Enlightenment in Practice

L. Caradonna Jeremy

Description

Public academic prize contests-the concours academique-played a significant role in the intellectual life of Enlightenment France, with aspirants formulating positions on such matters as slavery, poverty, the education of women, tax reform, and urban renewal and submitting the resulting essays for scrutiny by panels of judges. In The Enlightenment in Practice, Jeremy L. Caradonna draws on archives both in Paris and the provinces to show that thousands of individuals-ranging from elite men and women of letters artisans, and peasants-participated in these intellectual competitions, a far broader range of people than has been previously assumed. Caradonna contends that the Enlightenment in France can no longer be seen as a cultural movement restricted to a small coterie of philosophers or a limited number of printed texts. Moreover, Caradonna demonstrates that the French monarchy took academic competitions quite seriously, sponsoring numerous contests on such practical matters as deforestation, the quality of drinking water, and the nighttime illumination of cities. In some cases, the contests served as an early mechanism for technology transfer: the state used submissions to identify technical experts to whom it could turn for advice. Finally, the author shows how this unique intellectual exercise declined during the upheavals of the French Revolution, when voicing moderate public criticism became a rather dangerous act.

Sujets

• Histoire
• History of education
• History of Europe
• France

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 mars 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801463907
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

q THE ENLIGHTENMENT IN PRACTICE

THE ENLIGHTENMENT IN PRACTICE n AC A D E MI C P R I Z E CON T ESTS A N D I N T E L L EC T UA L CU LT U R E I N F R A N CE , 1 6 7 0 – 1 7 9 4

J e r e m y L . C a r a d o n n a

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS Ithaca and London

Copyright © 2012 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2012 by Cornell University Press

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Caradonna, Jeremy L., 1979–  The Enlightenment in practice : academic prize contests and intellectual culture in France, 1670–1794 / Jeremy L. Caradonna.  p. cm.  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 9780801450600 (cloth : alk. paper)  1. France—Intellectual life—17th century. 2. France— Intellectual life—18th century. 3. Literature— Competitions—France—History—17th century. 4. Literature—Competitions—France—History— 18th century. 5. Literary prizes—France—History— 17th century. 6. Literary prizes—France—History— 18th century. 7. Enlightenment—France. I. Title.  DC33.4.C26 2012  944'.03—dc23 2011037481

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Cloth printing

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Hannah And in memory of Montana

q  Co nt e nt s

Acknowledgments ix Note on Abbreviations and Translation xi Map of France xii

Introduction

1. The Rebirth of theConcours Académique: Cultural Politics and the Domestication of Letters in the Age of Louis XIV

2. À la Recherche du Concours Académique

3. The Participatory Enlightenment

4. Dijon Revisited: Rousseau’s First Discourse from the Perspective of theConcours Académique

5. TheConcours Académique,Political Culture, and the Critical Public Sphere

6. The Practical Enlightenment: TheConcours Académique,the State, and the Pursuit of Expertise

7. Prize Contests in the Revolutionary Crucible: Decline and Regeneration

Conclusion: The Enlightenment in Question

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viii CONT E NTS

Appendixes A. Academies and Societies in France That Held Public Prize Contests from the Fourteenth Century to 1794 227 B. Female Laureates of theConcours Académique,1671–1790 229 C. Contests founded by the Abbé Raynal 233 D. Contests on Poverty, Begging, and Poor Relief 237 E. Contests Related to Urban Drinking Water 239 F. List of Prize Contests Offered by Academies, Scholarly Societies, and Agricultural Societies in Continental France from 1670 to 1794 (available at http://www.jeremycaradonna.com) Notes 241 Works Cited 297 Index 325

q  A c k n o w l e d g m e nt s

This book could not have been written with out the generous support of granting agencies, institutions, colleagues, friends, and family. On the material side, I wish to acknowledge the support I received from The Johns Hopkins University, which provided me with several travel and research grants, including the J. Brien Key Fellowship. I am particularly indebted to the Fulbright Foundation, which financed my main archival expeditions in 2005 and 2006. I also received a useful SAS grant from the University of Alberta in 2008. On the professional side, I benefited from the good conversation and feed back of Mary AshburnMiller, Nick Barr, Paul Friedland, David Garrioch, Eric Hall, Carla Hesse, John Iverson, Ken Loiselle, Nathan PerlRosenthal, and Elena Russo. Antoine Lilti shepherded me through the maze of French academia and kindly invited me to present my preliminary archival discov eries in his seminar at the École normale supérieure. Lilti also supported my efforts to publish a summary of my work (in French translation) in the Annales. Histoire, Sciences Socialesin 2009. Over the years, I tested out some of the arguments for this book at conferences organized by the Society for French Historical Studies (UrbanaChampaign, 2006; Rutgers, 2008), the American Society for EighteenthCentury Studies (Atlanta, 2007), and sem inars at the University of Alberta. The eminent Daniel Roche generously agreed to meet with me at the outset of my research, and his tips and sug gestions proved invaluable once I set out for the provinces. My colleagues in the Department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta, in particular Andrew Gow and the participants in our colloquium, provided invaluable support and encouragement as I finished the manuscript. Ken Loiselle, Nathan PerlRosenthal, and Andrew Gow read complete drafts of the manuscript, and their insightful critiques were crucial in the initial revi sions of my work. Sean Gouglas graciously offered to create the map. Finally, I wish to thank my editor at Cornell University Press, John G. Ackerman, and the two anonymous reviewers who provided excellent feedback on the manuscript.

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