kidnapping of the dauphin Louis by the Burgundian faction in 1405, are all compelling and clearly... more kidnapping of the dauphin Louis by the Burgundian faction in 1405, are all compelling and clearly researched, while a look at Isabeau’s personality, physique and relationships and their subsequent distortion by historians makes for fascinating reading. Perhaps the crux of the book, however, is Adams’ examination of the circumstances leading up to the treaty of Troyes, the 1420 document in which Isabeau withdrew her support from her son, the future Charles VII, thus placing herself on the losing side of history (ch. 7). As Adams shows, while Charles VII’s eventual victory, aided by that defining symbol of Frenchness, Joan of Arc, made Isabeau’s action seem treasonous in retrospect, within the volatile and uncertain climate in which it was made, the queen’s decision was an attempt at peacekeeping and mediation. Finally, Adams not only repudiates the black legend that has clouded Isabeau’s memory, but argues convincingly that the queen “is worthy of interest for reasons beyond the mythology that surrounds her and that her career merits further study” (249). As Adams argues in her conclusion, Isabeau’s roles as regent and mediator queen can help us understand women’s political power in the fifteenth century. Ultimately, Adams’ book becomes a fascinating study of historiography as well as an important work of historical scholarship in its own right. The shaping of Isabeau’s posthumous legend around an arbitrary and historically contingent definition of Frenchness reminds us that history is written by the victors. “The development of a nation is never inevitable; it is only afterward that we imagine a trajectory with a clear teleology” (218-19). Brooke Heidenreich Findley Penn State Altoona
WHILE GROWING UP IN PARIS in the 1870s and early 1880s, the young Marcel Proust spent much of his... more WHILE GROWING UP IN PARIS in the 1870s and early 1880s, the young Marcel Proust spent much of his time reading a variety of fictional and nonfictional texts, many by midcentury authors influenced by the French Romantic period, which was at its height from roughly 1820 to 1840. Stories such as the cloak-and-dagger escapades of Capitaine Fracasse by Theophile Gautier, the comic missteps of Tartarin de Tarascon in Alphonse Daudet's eponymous novel, and the harrowing tales of medieval France in Recits des temps merovingiens by the Romantic historian Augustin Thierry imbued the future novelist from an early age with a Romantic sensitivity. Proust's Romanticism, which is perhaps most evident in the tumultuous affair between Swann and Odette in “Swann in Love,”1 was not limited, however, to the intensely emotional accounts of love and loss that are frequently associated with this literary movement. His readings as a youth exposed him to a wide range of motifs, including the allure ...
kidnapping of the dauphin Louis by the Burgundian faction in 1405, are all compelling and clearly... more kidnapping of the dauphin Louis by the Burgundian faction in 1405, are all compelling and clearly researched, while a look at Isabeau’s personality, physique and relationships and their subsequent distortion by historians makes for fascinating reading. Perhaps the crux of the book, however, is Adams’ examination of the circumstances leading up to the treaty of Troyes, the 1420 document in which Isabeau withdrew her support from her son, the future Charles VII, thus placing herself on the losing side of history (ch. 7). As Adams shows, while Charles VII’s eventual victory, aided by that defining symbol of Frenchness, Joan of Arc, made Isabeau’s action seem treasonous in retrospect, within the volatile and uncertain climate in which it was made, the queen’s decision was an attempt at peacekeeping and mediation. Finally, Adams not only repudiates the black legend that has clouded Isabeau’s memory, but argues convincingly that the queen “is worthy of interest for reasons beyond the mythology that surrounds her and that her career merits further study” (249). As Adams argues in her conclusion, Isabeau’s roles as regent and mediator queen can help us understand women’s political power in the fifteenth century. Ultimately, Adams’ book becomes a fascinating study of historiography as well as an important work of historical scholarship in its own right. The shaping of Isabeau’s posthumous legend around an arbitrary and historically contingent definition of Frenchness reminds us that history is written by the victors. “The development of a nation is never inevitable; it is only afterward that we imagine a trajectory with a clear teleology” (218-19). Brooke Heidenreich Findley Penn State Altoona
WHILE GROWING UP IN PARIS in the 1870s and early 1880s, the young Marcel Proust spent much of his... more WHILE GROWING UP IN PARIS in the 1870s and early 1880s, the young Marcel Proust spent much of his time reading a variety of fictional and nonfictional texts, many by midcentury authors influenced by the French Romantic period, which was at its height from roughly 1820 to 1840. Stories such as the cloak-and-dagger escapades of Capitaine Fracasse by Theophile Gautier, the comic missteps of Tartarin de Tarascon in Alphonse Daudet's eponymous novel, and the harrowing tales of medieval France in Recits des temps merovingiens by the Romantic historian Augustin Thierry imbued the future novelist from an early age with a Romantic sensitivity. Proust's Romanticism, which is perhaps most evident in the tumultuous affair between Swann and Odette in “Swann in Love,”1 was not limited, however, to the intensely emotional accounts of love and loss that are frequently associated with this literary movement. His readings as a youth exposed him to a wide range of motifs, including the allure ...
Uploads
Papers by Hollie Harder