Forgetting Differences : Tragedy, Historiography, and the French Wars of Religion

Andrea Frisch

ISBN 10: 1399567195 / ISBN 13: 9781399567190

Published by Edinburgh University Press Jul 2026, 2026

About this Item

Neuware - Examines the impact of the royal politics of amnesia on tragedy and national historiography in France, 1560-1630This study argues that the political and legislative process of forgetting internal differences, undertaken in France after the civil wars of the sixteenth century, leads to subtle yet fundamental shifts in the broader conception of the relationship between readers or spectators on the one hand, and the matter of history, on the other. These shifts, occasioned by the desire for communal reconciliation and generally associated with an increasingly modern sensibility, will nonetheless prove useful to the ideologies of cultural and political absolutism.By juxtaposing representations of the French civil war past as they appear (and frequently overlap) in historiography and tragedy from 1550-1630, Andrea Frisch tracks changes in the ways in which history and tragedy sought to 'move' readers throughout the period of the wars and in their wake. The book shows that a shift from a politically (and martially) active reading of the past to a primarily affective one follows the imperative, so clear and urgent at the turn of the seventeenth century, to put an end to violent conflict. The emotions that neoclassical tragedy and absolutist historiography sought to elicit were intended above all to be shared, and thus a medium via which political and religious differences could be downplayed or forgotten. The book aims to illuminate some of the ways in which the experience of the wars of religion, as registered in tragedy and historiography, contributed to a restructuring of the ever-vital relationship between emotion and politics, and thereby to historicize the very concept of 'esmouvoir'.Key FeaturesConfronts historiography and tragedy in the era of the French Wars of ReligionAddresses the themes of amnesty, pardon, memory, and forgetting in the context of civil warProvides both close readings and a broad argument about the impact of the monarchical politics of reconciliation on conceptions of how history and tragedy should 'move' their audiences>Andrea Frisch is Associate Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Maryland. KeywordsFrench Wars of Religion; Saint Bartholomew's Day massacres; Edict of Nantes; tragedy; historiography; emotion; reconciliation; Henri IV (Henri de Navarre); Robert Garnier; Pierre MatthieuSubject: Literature.

Seller Inventory # 9781399567190

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Forgetting Differences : Tragedy, Historiography, and the French Wars of Religion
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press Jul 2026
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1399567195
• ISBN 13: 9781399567190
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 234W x 156H x 10D millimeters 234 millimeters width by 156 millimeters height by 10 millimeters depth
• Weight: 277 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Examines the impact of the royal politics of amnesia on tragedy and national historiography in France, 1560-1630

• Confronts historiography and tragedy in the era of the French Wars of Religion
• Addresses the themes of amnesty, pardon, memory, and forgetting in the context of civil war
• Provides both close readings and a broad argument about the impact of the monarchical politics of reconciliation on conceptions of how history and tragedy should 'move' their audiences
• Treats multiple French authors including André de Nesmond; Henri-Lancelot Voisin de la Popelinière; Pierre Matthieu; Jean de la Taille; Robert Garnier

By juxtaposing representations of the French civil war past as they appear (and frequently overlap) in historiography and tragedy from 1550-1630, Andrea Frisch tracks changes in the ways in which history and tragedy sought to 'move' readers throughout the period of the wars and in their wake. The book shows that a shift from a politically (and martially) active reading of the past to a primarily affective one follows the imperative, so clear and urgent at the turn of the seventeenth century, to put an end to violent conflict. The emotions that neoclassical tragedy and absolutist historiography sought to elicit were intended above all to be shared, and thus a medium via which political and religious differences could be downplayed or forgotten. The book aims to illuminate some of the ways in which the experience of the wars of religion, as registered in tragedy and historiography, contributed to a restructuring of the ever-vital relationship between emotion and politics, and thereby to historicize the very concept of 'esmouvoir'.

About the Author

Andrea Frisch is currently Associate Professor of French at the University of Maryland in the US. She is the author of The Invention of the Eyewitness: Witnessing and Testimony in Early Modern France (University of North Carolina Press, 2004) as well as a number of refereed articles in journals including the Journal of Early Modern History, Montaigne Studies, and Modern Language Quarterly.