A Genealogy of Terror in Eighteenth-Century France

300 Pages·2018·3.816 MB·English

by  Ronald Schechter

a genealogy of terror in
eighteenth- century france

a genealogy of terror in
eighteenth- century france
ronald schechter
the university of chicago press
chicago and london
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2018 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in
critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact the University of
Chicago Press, 1427 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2018
Printed in the United States of America
27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 1 2 3 4 5
isbn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 49957- 4 (cloth)
isbn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 49960- 4 (e- book)
doi: 10.7208/chicago/9780226499604.001.0001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Schechter, Ronald, author.
Title: A genealogy of terror in eighteenth-century France / Ronald Schechter.
Other titles: Genealogy of terror in 18th-century France
Description: Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2018. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2017049044 | isbn 9780226499574 (cloth : alk. paper) |
isbn 9780226499604 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: France—Civilization—18th century. | Terror—France—
History—18th century. | Terror—Social aspects—France.
Classification: lcc dc33.4 .s37 2018 | ddc 303.6/25094409033—dc23
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017049044
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ansi/niso z39.48– 1992
(Permanence of Paper).
To J- P

contents
Preface ix
Introduction 1
1. Holy Terror and Divine Majesty 17
2. The Terror of Their Enemies: Kings and Nations 38
3. The Terror of the Laws: Crime and Punishment 58
4. Terror and Pity: The Springs of Tragedy 78
5. Terror and the Sublime 100
6. Terror and Medicine 124
7. Terror before “the Terror”: June 1789– August 1793 142
8. Terror Speech in the Year II 171
Conclusion 197
Acknowledgments 207
Notes 209
Bibliography 261
Index 281
vii

preface
The French Revolution gave terror a bad name. This is not a facetious
statement. For many centuries prior to the Revolution the word “terror”
had largely positive connotations. In the Bible God is “terrible,” and this is a
good thing. Terror (or terribleness) is one of God’s most important attributes,
a sign of his power, justice, and majesty, and terror is the appropriate emotion
for human beings to feel in the face of their Creator. Accordingly, theologians
from Saint Augustine to the priests of eighteenth- century France described it
as “salutary,” and even the stripped-d own theology of the deists made room
for a God who inspired terror. As a consequence of their divine right to rule,
kings under absolutism acquired godlike features, including the rightful ca-
pacity to instill terror in their enemies, and a reliable way of flattering a mon-
arch was to call him “the terror of his enemies.” By the end of the eighteenth
century sovereign nations could be praised in similar language. Meanwhile,
judicial commentators invoked the “terror of the laws” when explaining the
need for severe punishments, and they adapted from theology the notion that
such terror was “salutary.” Even opponents of the death penalty based their
argument on the claim that executions failed to inspire the requisite terror in
malefactors. Theater critics praised tragedies that fulfilled Aristotle’s require-
ment of imparting terror and pity, though by the end of the eighteenth century
they focused increasingly on terror. Aesthetic writers, drawing on Edmund
Burke (whose work was translated into French), made terror a precondition
of “the sublime.” Even medical writers, learned and popular, propagated the
idea that terror was literally salutary—i n the sense of healthful—a nd reported
cases of the strong emotion curing ills as varied as malaria, gout, rabies, and
epilepsy. Overall, terror had a positive “feel.” The word was reminiscent of
power, legitimacy and glory, and it had something sacred about it.
All that changed very quickly. Within days of Robespierre’s execution on
ix