Blood in the City

The Terror of 1793-94, the Paris Commune of 1871, the Dreyfus Affair—explosions of violence punctuated French history from the start of the Revolution until the Liberation at the close of World War II. The distinguished scholar Richard D. E. Burton here offers a stunningly original account of these outbursts, concluding that recourse to political violence was not occasional and abnormal, but rather the usual pattern, in French history. Instead of adhering to conventional chronological lines, Blood in the City is structured topologically around a number of major Parisian "sites of memory," including Place de la Concorde, Sacré Coeur, and the Eiffel Tower. For thirty years Burton has visited and revisited Paris, criss-crossing the streets on foot, and lived with great nineteenth- and twentieth-century literary depictions of the city. Drawing on historical, literary, visual, anthropological, and psychological sources, he develops a wide-ranging account of violence in modern French politics. In so doing, he provides powerful insights into political violence, scapegoating, the idea of sacrifice, and the widespread French obsession with conspiracy. Burton demonstrates that time and again the same basic scenario has been acted out on the streets of Paris: one or more people would be singled out from the community and imprisoned, exiled, or, more often, subjected to violence by the crowd or the state. In particular, he explores how Catholicism—in its extreme, ultrareactionary form—shaped the worldviews of Parisians and how the killing of a sacrificial victim came to be seen as a reenactment of the crucifixion of Christ.

An intricate, absorbing, and multi-faceted analysis of the literary, political, and cultural fury that animated Paris during the years of the 19th and 20th centuries.... Rewarding to the very last syllable, Blood in the City is a testament to outstanding historical scholarship., Burton evokes the temper of those vitriolic times through skillful analysis of the works of the Parisian literati... to prove that the storming of the Bastille unleashed a legacy of violent political upheavals.... Provocative.... This unique work is a worthwhile purchase for both academic and public libraries., Without the slightest doubt, this is one of the best and most thoroughly enjoyable books that I have read in a considerable period of time. Burton has, in Blood in the City, provided the thoughtful and curious reader an outstanding read that is well worth the time to peruse it.... I enthusiastically recommend this superb book to all students of French history, as well as to the serious tourist who intends to visit Paris.... Blood in the City would be an excellent addition to academic libraries, particularly those that support study abroad in Paris, and medium to large libraries., The outstanding achievement of this work is that its author revitalizes the Parisian landscape through a highly accessible and well-written account of cultural history. It therefore succeeds both as narrative and as an academic study deserving to feature prominently on the reading list of any student of French cultural history as well as that of any informed visitor to Paris., One of the most engaging features of the book is the way in which it recasts religion as a central interpretative agent of nineteenth-century French history... Stimulating and interesting.

Richard D. E. Burton has recently retired as Professor of French and Francophone Literature at the University of Sussex. He is the author of Afro-Creole: Power, Opposition, and Play in the Caribbean, also from Cornell, and of two books on Baudelaire.