Rethinking Book Production and Ideological Transformation in Eighteenth-Century France
The eighteenth century was an era of publishing boom.With a myriad of printed materials-including pam-phlets-entering the daily cultural life of the French people,the overall ideological climate of the French society also underwent a fundamental transformation.As a corollary,it has long been acknowledged that Enlightenment books were the fundamental causes of this transformation in the academic history of the old regime and the Great Revolution.However,if we switch to a histor-ical perspective that examines eighteenth-century France through socio-political prisms,we may find out that the Enlightenment trend was in full swing during this time,and the general ideological climate of the French society had already undergone some transformation.It is highly likely that the development of rational spirit and critical thinking in the Age of Enlightenment was by no means a result of the dissemination and cultivation of Enlightenment books,but that of an unceasing development in the history of civilization in Western Europe since the late Middle Ages.The Renaissance,the Protestant Reformation,the Scientific Revolu-tion and even the Enlightenment were just conspicuous nodes in this process.The advent of the era of books and the Enlighten-ment Movement in the eighteenth century had only enhanced the breadth and depth of trends in this historical development.Since the heralds of revolution were inclined to seek sources of their revolutionary discourses from writings of the previous era and the ideological principles advocated therein,it is often taken for granted that the Enlightenment ignited the revolution.As a matter of fact,what led to the outbreak of the revolution was the accumulation of political and institutional defects in the construction of the modern French state.
books/reading historyThe Enlightenment Movementrational spiritthe process of European civilization
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