Schedule of Weekly Readings and Questions


Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre, 145-214 = "A Police Inspector Sorts His Files"

  • Lettres de cachet were arbitrary orders of arrest issued by the monarchy.
  • The Regency refers to the government of France during the minority of King Louis XV. It was led by the Regent, Philippe, the Duke of Orléans from 1715 to 1723.
  • Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764) was arguably the most famous and most influential mistress of King Louis XV.
  • Marc-Pierre de Voyer de Paulmy, comte d'Argenson was the Secretary of State for War from 1743 to 1757.
  • The Académie Française was France's first royal academy, founded in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu. Its main function was and remains the preservation of the purity of the French language by issuing rules for its proper use.
  • The Comédie Française was a theatre in Paris founded by King Louis XIV in 1680.
  • The Comédie Italienne was a troup of Italian actors who performed in Paris and enjoyed the patronage of the French monarchy.

    1. Who was Joseph d'Hémery? What was his job? How does what we learn about d'Hémery relate to what we learned in the first part of the course about the eighteenth-century state?

    2. What are the geographical and social origins of the people investigated by Joseph d'Hémery? What information do his files contain? What do they tell us about the "republic of letters" in the Enlightenment or, in other words, about writers in Old Regime society?

    3. How did d'Hémery engage in "ideological police work" (177)? Why did the French government want this?

    4. What does Darnton mean by Grub Street? Who and what were the libellistes?

    5. Do you think that writers and intellectuals posed a real threat to the ruling elites of the Old Regime?

    6.Could the bourgeois and the philosophes/intellectuals live harmoniously in the Old Regime?

    7. Do the police files show signs of the demise of the Old Regime?