The Amorous Restoration

Love, Sex, and Politics in Early Nineteenth-Century France

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, European
Cover of the book The Amorous Restoration by Andrew J. Counter, OUP Oxford
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Andrew J. Counter ISBN: 9780191089114
Publisher: OUP Oxford Publication: September 22, 2016
Imprint: OUP Oxford Language: English
Author: Andrew J. Counter
ISBN: 9780191089114
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Publication: September 22, 2016
Imprint: OUP Oxford
Language: English

When Louis XVIII returned to the throne in 1814, and again in 1815, France embarked upon a period of uneasy cohabitation between the old and the new. The writers of the age, who included Chateaubriand, Stendhal, Balzac, and Mme de Duras, agreed that they lived at a historical turning point, a transitional moment whose outcome, though still uncertain, would transform the French way of life—beginning with the French way of love. The literary works of the Bourbon Restoration ceaselessly return to the themes of love, sex, and marriage, partly as vital cultural questions in their own right, but also as a means of critiquing the deficiencies of past regimes, negotiating the politics of the present, and imagining the shape of the political future. In the literature of the Restoration, love and politics become entwined in a mutually metaphorical embrace. The Amorous Restoration, the first book in English devoted to literary and cultural life under the last Bourbon kings, considers this relationship in all its richness and many contradictions. Long neglected as a drab historical backwater, the Restoration emerges here as a vibrant era, one rife with sharp cultural and political disagreements, and possessed of an especially refined sense of allusion, discretion, and even humour. Drawing on literature, journalism, political writing, life writing, and gossip, The Amorous Restoration vividly recreates the erotic sensibilities of a pivotal moment in the transition from an amorous old regime to erotic—and political—modernity.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

When Louis XVIII returned to the throne in 1814, and again in 1815, France embarked upon a period of uneasy cohabitation between the old and the new. The writers of the age, who included Chateaubriand, Stendhal, Balzac, and Mme de Duras, agreed that they lived at a historical turning point, a transitional moment whose outcome, though still uncertain, would transform the French way of life—beginning with the French way of love. The literary works of the Bourbon Restoration ceaselessly return to the themes of love, sex, and marriage, partly as vital cultural questions in their own right, but also as a means of critiquing the deficiencies of past regimes, negotiating the politics of the present, and imagining the shape of the political future. In the literature of the Restoration, love and politics become entwined in a mutually metaphorical embrace. The Amorous Restoration, the first book in English devoted to literary and cultural life under the last Bourbon kings, considers this relationship in all its richness and many contradictions. Long neglected as a drab historical backwater, the Restoration emerges here as a vibrant era, one rife with sharp cultural and political disagreements, and possessed of an especially refined sense of allusion, discretion, and even humour. Drawing on literature, journalism, political writing, life writing, and gossip, The Amorous Restoration vividly recreates the erotic sensibilities of a pivotal moment in the transition from an amorous old regime to erotic—and political—modernity.

More books from OUP Oxford

Cover of the book International Law and Religion by Andrew J. Counter
Cover of the book Legalism by Andrew J. Counter
Cover of the book Planets: A Very Short Introduction by Andrew J. Counter
Cover of the book King Henry VIII: The Oxford Shakespeare by Andrew J. Counter
Cover of the book Oxford Handbook of Ophthalmology by Andrew J. Counter
Cover of the book The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales by Andrew J. Counter
Cover of the book The Greeks by Andrew J. Counter
Cover of the book A Dictionary of English Folklore by Andrew J. Counter
Cover of the book The Hermit in the Garden by Andrew J. Counter
Cover of the book Troilus and Criseyde by Andrew J. Counter
Cover of the book Regional Anaesthesia: A Pocket Guide by Andrew J. Counter
Cover of the book Philosophical Foundations of Law and Neuroscience by Andrew J. Counter
Cover of the book Electing the Pope in Early Modern Italy, 1450-1700 by Andrew J. Counter
Cover of the book A History of Haematology by Andrew J. Counter
Cover of the book Viscoelastic Behavior of Rubbery Materials by Andrew J. Counter
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy