that we can arrange for your learning needs to be met and for you to participate fully in the class. You will also need to provide documentation of your condition(s) to the Dean for Student Academic Support and Advising, Joyce Stern, on the third floor of the Rosenfield Center (x3702). COURSE MATERIALS REQUIRED TEXTS Jeremy D. Popkin, A History of Modern France. Pearson Prentice Hall, 3rd ed., 2005/6 [ISBN: 0131932934] HIS 295‐01 ST/Maynard/MMF/F11/p.3 REQUIRED TEXTS continued Émile Zola, The Ladies’ Paradise. Oxford World's Classics, 2008 [ISBN: 0199536902] Philip Nord, The Republican Moment: Struggles for Democracy in Nineteenth‐Century France. Harvard University Press, 1998 [ISBN: 067476272x] Regina M. Sweeney, Singing Our Way to Victory: French Cultural Politics and Music During the Great War. Wesleyan University Press, 2001 [ISBN: 0819564737 Please note that the Popkin has NOT been ordered through the Pioneer Bookstore. While it is crucial to our class, it is also very expensive . Consequently I have placed two copies on two‐hour reserve in Burling Library for the semester. Please make arrangements to read the assigned sections (normally for Mondays and normally not very long) before class and be aware that your fellow students will also be relying on the copies in the library. Of course you should feel free to buy the book in new or used condition if you prefer. If you do so, please be sure to buy the third edition. Additional readings (indicated by a bullet (•) will be available on Pioneer Web or handed out in class. Please note that the scheduling of all reading assignments is subject to change based on the ebb and flow of class discussions. COURSE SCHEDULE F August 26 Introduction PART I OLD REGIME AND REVOLUTION M August 29 Lecture: The Old Regime and the Enlightenment Reading: Popkin, History of Modern France (hereafter HMF) pp. 7‐35 W August 31 Discussion: Absolutism and its Critics Readings: • Bossuet, Politics Derived from the Words of Holy Scripture [excerpts] (1709) • Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws [excerpts] (1748) • Rousseau, The Social Contract [excerpts] (1762) • Voltaire, Treatise on Tolerance [excerpts] (1763) F September 2 Discussion: Historians Debate the Enlightenment Readings: • Robert Darnton, “The High Enlightenment and the Low‐Life of Literature” from The Literary Underground of the Old Regime (1982) • Dena Goodman, “Enlightenment Salons: The Convergence of Female and Philosophic Ambitions” Eighteenth Century Studies 22/3 (1989) http://www.jstor.org/stable/2738891 M September 5 Lecture: The Moderate Revolution, 1789‐1792 Reading: Popkin, HMF pp. 36‐51 HIS 295‐01 ST/Maynard/MMF/F11/p.4 W September 7 Discussion: Revolution For Whom? Readings: • Louis XIV, Convocation of the Estates General (1789) • Sieyès, “What is the Third Estate?” (1789) • Cahiers de Doléances [excerpts] (1789) • Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789) • Olympe de Gouges, Declaration of the Rights of Woman