Woodslane | Book - 9780271019314

Add to Cart Academic Inspection Copy

Panorama of Paris

Selections from "Tableau de Paris"

ISBN-13: 9780271019314
Publisher: PENN STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Imprint: PENN STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Edited by Jeremy D. Popkin
Price: AUD $67.99
Stock: 0 in stock
Availability: This book is temporarily out of stock, order will be despatched as soon as fresh stock is received.
Local release date: 15/10/1999
Format: Paperback (216.00mm X 140.00mm) 248 pages Weight: 200g
Categories: Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD]

Description

Author Biography

Google Preview

Panorama of Paris offers English-language readers an introduction to one of the forgotten masterpieces of French literature, Louis-Sébastien Merciers twelve-volume Le Tableau de Paris (published from 1781 to 1788), an important and original work that helped shape many kinds of French writing. Colorfully written, the text provides a fascinating portrait of everyday life in Paris on the eve of the French Revolution, describing the interactions of workers, street peddlers, prostitutes, police spies, actresses, noblemen, parish priests, servants, and criminals. Based on Helen Simpsons lively 1933 abridged translation, this edition includes seven newly translated chapters and an introduction by Jeremy D. Popkin.

Earlier authors had described Pariss monuments and the lives of its wealthy elites, but Mercier was the first to try to capture in words the texture of its everyday life. His text, contemporary with Rousseaus Confessions, is the first attempt to write the autobiography of a unique urban community. His writing deeply influenced Balzac and other nineteenth-century French novelists and continues to serve as a major source of social and cultural history for French historians.

Panorama of Paris will fascinate all lovers of Paris and its history. It should be of special interest to students of French literature and history, and to anyone interested in the origins of modern attitudes toward city life.

Jeremy D. Popkin is Professor of History at the University of Kentucky. His books include Revolutionary News: The Press in France, 1789–1799 (1990) and A Short History of the French Revolution (1998).

Google Preview content

Popular Subjects

Woodslane Online Catalogues

Panorama of Paris

Selections from "Tableau de Paris"